Udaan, B2B e-commerce platform, today announced plans aimed at laying the foundation for the next phase of growth. The plan, that involves a CEO-led and Board-driven organisation, envisages building Udaan as a future-ready organisation with an aim to capitalise on the enormous growth opportunity that the Indian e-commerce market offers.
As part of this plan, Udaan Co-Founder, Vaibhav Gupta, has been appointed as CEO. The other two Co-Founders, Amod Malviya and Sujeet Kumar, as Board members will actively work with Gupta to ensure that the organization effectively transitions to a CEO-led structure. The changes will be effective from today (September 10, 2021), according to a press statement.
''This is also in line with the evolution needed for Udaan to become a publicly listed entity over the next 18-24 months,'' it noted.
A stellar response to Zomato's IPO, and a profitable listing in July has prompted a number of internet-led businesses to make a beeline for this route.
A number of internet-led businesses, including Paytm, MobiKwik and PolicyBazaar have filed for IPOs while companies like Droom have stated their intent to get listed soon.
Vaibhav Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO, Udaan, said, "As we embark on the next phase of our growth journey, it is important to lay the right foundations for that. It is with this objective that this structure has been created that will help in the evolution of the organisation, enhance agility and efficiency, drive innovation and bring us closer to the customer... I am confident that we shall be successful in realising our vision of transforming India’s massive $1 trillion trade market.”
Amod Malviya and Sujeet Kumar, Co-Founders, Udaan, said, “We are delighted that Vaibhav has agreed to be the captain of the ship. For the next few years, our focus will be on strengthening governance, driving innovation, capabilities, systems and processes, with a special focus on building a talent pipeline to capitalise on the huge opportunity that Bharat offers.”
Founded in 2016, Udaan has over 3 million users (businesses) and more than 30,000 sellers on its platform. In January, Udaan announced raising $280 million (about Rs 2,048 crore) in funding from investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Tencent, DST Global, GGV Capital, Altimeter Capital, Octahedron Capital and Moonstone Capital.
Udaan has invested more than Rs 4,000 crore in the past 12-18 months across technology, supply chain, category, credit, employee and compliance.
