Bengaluru: Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce platform, flight, said on Friday it will move to a formal chief executive officer (CEO)-led model, appointing co-founder Vaibhav Gupta as the first step in the position.
The move comes at a time when Udaan is in the early stages of exploring public listings, with plans to hit exchanges in the next 18-24 months.
Udaan, co-founded by former Flipkart executives Gupta, Amod Malviya and Sujit Kumar, previously had no CEO, with the three founders managing various aspects of the business.
The company said in a statement that as part of the new operation model, co-founders and board members will work actively with Malviya and Kumar Gupta to ensure that the organization is effectively managed in a CEO-led framework. change into .
“Founded with the vision of empowering small and medium businesses of India, Udaan over the last five years has not only built the B2B e-commerce industry in India, but has also been a playbook that has now been developed to accelerate growth in other developing economies. Being emulated from .
“As we embark on the next phase of our growth journey, it is important to lay the right foundation. With this objective in mind, this structure has been created that will help the organization grow, enhance agility and efficiency,” said newly appointed CEO Gupta. “Stimulate innovation and bring us closer to the customer,” it said in a statement.
In the last 12-18 months, UDAN has invested over Rs 4,000 crore in various business pillars including technology, supply chain, credit, people, compliance to accelerate its growth.
“We are glad that Vaibhav has agreed to become the captain of the ship and take Udaan to the future. The Indian market offers tremendous growth potential in the B2B e-commerce sector, and after years of working together, we know that Vaibhav, with his deep understanding of business, is the best person to lead the organization Founders Malaviya and Kumar said in a joint statement.
The co-founders said the next few years are expected to focus on strengthening governance of flight, driving innovation, capabilities, systems and processes.
Currently, five-year-old Udaan focuses on facilitating B2B business for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and brings merchants, wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers and brands on a single platform.
It deals in diverse categories of lifestyle, electronics, home and kitchen, staples, fruits and vegetables, fast growing consumer goods and pharmaceuticals. UDAN’s platform serves over 3 million users, 1.7 million retailers and 30,000 vendors across 12,000 pincodes in the country.
In January, the company raised $280 million from Chinese tech giant, Tencent, valued at a little over $3 billion. Udaan’s existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, DST Global, GGV Capital and Altimeter Capital also participated in the round.
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