On Friday, September 10, 2021, with a vision to create a world-class institution, udaan, India’s largest b2b e-Commerce platform, has announced its plans aiming at laying the foundation for the next phase of growth.
The plan, which 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 eCommerce market offers.
Key Highlights
- CEO-led and Board driven organisation to drive the new leg of growth journey
- Co-founder, Vaibhav Gupta appointed as CEO
- Co-founders, Amod and Sujeet, to support effective functioning of a CEO-led org, will continue to shape strategic roadmap and investment decisions as active Board members
- Plan to build udaan as a world-class institution ready for next phase of growth journey, in line with best-in-class large global public companies
- Plans in line with the evolution needed to become a publicly listed entity in 18-24 months
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 Vaibhav to ensure that the organization effectively transitions to a CEO-led structure for continued success and achieve their shared vision for the organization. The changes will be effective September 10, 2021.
The Co-founders always envisioned udaan as an institution that is professionally run and will last beyond them. As part of this vision, they combined a strong & shared vision with their expertise to build an admired and professionally run institution. This model enabled speed, allowed rapid experimentation and learning – contributing to strong business foundations and leadership depth.
As udaan embarks on its next leg of growth, it has been decided to move to a CEO-led and Board driven structure that will enable the organisation to evolve, scale-up and achieve its growth ambitions. This is also in line with the evolution needed for udaan to become a publicly listed entity over the next 18-24 months.
Vaibhav Gupta, Co-founder & CEO, udaan, said – “Founded with a vision to empower the small and medium businesses of Bharat, udaan has come a long way in the last five years creating not only the b2b eCommerce industry in India but also a playbook that is now being fastly emulated in other developing economies,”
“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 & efficiency, drive innovation and bring us closer to the customer.” He said.
“I am humbled by the responsibility that has been entrusted to me, and I look forward to strong support from Amod and Sujeet for realising the dream that we have envisioned together. Looking at the strong professional team that we have been able to create, and the growth scaled in such a short span, I am confident that we shall be successful in realising our vision of transforming India’s massive USD 1 Trillion trade market.” added Vaibhav.
Amod Malviya and Sujeet Kumar, Co-founders, udaan, said – “We are delighted that Vaibhav has agreed to be the captain of the ship and steer udaan towards the future. The Indian market offers tremendous growth potential in the b2b eCommerce space, and having worked together for years, we know that Vaibhav, with his in-depth understanding of the business, is the best person to lead the organisation,”
“For the next few years, our focus will be on strengthening governance, driving innovation, capabilities, systems & processes, with a special focus on building a talent pipeline to capitalise on the huge opportunity that Bharat offers. What we have achieved in the last 5 years is just the tip of the iceberg. Together as a team, we look forward to building on what has already been created and making udaan another world-class institution from India.” They said.
udaan has invested more than Rs 4000 crores in the past 12-18 months across different pillars of business – technology, supply chain, category, credit, people, compliance – to accelerate and strengthen capabilities to serve its customers better.
The company has also undertaken various initiatives to enhance the overall customer experience by leveraging deep customer analytics.
