Dale Vaz, who served as Swiggy’s Chief Technology Officer, has resigned from his role in the company after a tenure of about five years. As per reports, Madhusudhan Rao, who has been with Swiggy for over four years, will be taking over as the new CTO. The transition is expected to be smooth, as Rao has been involved in key engineering projects at Swiggy, and has a deep understanding of the company’s technology and products.
Vaz had joined Swiggy in July 2018 as the head of engineering and data science, and was later promoted to the role of chief technology officer. During his tenure, Swiggy introduced several technology-driven innovations, such as AI-powered menu recommendations and real-time tracking of delivery executives.
According to Vaz’s LinkedIn profile, prior to Swiggy, he spent over 11 years at Amazon as the director of software engineering, Amazon India. Before that, he was associated with Infosys Technologies Ltd.
A company spokesperson said, “We confirm Dale Vaz has decided to move on from Swiggy to pursue entrepreneurial opportunities. He will continue in his role till May 2023 and will be associated with Swiggy for an extended period in an advisory role. We thank him earnestly for his many contributions to Swiggy.”
Swiggy Instamart’s head Karthik Gurumurthy said,”I have loved being a part of this journey but this journey has been arduous with lot of compromises on physical & mental wellbeing. I plan to take a sabbatical now to come back afresh and build something (0-1), something which I have loved… Live back and playback those memories of 2020 and 2021.”
Meanwhile, Swiggy’s valuation has taken a hit, as per recent filings. Invesco, a US-based investment firm, has slashed Swiggy’s valuation to $8 billion from $10.7 billion. Swiggy became a decacorn after it raised about $700 million from Invesco last year. However, after raising funds in January 2022, Invesco reduced the value of its Swiggy holdings and valued the firm at about $8 billion in October.
In addition, Karthik Gurumurthy, who was the Head of Swiggy Instamart, has also announced that he will be stepping down from his role by the end of April. He will be succeeded by Swiggy Co-founder Phani Kishan Addepalli. Swiggy Instamart is Swiggy’s hyperlocal grocery delivery service, which was launched in 2020.
These developments come amid a highly competitive and challenging market for food delivery companies in India. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought about significant changes in consumer behavior, with more people opting for online food delivery services. The market is dominated by players like Zomato and Swiggy, which are constantly innovating and expanding their services to stay ahead of the competition.