Ola's founding partner Pranay Jivrajka quits, may launch his own startup

Pranay Jivrajka was CEO of Ola Foods and an early employee of the ride-hailing firm

Pranay Jivrajka, a founding partner of Ola, has quit the ride-hailing company and may launch his own startup, multiple sources told Business Standard on Tuesday.

Jivrajka, who is in his early thirties, is leaving when Ola has new growth plans, including setting up a Rs 2,400-crore electric vehicle facility expected to become the world’s largest two-wheeler factory. Ola’s ride-hailing business is recovering after the coronavirus pandemic’s hurt and demand for its food business and financial services improves.

Under Jivrajka’s leadership as chief executive officer (CEO) of Ola Foods, the firm’s new business grew in the coronavirus pandemic. The recovery came on the back of the gradual unlocking of the economy as restaurants open up for business. ‘Khichdi Experiment’, the flagship brand of Ola Foods, last October clocked over 1 million orders in less than a year despite the pandemic.

Jivrajka helped Ola Foods, which was launched in 2019, expand its network of technology-enabled kitchens in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad and other cities.

“We thank Pranay (Jivrajka) for his many contributions through the years and wish him the very best for his future endeavours,” said Ola in a statement.

Ola was founded by Bhavish Aggarwal, a computer engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, in 2010 along with his college mate Ankit Bhati. Jivrajka, who is also an alumnus of IIT-Bombay, was one of the early employees of the firm and was AVP for operations till 2013. He was later made chief operating officer in 2015, a founding partner in 2017 and CEO of Ola Foods the same year.

L-R, 2017 photo, Pranay Jivrajka, Founding Partner, Ola, Priyank M. Kharge, Minister of State for Tourism, IT, and BT, Govt of Karnataka, Kumar Pushkar, MD, KSTDC, and Shenaz Treasury, actress

 

In 2017, when Ola acquired Foodpanda India business from Germany-based global online food ordering and delivery marketplace Delivery Hero Group for $200 million, Jivrajka was appointed as  CEO of this business unit, supported by the existing leadership team at Foodpanda India.

According to the source, Gaurav Porwal, the chief operating officer for global mobility at Ola, has taken up Jivrajka’s role in the interim. Porwal, a former scientist at Procter & Gamble India and co-founder of Sparsh Nephrocare, was a few years senior to Aggarwal in IIT Bombay and joined Ola in 2019.

Jivrajka’s quitting Ola also comes at a time when the company has witnessed high-profile exits in the recent past. Ankit Jain, the co-founder of Ola Electric and one of the closest confidants of Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal, stepped away from his role in the company last year. Anand Shah, another co-founder of Ola Electric, had also left the firm. Ola’s Australian managing director Simon Smith, who had joined the firm in 2018, left the firm in December 2020.

Two top executives, Arun Srinivas and Sanjiv Saddy, resigned from the company last year. Ola had said Srinivas, chief sales and marketing, officer and Saddy, senior vice president for corporate affairs, were moving on to pursue other opportunities outside of Ola. These exits followed that of Nitin Gupta, CEO of Ola Financial Services, who also resigned last year. Last year Ola’s chief business officer, Sanjay Bhan left the firm after spending merely 10 months in the company.

Last May, Ola announced laying off 1,400 employees, or over 33 per cent of its workforce as the transport industry stopped in the pandemic. With India easing lockdowns for the pandemic, Ola has reported close to 100 per cent recovery in key cities during the festive season, and the spike in demand is expected to continue.