Snapdeal's tech man Amitabh Misra quits

Misra, who joined the company in 2011, was a key builder behind Snapdeal's technology platform

Amitabh Misra, an architect of Snapdeal's technology platform, quit the online marketplace company on Tuesday. Misra, senior vice-president (engineering), was instrumental in technological upgrades, including building the infrastructure to feed the rising scale of business.

Those close to Misra said he was behind the mobile revolution at Snapdeal, which led to mobile phones accounting for about 60 per cent of the company's orders. At a recent interaction with this newspaper, Misra had said this figure would rise to 80 per cent soon.

"It has been a great stay at Snapdeal, as I was able to build everything from scratch. The scale of things has become really big and it's difficult to devote time to something else simultaneously. So, I have decided to venture into something new, where I can further unleash my expertise into technology. It will be a tech company at a start-up stage or something on my own," Misra told the Business Standard.

The development comes at a time when Snapdeal has roped in former Amazon and Yahoo executive Jeyandran Venugopal to work with co-founder Rohit Bansal.

Misra, who has an engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and has a master's degree in business administration from the University of California, US, has been spearheading Snapdeal's engineering division even before the five-year company tweaked its model to that of a marketplace.

"Misra has been a valuable member of our team and has played a key role in helping Snapdeal build a strong technology platform. He has decided to pursue other interests now, and we wish him all the best for that," a Snapdeal spokesperson said.

Misra has also been part of Snapdeal's decision-making team for acquisitions in the technology space. He also played a major role in setting up the company's innovation centre in Bengaluru.

Last year, Snapdeal raised over $1 billion. Of that, it has been spending a substantial portion on developing technology, amid competition from rivals such as Flipkart and Amazon.

The Kunal Bahl-led Snapdeal has been robust on inorganic growth, recently buying out luxury fashion portal Exclusively.com.

AMITABH MISRA
| He joined Snapdeal in 2011
| He was key builder behind Snapdeal's technology platform
| He is credited with the mobile revolution at Snapdeal