Zomato names former CFO Akriti Chopra as co-founder ahead of IPO

Gurugram-based foodtech unicorn Zomatohas elevated its Chief People Officer and former CFO Akriti Chopra as the co-founder ahead of its much-anticipated IPO. Akriti has been with the startup for almost a decade now.

A letter by Deepinder Goyal, Founder and CEO of Zomato, along with other existing co-founders, said:

“She’s mostly been behind the scenes all these years, working hard and building an impeccable finance team. The quality of her work, her work ethic, and the insane ownership of the team she’s built, all shone very brightly over the last few months as we prepared ourselves for the IPO.”

This is not the first time Zomato has made an executive a co-founder. Previously, the foodtech startup had elevated Mohit Gupta to the founder’s position from his previous role as the CEO of its food delivery business. Chief operating officer Gaurav Gupta was also made the co-founder earlier. 

Akriti joined the startup in its early years as a senior manager of finance and operations, and handed over her role as CFO to Akshant Goyal in October last year, “when the CFO role started becoming more external facing in the run up to the IPO.”

ALSO READ

Zomato commits 100pc electric vehicles adoption for its delivery fleet by 2030

A BCom graduate from Lady Shri Ram College for Women in Delhi, Akriti has also cleared chartered accountancy from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India.

In April this year, the startup on-boarded four women from different professional backgrounds to its board as independent members to prioritise cognitive diversity at the company. It also expressed a commitment to level the playing field for younger professionals hailing from diverse educational backgrounds.

In FY20, Zomato's consolidated revenue jumped 96.3 percent to Rs 2,742.7 crore. Its total expenses rose 39.14 percent to Rs 5,006.3 crore.

In December last year, the unicorn raised $660 million in a financing round at a post-money valuation of $3.9 billion. The unicorn has also made notable contribution to COVID aid work in the country.