Bhavish Aggarwal, Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer of cab aggregator platform Ola, operated by ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd, will be focusing more on engineering and product, while GR Arun, who joined the company as its group Chief Financial Officer in June last year, will be looking after its routine operations, a person aware of the matter said.
“He (Bhavish) has decided to increase focus on engineering and product,” the person said on condition of anonymity, and added
“Arun will just assist him (Aggarwal) in daily operations, in case his (Arun’s) help is required."
News website Moneycontrol reported the development first on Tuesday, citing an internal communication sent by Aggarwal to Ola employees.
A spokesperson for Ola acknowledged the development.
“To drive scale, speed and quality, Ola has expanded Group CFO (Chief Financial Officer) Arun GR’s role to help and support Bhavish Aggarwal in day-to-day operations across the group,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, responding to media reports, Aggarwal tweeted: “Reads like I’m retiring! Not true. Arun is a great leader and he’ll help me manage Ola’s ops (operations). We will accelerate ambitious new projects like our car, cell, gigafactory etc. and deepen focus on tech and engineering. More soon.”
Aggarwal’s move to focus more on engineering and product comes at a time when the group, which houses two unicorns--ride hailing platform Ola and electric scooter maker Ola Electric--has been in the news for various reasons.
While Ola is reportedly mulling a fundraise at a lower valuation and is looking to expand its quick commerce foray under the brand name Ola Dash, Ola Electric has made headlines after one of its scooters caught fire in March.
The company had in February last raised Rs 150 crore as a part of its Series J round from Axis Growth Avenues AIF and Arrow Multi-Asset Fund, at a valuation of over $7 billion.
The firm, which was in talks to go public this year, has also reportedly pushed back its listing plans owing to the volatility in global financial markets and amid public shareholders dumping new-age technology firms, questioning their paths to profitability.
