Hemant Bakshi, the chief executive officer of Ola Cabs, has reportedly quit the ride-hailing firm. Bakshi was roped in as the firm’s CEO in January this year.
A former Unilever executive, Bakshi was leading Ola’s mobility business along with a focus on key businesses such as financial services, logistics, and e-commerce.
Bakshi’s departure comes at a time when Ola is gearing up for an initial public offering (IPO). The firm is expected to file a draft IPO paper in the next three months.
Meanwhile, Ola is also going to conduct fresh layoffs that may impact 10% or nearly 200 employees, according to a Moneycontrol report. In January last year, Ola fired nearly 200 employees across ride-hailing, electric vehicle and fintech verticals.
Queries sent to Ola did not elicit an immediate response. We’ll update the post in case they do.
Earlier this year, Ola announced that it had turned EBITDA profitable in FY23. Moreover, the company managed to cut down its losses by nearly 50% to Rs 772 crore during FY23 against Rs 1,522 crore in FY22. During the period, its revenue jumped 42% to Rs 2,799 crore as compared to Rs 1,970 crore. It is yet to file audited financials for FY24.
Recently, Ola also announced that it is rolling back its services from international markets such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The move is likely due to its shift in attention towards launching an IPO.
This is the third high profile exit in the Indian startup ecosystem in April. Earlier this month, Byju’s India CEO Arjun Mohan resigned while Paytm Payments Bank’s MD and CEO Surinder Chawla also left the troubled fintech firm.
