Zomato elevates Akriti Chopra as co-founder

Online food ordering platform Zomato has elevated Akriti Chopra as co-founder, ahead of its Rs Rs 8,250-crore initial public offering (IPO).

According to an internal note by founder Deepinder Goyal, Chopra has been working with Zomato for almost a decade and has held different positions during her stint.

"Aakriti Chopra (Tuki) has been here for almost a decade. She has undying commitment to Zomato and our well being. She has been one of the strongest pillars of support for Zomato as we weathered multiple ups and downs through these years," Goyal said.

He added that her work has played an important role as the company prepared for its IPO.

"Tuki, I know this doesn't mean much to you because you have always been a founder at Zomato. Sometimes more than me, but never less than me. Thank you. Congratulations Akriti for now officially being a founder at Zomato," he said.

Chopra started her stint at Zomato in 2011 as a senior manager of finance and operations, and had established and scaled business finance functions across all verticals.

She has also built Zomato's in-house Legal, Governance, Risk and Compliance teams, and had been instrumental in the company's multiple fundraises and acquisitions, as well in setting-up its international presence as a part of the Global Growth and International Operations teams.

Chopra is now the co-founder and chief people officer at Zomato.

Prior to joining Zomato, she worked with PwC.

Founded in 2008 by Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah, Zomato now has five co-founders -- Goyal, Gunjan Patidar, Gaurav Gupta and Mohit Gupta, along with Chopra. Pankaj Chaddah left the company in 2018.

In April this year, Zomato had appointed five independent directors on its eight-member board, including four women.

These included TARI founder Kaushik Dutta, badminton player Aparna Popat, Zalora Group CEO Gunjan Tilak Raj Soni, Airveda founder Namita Gupta and ex-ABN Amro executive Sutapa Banerjee.

In the same month, Zomato had filed preliminary papers with capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to raise Rs 8,250 crore through an initial share sale.

The initial public offer (IPO) comprises fresh issue of equity shares worth Rs 7,500 crore and offer for sale to the tune of Rs 750 crore by Info Edge (India) Ltd, as per the draft red herring prospectus.