On Tuesday, in an internal email addressed to all employees, Ola Group co-founder and CEO Bhavish Agarwal acknowledged the exit and called it “part of a management restructuring”. “As we look forward to the next phase of Ola’s growth, we are making some important updates to our organization that will enable us to capture the opportunities that lie ahead,” Agarwal said in the email. ET has seen a copy of the email.
Further, Agarwal said, “Gaurav, who has run the mobility business for the past one year and built a strong foundation during challenging times, will leave Ola to pursue other interests.” Porwal had joined the Bengaluru-based company in 2019. He had handled various functions including Ola Delivery and Ola Foods before taking over as COO in November last year.
Group CFO Arun Kumar will continue to run the finance function across the company and all key finance leaders of Ola will now report directly to him. The email said that Saurabh will proceed to look for other opportunities in mid-December.
Saurabh, a seasoned finance arm with over two decades of experience, took over as CFO earlier this year in April. He was previously the CFO of Hindustan Zinc, Philips and has worked in Asian Paints and L&T.
As previously reported by ET, Ola is looking for a public offering early next year.
Aim to raise at least $1.5-2 billion, valued at $12-14 billion. Ola’s proposed listing, which counts SoftBank, Tiger Global Management and Tencent as some of its key investors, will raise half the capital through a primary issue, while the rest will be through an offer for sale (OFS) from a few initial backers. .
Investment banks Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Kotak Mahindra Capital, Citigroup and JP Morgan are helping the company in the listing.