Grofers co-founder departs amid talks with Zomato for funding

New Delhi : Saurabh Kumar, co-founder of SoftBank-backed online grocer Grofers, has left the company despite the fact that they are in talks with Zomato for funding.

"I've known @skgrofers for 14 years and I've spent the last 8 years building @grofers with him. Today, SK is moving on to other challenges and I wish him the very best. It has been an honour and a delight," Albinder Dhindsa, co-founder and chief executive of the company said in a Tweet.

Saurabh announced his departure from the company via an email to its employees. While he will not be an active member of Grofers from now, he will continue being a shareholder and board member.

Grofers was founded in 2014 by Dhindsa and SK- as he is known by company insiders and friends, and was among a litany of hyperlocal startups at the time. 

Grofers and Tata-owned BigBasket are the largest players in the space currently. "Over the last few years, we ended up building many industry-firsts, growing from a small startup into one of India's most loved grocery shopping platforms. None of this would have been possible without SK’s drive and determination, his unwavering commitment towards our mission, and the way he rallied our teams to move mountains, while delivering on the lowest price commitment to millions of first time internet grocery shoppers in India," Dhindsa said in a blog post.

"Over the last 6 months, SK had been yearning to invest in his own personal evolution – to grow beyond a growth driver to become a designer, enabler and coach. And diving deeper has convinced him that this is another area he can have a huge impact on, if he can build on it from scratch," he added.