Vivek Sunder, the foodtech unicorn Swiggy's Chief Operating Officer (COO), would be departing the firm after three years in the position, with founder Sriharsha Majety taking up his responsibilities.

Swiggy's CEO, Sriharsha Majety, sent an email to employees informing them that Sunder, who supervises the company's food delivery operation, had decided to pursue interests outside of the company.

Vivek, who has been with Swiggy for almost three years, is a veteran of the FMCG business, having previously worked for Procter & Gamble (P&G) in East Africa as a Managing Director.

Swiggy's founder remembers Vivek's major contribution to the company's growth as a brand, a service, and an organization.

Vivek had been Swiggy's figurehead, communicating the company's vision. As the email stated, he helped the organization by integrating large-scale thinking with a consistent focus on scalability.

According to LinkedIn profile, Sunder was in charge of P&G's business in the "East, Equatorial Africa Region," which included Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, and a few other nations.

Swiggy's hyperlocal grocery business, Instamart, was launched with Sunder's help. This was a major element in SoftBank Vision Fund II's $ 450 million investment in the company, as ET reported in April. Rival Zomato recently secured a deal to invest in e-grocer Grofers, which is slated to debut on Indian exchanges soon.

In the email, Majety stated, "he played a vital role in extending the geographical footprint of the marketplace company, moving Swiggy beyond 500+ locations, and later rallied the organization to drive a step change in the marketplace business's unit economics”.

“During the Covid-19 lockdown phases, Sunder played a crucial part in the company's on-ground operations. Among his other noteworthy contributions, his thought leadership on strategic supply and operations moves has provided the company with a solid foundation on which we can strive to build meaningful differentiations in Rx and Dx (restaurant experience and delivery partner experience) over the coming year”, Majety said.

Majety will succeed Sunder, who will leave the company in October. “With immediate effect, I shall be directly overseeing the marketplace business,” Majety wrote. “We've been talking about it for a while, and during the last few weeks, we've been planning the next steps as well”.

Rahul Jaimini, Swiggy's Co-founder and chief technology officer, left to join Pesto Tech, a career accelerator business, last year.

These developments take place amid fierce competition between Swiggy and Zomato in the food delivery market. Zomato, for instance, has stated its intention to go public, while Swiggy is rumored to be considering a large funding round.