Zomato's Leadership Crisis, India’s 11,000 Biotech Startups, and subtl.ai Shuts Shop

Zomato has a new CEO for its food delivery business - again. Aditya Mangla, the former head of product, has been elevated to lead one of Zomato’s most critical verticals. This marks the third CEO change in the last five years for the company’s food delivery arm. A high churn rate at the top usually signals deeper structural issues.

What makes the role so difficult to hold? For one, the food delivery business is no longer a growth-at-all-costs vertical. Zomato is under pressure to reduce burn, integrate its other verticals like Blinkit’s Bistro into the platform, and manage increasingly tense relationships with restaurants. The company also faces constant scrutiny from public market investors who expect profitability and scale. All of this makes the CEO role high-pressure and low-leeway.

Let’s talk about restaurant partners. There’s a trust deficit. Allegations around delayed payments, rising commissions, and poor customer complaint resolution are growing louder. Restaurants are demanding better terms, more visibility, and a fairer share of the margins. Mangla now has to fix these relationships while making sure the numbers improve quarter-on-quarter.

And then there’s Bistro, Blinkit’s new initiative to add food delivery from local restaurants. On paper, it sounds complementary. In reality, integrating Blinkit’s quick-commerce DNA with Zomato’s high-volume restaurant deliveries requires a cultural and operational shift. This isn’t straightforward. It’s a full-stack integration task in a business already operating on thin margins.

Swiggy, Zomato’s biggest rival, is in a similar market. But they’ve managed to retain their food CEO for several years. One reason might be a more distributed leadership structure. Another could be their internal culture. Unlike Zomato, Swiggy hasn’t seen as many top-level exits, and their public image doesn’t carry the same baggage.

Which brings us to Deepinder Goyal.

There are growing concerns that Zomato’s frequent leadership changes isn’t about performance but stems from a work culture driven by pressure and control. Anonymous employee accounts speak of public shaming, intense micro-management, and a hire-fast-fire-fast policy. While Goyal has denied some of these claims, the consistency of such accounts is telling. The Chief of Staff controversy from last year—where job applicants were expected to donate ₹20 lakh and work without salary - only reinforced the image of a company that’s intense, exclusive, and sometimes out of touch.

Leadership exits at Zomato are not limited to the CEO of food delivery. From co-founders like Pankaj Chaddah and Gaurav Gupta to senior leaders like Mohit Gupta and Akriti Chopra, the list of exits is long. Most of them left shortly after major milestones - be it a funding round or the IPO. Some were pushed out, others opted out. But the message is clear: working at the top of Zomato is tough. In a recent interview with the Economic Times, Goyal stated he needed to "reboot" the organization, which involved removing complacent executives. He said, “The IPO was good and the business was doing what it was doing, and a lot of people made a lot of money for the first time in their lives, and these are competent people. Competent people can't recognise that they are actually being complacent. They don’t seek progress anymore”.

So what lies ahead for Aditya Mangla? On the one hand, he’s a product leader who knows the system. He’s grown internally and understands the metrics. On the other, he’s stepping into a role that has seen two exits in five years and comes with intense expectations. More than just his performance metrics, his success will hinge on how he manages the organizational culture, the inherent pressures, the constant noise, and his rapport with Deepinder Goyal.

Ultimately, Zomato needs to decide what kind of company it wants to be. Is it a platform where top leaders can last and build long-term businesses? Or is it a high-speed race where only the enigmatic founder drives, and everyone else is replaceable?

Let’s go through what else is happening in Indian startup world - Grab your simmering cup of StartupChai.in and unwind with our hand-brewed memes.

“Ho Raha Bharat Nirman”: India Home To 11,000 Biotech Startups, Says MoS Jitendra Singh

India’s biotech boom is no petri dish experiment - MoS Jitendra Singh says the country now hosts over 11,000 biotech startups.

With a $300 billion bioeconomy in sight by 2030, the government’s playing lab partner, pushing for early industry tie-ups and financial support. From genomics to green tech, the bio-revolution is quietly becoming India’s next big leap.

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“Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya, Bewafa”: GenAI Startup subtl.ai Shuts Shop After Failing To Raise Funds

GenAI startup subtl.ai has pulled the plug after struggling to raise fresh funds, despite an early $200K angel round.

CEO Vishnu Ramesh pointed to market misalignment and GTM hurdles as the final straw. Once pitched as a smarter way for enterprises to discover info online, the silence is now, well, subtle.

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“Inko Dawa Nahi, Sirf Dua Hi Bacha Sakti Hai”: Apollo Hospitals Acquires Accel-Backed Healthtech Startup Onco

Apollo Hospitals has quietly acquired Accel-backed healthtech startup Onco, sealing the deal back in December without public fanfare.

Onco, which had raised $13 Mn to streamline cancer care, now becomes part of Apollo’s expanding digital health playbook. As Apollo spins off its digital arm into a new entity, this move hints at bigger prescriptions ahead.

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“Touch The Sky”: Centre Gets INR 8,000 Cr Worth Proposals For Electronics Manufacturing

India’s electronics dream just got a charge - MeitY has received INR 8,000 Cr worth of proposals from nearly 100 companies eager to build locally.

With approvals rolling out in August and September, the Centre is putting its INR 22,919 Cr scheme to work. From chips to chargers, Make in India might finally get its circuit right.

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1. IIT Madras is powering up a ₹200 Cr alumni-backed fund to fuel its next wave of pre-Series A startups. With a track record that includes Ather and Uniphore, the institute’s venture game is getting seriously institutional.
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2. Hyderabad-based pharma player Sai Parenterals has raised ₹50 Cr in equity to go global, backed by Samarsh Capital and others. The funds will boost acquisitions, ramp up manufacturing, and expand its footprint in regulated markets.
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3. Hyderabad-based SaaS startup Monetize360 has raised fresh funding from Abyro Capital to scale its AI-powered no-code pricing platform. With clients like Neysa and Akoya, it’s helping enterprises untangle complex monetization, one quote-to-cash cycle at a time.
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