Food delivery major Swiggy elevates top executive Phani Kishan as co-founder

Swiggy has elevated Phani Kishan Addepalli, its vice-president for strategy and investments, to a co-founder's role.

This will make Phani the third Swiggy co-founder, joining the original co-founders Sriharsha Majety and Nandan Reddy. Another co-founder Rahul Jaimini had quit in May 2020 to start up Pesto Tech.

Majety further said that Phani was part of the core team that helped shape Swiggy's values early on. "His energy, can-do attitude and founder mentality are all goal-worthy for any Swiggster to succeed here and make a huge impact in the company's future", Majety said.

The move to elevate a top executive to a founder's position is part of a growing trend among India's startups, to recognise core members of the team. While founders traditionally are known as those who start the company, startups have been broadening their founder pool as they scale.