Also in the news is the acquisition of Indian logistics firm GoPigeon by US-based enterprise SaaS company Narvar

Grab’s Head of Engineering Arul Kumaravel quits 

Arul Kumaravel, VP of Engineering at Southeast Asian ride-hailing giant Grab, has quit the company for personal reasons, says a TechCrunch report citing an unnamed source. Grab has confirmed the departure to the portal. 

An MBA from University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School), Kumaravel has a strong background in both business and technology. He joined Grab in April 2015.

Previously, he worked at Amazon, where he headed mobile development. He took on the role of Head of Tech at Grab in August 2015, following the departure of the then CTO Wei Zhu.

In the past, he worked at Microsoft in various roles.

Vertex Ventures launching new US$150M-plus fund for SEA, India

Vertex Ventures, the venture capital arm of Temasek Holdings, has exceeded the target size of US$150 million for its third fund for Southeast Asia and India, according to various reports.

Thailand’s Kasikornbank Pcl as an investor in the new fund, which is expected to be closed in November. Taiwan’s Cathay Life Insurance Co. is another LP in the fund.

“We have seen a sharp increase in capital being deployed in startups in this region, growing from US$100 million in 2008 to US$2.5 billion in 2015. Over 50 percent of this is invested through Singapore-incorporated startups,” said Kee Lock Chua, Managing Partner of Vertex SEA/India, in a statement.

US company Narvar acquires logistics startup GoPigeon

US-based enterprise SaaS company Narvar has acquired Nexus Ventures-backed Indian logistics company GoPigeon. The acquisition marks Narvar’s entry into the Indian market. 

The transaction details remain undisclosed.

Post acquisition, GoPigeon team will continue to work in India and will work towards advancing Narvar’s global product development and seeding its market position in the Asia-Pacific region. 

Started in 2015, GoPigeon is an on-demand, technology-enabled logistics management company. It provides a customisable dashboard and unified tracking system to help businesses place orders, track their shipments and choose a courier service of their choice.

Kings Learning secures US$2.5M from Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, others 

Spoken India-based spoken English tutoring startup Kings Learning has secured US$2.5 million from a slew of investors, including Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, the philanthropic venture of Dell Technologies founder’s family, and a few unnamed US-based tech investors.

Founded in 2014, Kings Learning has developed enguru, a mobile app that harnesses technology and its training expertise to help people learn English anywhere, anytime. The app allows users to learn English in their native language and currently supports 28 languages. The app has clocked 2 million downloads to date, and is currently being used to improve spoken English skills by more than 120,000 active users monthly.

 

The post Captain’s Log, Aug 31: Grab’s VP of Engineering quits; Vertex Ventures launching new US$150M-plus fund appeared first on e27.