Meet Maju Kuruvilla, the new Indian-origin CEO of fintech startup Bolt

Meet Maju Kuruvilla, the new Indian-origin CEO of fintech startup Bolt

Feb 2, 2022

By: kritti.bhalla@timesinternet.in

Credit: Bolt

It is official now

Indian-origin executive Maju Kuruvilla, on Tuesday, took over as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of US-based fintech company Bolt, which makes payments software for online shopping websites.

Credit: Amazon/Bolt

Who is he replacing?

Kuruvilla will be replacing the company’s founder Ryan Brelow, who stepped down from his CEO position two weeks after securing a $11 billion valuation for the fintech business.

Credit: Twitter

Who is he replacing?

Kuruvilla joined Bolt almost a year ago as the chief product and technology officer. He was promoted to the position of chief operating officer (COO) six months ago.

Credit: LinkedIn

From Mangalore to San Francisco

Though 44-year-old Kuruvilla is now settled in San Francisco, he hails from Karnataka. He studied computer engineering from Mangalore University in Karnataka. He then pursued his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Washington.

Credit: Mangalore University

Spending seven years at Amazon

He had joined Amazon as director of software development in 2013 and was promoted to the position of Vice President in 2017. He managed all global logistics as well as Amazon Prime fulfillment technology team worldwide. In his role he looked after the entire business unit spanning business, product, engineering, and operations.

Credit: Amazon

‘Fastest rising engineering star’

“Maju [Kuruvilla] rose the ranks at Amazon, becoming one of the company’s fastest rising engineering stars,” a blog post by Bolt read.

Credit: Canva

He has worked with Microsoft too

He has been associated with Milliman as its Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Microsoft and Honeywell as Software Engineer, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) as a research associate.

Credit: Microsoft

Bolt was founded only six years ago

Bolt was founded nearly six years ago and has raised close to a billion dollars to date. The company was valued at $6 billion in October 2021, but nearly doubled it to $11 billion this month.

Credit: Bolt

Forever 21 uses Bolt too

The company — which has raised funding from BlackRock, Willoughby Capital — counts Forever 21 among its customers.

Credit: Forever21

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