Truecaller's founders step down as the spam blocking app regains momentum
The co-founders of Swedish caller identification app Truecaller are stepping back from day-to-day operations, marking the end of an era for one of The co-founders of Swedish caller identification app Truecaller are stepping back from day-to-day operations.
The co-founders of Swedish caller identification app Truecaller are stepping back from day-to-day operations, marking the end of an era for one of Sweden’s most successful consumer technology companies.
Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam (pictured above), who co-founded Truecaller in 2009, will hand over control in January to Rishit Jhunjhunwala, the company’s product chief and head of its crucial Indian business. Both founders will remain with the company as strategic advisors and board members.
“We’re approaching half-a-billion users, and I am convinced we can reach one billion users within a few years,” said Mamedi in his final quarterly statement as chief executive. “We are one of the very few companies globally whose product has managed to attract hundreds of millions of people. By doing that, we have put Sweden on the world map, [and] that accomplishment is something my co-founder Nami and I are incredibly proud of.”
Article
Nami Zarringhalam
Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder
Born year: 1984
Working at Truecaller since: 2009
Background: Co-founder of Truecaller
Other current assignments: Chairman of the board of Zarringhalam Ventures AB. Board member of the Goodsport Foundation, True Software SPV AB.
Previous assignments (last 5 years): Chairman at True Software Scanadinavia AB, Board member of True Software EC AB, True Software EC II AB, True Software EC III AB and True Software EC IV AB
Education: Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and Engineering Management at Royal Institute of Technology
Holding in Truecaller: 23,391,900 A shares and 3,963,587 B shares and 95,000 restricted share units from LTIP 2022
Alan Mamedi
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
Born year: 1984
Working at Truecaller since: 2009
Background: Co-founder of Truecaller in 2009
Previous assignments (last 5 years): Chairman of the Board in True Software EC III AB and True Software EC IV. Board member of True Software EC AB and True Software EC II AB.
Other current assignments: CEO of Truecaller AB, Board member of ALSA Capital AB and ALSA Financials AB, True Software SPV AB.
Education: Studies in Computer Science at the Royal Institute of Technology
Holding in Truecaller: 23,391,900 A shares and 3,963,587 B shares and 95,000 restricted share units from LTIP 2022
Odd Bolin
Chief Financial Officer
Born year: 1963
Working at Truecaller since: 2020
Background: CFO of Zacco, CFO of Sinch, CFO of G5 Entertainment, , MD Cybercom Sweden, CFO Cybercom Group, partner at Ceres Corporate Advisors and Hagströmer & Qviberg fondkommission.
Previous assignments (last 5 years): Chairman of the board of Omegapoint, board member and chairman of the board of a number of Zacco and Sinch group subsidiaries, senior advisor to Tessin AB. Board member of True Software EC AB, True Software EC II AB, True Software EC III AB and True Software EC IV AB.
Other current roles: Board member and CEO of HOB Management AB. Chairman of the board of Senarion AB and board member in Howwe AB and Optimist’s Edge Media AB
Education: PhD in spaceplasma physics at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Master of ScienceinEngineeringPhysicsattheRoyal Institute of Technology,Certified financial Analyst (CFA) at Stockholm School of Economics.
Holding in Truecaller: 154,000 B shares, 90,000 restricted share units, 30,000 Warrants from LTIP 2022, 87,000 stock options from LTIP 2023 and 533,333 stock options from LTIP 2024
Fredrik Kjell
Chief Operating Officer
Born: 1981
Working at Truecaller since: 2020
Background: Chief Product Officer and executive management member at Kindred Group, Head of Gaming at Kindred Group, Commercial Manager at NYX Gaming Group, Director of Product at Amaya Gaming.
Previous assignments (last 5 years): Member of the board of Relax Gaming Ltd. Chief Product Officer of Kindred Group. Head of Gaming at Kindred Group.
Other current assignments: -
Education: Studied a Master’s program in Intellectual Capital Management and a bachelor's program in Information Technology from Chalmers University of Technology
Holding in Truecaller: 34,800 B shares, 30,000 warrants and 90,000 restricted share units from LTIP 2022, 65,000 stock options from LTIP 2023 and 450,000 stock options from LTIP 2024
Rishit Jhunjhunwala
Chief Product Officer and MD Truecaller India
Born year: 1977
Working at Truecaller since: 2015
Background: Vice President, July Systems and Co-founder at Cloud Magic Inc.
Other current assignments: -
Previous assignments (last 5 years): -
Education: Business Management at Bangalore University
Holding in Truecaller: 12,436 shares and 250,000 warrants from LTIP 2021, 30,000 warrants and 90,000 restricted share units from LTIP 2022, 84,000 stock options from LTIP 2023 and 550,000 stock options from LTIP 2024
Fatima Antonsson
Chief Human Resources Officer
Born year: 1967
Working at Truecaller since: 2022
Background: VP Employee Excellence at Syncron AB, CHRO at iZettle (PayPal), HR Director at Trygg-Hansa, HR Director at EVRY Sweden, Head of HR Cygate Sweden & Finland (Telia), Director HR & Administration at Cybernetics, Managing Director at Karell Software Associates, Founder & partner Ettor & Nollor HB, Managing Director Futurekids and Funkids.
Current assignments: Deputy board member Fligona AB.
Previous assignments (last 5 years): VP Employee Excellence Syncron, CHRO iZettle, HR Director Trygg-Hansa.
Education: Political Science and International relations at Stockholm University.
Holding in Truecaller: 3 756 B-shares, 18 000 warrants, 80 000 restricted share units (RSU's) from LTIP 2022, 57,000 stock options from LTIP 2023 and 191,000 stock options from LTIP 2024
Ola Espelund
Chief Corporate Affairs Officer
Born year: 1982
Working at Truecaller since: 2021
Background: General Counsel and member of the management team for Marginalen Bank, Senior Group Legal Counsel for Telia Company, Senior Associate for Mannheimer Swartling
Previous assignments (last 5 years): Board member of Fält Communications AB and Fält Incentive AB. Managing director of Central Asian Telecommunication Development B.V. (Netherlands). Chairman of the Board of True Software EC AB, True Software EC II AB, True Software EC III AB and True Software EC IV AB.
Other current assignments: -
Education: Law degree (LLM) and Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Lund University.
Holding in Truecaller : 6,750 B-shares, 100,000 restricted share units from LTIP 2022, 83,000 stock options from LTIP 2023 and 550,000 stock options from LTIP 2024
Ben Zhang
Chief Business Officer
Born year: 1983
Working at Truecaller since: 2022
Background: Director of Strategic Development at Sequoia India and Southeast Asia, Principal at KKR Capstone, Co-founder and COO at Airizu, Consultant at Bain & Company..
Other current assignments: Truecaller SEA Pte Ltd
Education: MBA degree from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and BSc degrees in Electrical Engineering and Economics from Brigham Young University.
Holding in Truecaller: 233,333 warrants from LTIP 2021, 20,000 warrants and 65,000 restricted share units from LTIP 2022, 64,000 stock options from LTIP 2023 and 466 667 stock options from LTIP 2024
Mission and Vision
Our Mission
We are on a mission to build trust in communication. Truecaller is the leading global platform for verifying contacts and blocking unwanted communication. We enable safe and relevant conversations between people and make it efficient for business to connect with consumers. Fraud and unwanted communication are endemic to digital economies, especially in emerging markets. Truecaller is an essential part of everyday communication for over 425 million active users, with a billion downloads since launch and 100 billion unwanted calls identified and blocked.
Our Vision
At Truecaller, we aspire to make tomorrow's communication smarter, safer and more efficient. We were founded to create a service that would easily identify incoming calls from unknown phone numbers, but as the problem with fraud and unwanted communication grew, so did we.