Former CVC Partners investor Justin Choi has resigned as chief executive officer CEO), just a month after assuming the role at Singapore expense management startup Spenmo.
According to a company statement, Choi resigned from his role effective July 27, 2023, due to personal reasons. Jo-Ann Chung, Spenmo’s chief product officer, will take over as acting CEO, according to the statement.
Choi joined Spenmo at the end of June, replacing the firm’s founding CEO Mohandass Kalaichelvan.
Kalaichelvan remains a board director on Spenmo and was tasked to assume an advisory role while working closely with Choi to ensure a smooth leadership transition.
A DealStreetAsia report in May highlighted several issues at the Insight Partners startup, including corporate governance lapses and a lack of risk controls.
Since then, Spenmo has appointed new members to the board, including Insight Partners’s John Weinstein and Global Founders Capital’s Roel Janssen and Cedric Laurent Ansselman, according to DealStreetAsia’s DATA VANTAGE.
Choi, who last led Coinbase Ventures’s APAC corporate development and ventures team, has over 20 years of investing and operating experience in the tech and venture ecosystem. Some of his past stints include senior management positions at CVC Partners and Gojek.
Spenmo is backed by many global and regional investors, including Insight Partners, Global Founders Capital, Tiger Global, Lee Fixel’s Addition, Y Combinator, Salesforce Ventures, and Alpha JWC Ventures.
The Singapore-based startup was founded by Kalaichelvan and Isaq Ahmed in 2019 with an aim to help businesses manage spending by tracking company cards, automating invoice payments, and digital ledgers across transactions. It has operations in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines.