All I want for Christmas is a paid IOU

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Hello reader,

I’ve always been picky about who I choose to be close with. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not unfriendly, but I do put a lot of thought into who I consider to be part of my inner circle.

This means that the number of friends has gotten kind of small over the years, but I don’t mind it. Quality over quantity holds for many things.

Of course, it takes a while to know whether someone is a friend worth keeping. Unfortunately for several of those who associated themselves with Rebekah Rankine – the woman linked to the departure of Jakob Angele from Foodpanda as its CEO – that was enough time for things to go wrong.

Today we look at:

• The history of the former Foodpanda lead’s ex
• The massive series E of an Indian B2B commerce firm
• Other newsy highlights such as Temu’s latest lawsuit against Shein and the successful funding closes of an EV startup and a cybersecurity firm

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Pay me what you owe me

Image credit: Timmy Loen

I tend to be very sensitive about paying back money I owe, even if it’s small amounts. I try to be as prompt as possible, even if I’m dealing with a stranger (like when I buy basketball cards from Facebook groups).

In the case of Rankine, she is alleged to have owed multiple people money, resulting in court orders asking her to pay up. But that’s not all that happened.

• You did it first: In public Instagram posts that included screenshots of her conversations with Angele, Rankine claimed Foodpanda’s longtime boss was forced to leave for leaking information about the firm’s potential sale to super app Grab. In an earlier post, however, Rankine herself had revealed that a deal was in the works. This wasn’t the first time that she had involved the other party’s employers in disputes.
• UK-SG: Tech in Asia’s investigation confirmed that Rankine has had police reports or court cases filed against her from as far back as 2021 in both Singapore and London.
• Case by case: One alleged victim filed a police report in 2022, claiming that Rankine owed them S$760, while another two complained about being shafted of rental payments. Rankine hasn’t complied with any court orders to pay up.

Read more: Legal woes, police reports trail woman linked to ex-Foodpanda CEO’s exit

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