Ex-Foodpanda CEO speaks out after abrupt exit from firm

Jakob Angele worked at Foodpanda for nearly a decade, leading the food delivery firm in the last six years of his nine-year stint.

But in October 2023, he abruptly stepped down as CEO and left the Delivery Hero-owned firm. Around that time, news about how he had allegedly leaked details about confidential talks with Grab on the potential sale of Foodpanda’s Southeast Asia business came to light.

Angele is speaking out for the first time after the incident and admits his blunder. “As the CEO of Foodpanda, I was exposed to confidential information. At that point in time, I chose to share this … with somebody who was very close to me and who I trusted a lot,” he tells Tech in Asia.

“Unfortunately, that was a big mistake,” Angele admits.

That somebody was his former girlfriend, Rebekah Rankine. Days before the news broke, Angele had obtained a court order that prohibited her from speaking out publicly about him.

However, Rankine violated the court order by leaking the information via Instagram posts. “The person used that information against me to threaten and harass me,” Angele says.

An earlier Tech in Asia investigation found that police reports and court cases have been filed against Rankine since 2021, and that she had involved another party’s employer in a dispute.

With the way things had unfolded, leaving Foodpanda was the “only logical choice,” Angele explains. He describes the move as a mutual decision, as “the core objective was to protect the company and the team.”

In February, Delivery Hero said talks with its “main negotiating counterpart” fell through, though it remained open to dealmaking.

Angele is putting last year’s troubles behind him, and is pursuing personal projects as well as advisory and consulting work on the side.

He sat down with Tech in Asia to share his views on a range of topics, including what he’s learned from running the region’s second-largest food delivery firm, his views on the future of food delivery, and the potential for further growth.

Resisting the temptation to diversify

With the easing of the Covid-19 pandemic, many have returned to dining out. As a result, growth in food delivery is tapering in most Southeast Asian markets.

Between 2022 and 2023, overall food delivery gross merchandise value (GMV) across the region grew 5% to US$17.1 billion, according to a Momentum Works report. Apart from Vietnam, most markets posted “modest, low single-digit growth.” This was a significant drop from the 30% and 183% year-on-year growth logged by the region in 2021 and 2020, respectively.

Potential Foodpanda suitors

An opening for TikTok?

Space for more