Fave co-founder and CEO Joel Neoh to step down

Joel Neoh, outgoing CEO and co-founder of Fave / Photo credit: Fave

Joel Neoh, co-founder and CEO of fintech firm Fave, will be stepping down in early March, two years after the company was acquired by Indian merchant platform Pine Labs for US$45 million.

“I have had the privilege of a lifetime to work with some of the best talents in Southeast Asia to build Fave into a household brand name – today, one out of every three Singaporeans, and millions of consumers across Malaysia, Indonesia, and India use Fave on a daily basis for payments and rewards,” Neoh said in a statement.

See also: Fave’s investors are getting all their money back, says CEO

Neoh is one of the most notable entrepreneurs-investors in Southeast Asia. In 2010, he co-founded group-buying platform GroupsMore in Malaysia, which was later acquired by Groupon.

Fave, which began as gym subscription service KFit in 2015, got a new lease on life when it acquired Groupon’s businesses in three Southeast Asian countries two years later.

Fave offers eCard, a digital card that provides cashback, as well as a digital payments system, a deals portal, and a buy now, pay later service. The startup said it reached its highest volumes of transactions with a 40% quarter-on-quarter growth at the end of 2022.

Its other co-founder Yeoh Chen Chow will continue to lead the business, together with Singapore general manager Avantika Jain, newly appointed Malaysia general manager Aik Kuang Heng, and local leadership teams in Indonesia and India.

Neoh will remain active in the regional tech industry through his investments in over 25 startups, with advisory roles in Endeavor Malaysia, XA Network, and Sunway University. He’s also an investor in Nasdaq-listed Prenetics and a limited partner in 500 Southeast Asia III and Better Bite Ventures.