Octopus co-founder and CMO Hamish Daud / Photo credit: Hamish Daud’s LinkedIn page
Hamish Daud, co-founder and CMO at Indonesian waste treatment startup Octopus, has stepped down from his position, citing “personal reasons.”
“I believe this company will get back on its feet and make a great environmental impact again soon,” Daud wrote on his personal Instagram account. He was associated with the startup for four years.
Founded by Daud, Moehammad Ichsan, Dimas Ario, and Niko Adi Nugroho in 2021, Octopus connects users to local waste collectors that will buy and pick up their post-consumer products, which include plastic and electronic waste.
In 2022, it raised US$5 million in a round led by Openspace Ventures and SOSV.
In January, a Tech in Asia exposé revealed that Ichsan, who serves as CEO of Octopus, had shared misleading information about his academic degrees on multiple platforms, which he denies he wrote.
The startup is also reportedly undergoing operational changes amid allegations of unpaid salaries and other poor business practices.
See also: Did the CEO of Indonesian startup Octopus graduate from UC Berkeley?
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Jaclyn Tiu
(And yes, we’re serious about ethics and transparency. More information here.)
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