Huddle's CEO, CTO, and COO have quit 3 months after its acquisition
Morten Brøgger/Wire
- Huddle offers cloud collaboration software and was once considered a hot rival to Box and Dropbox.
- After months of financial struggles, the startup was sold in August to San Francisco buyout specialist Turn/River.
- Now, three months later, Huddle's chief executive and chief operating officer have quit for secure messaging firm Wire. Its CTO has also left.
- It isn't clear if Huddle has replaced the two senior executives.
- Wire wants to build out its offering to businesses under its new leadership.
Huddle, the cloud collaboration service once considered a serious rival to Dropbox and Box, has lost its CEO, CTO, and COO three months after its acquisition by San Francisco private equity firm Turn/River.
CEO Morten Brøgger and COO Rasmus Holst have quit for Skype-backed secure messaging app Wire as chief executive and chief revenue officer respectively. CTO Stuart Cochran has left to take up the same role at BridgeU, which matches students to university courses.
Huddle has not responded to a request for comment.
It isn't clear whether Huddle has appointed successors to its former executives, and its future under Turn/River remains unclear.
As reported by Business Insider, the San Francisco and London-based startup was sold off to Turn/River for an estimated $89 million (£68 million) in August - coincidentally equivalent to the total funding it raised from backers. The acquisition followed months of apparent financial struggles, and a warning in April that it would urgently need to find funding or a buyer. The structure of the acquisition deal meant ordinary shareholders received just $100 (£77) each.
Wire, meanwhile, plans to expand into the US under its new leadership team and build up the enterprise side of its business. The firm has not disclosed user numbers but, according to Google Play, its consumer Android app has more than 1 million downloads.
The current CEO and cofounder, Alan Duric, will join Wire's company's board of directors and take up the role of COO and chief technology officer.
Duric said in a statement: "Morten and Rasmus are fantastic additions to the team.
"Organisations big and small are realising the need for a secure and intuitive communication tools, and Wire is uniquely positioned to lead that change. Morten and Rasmus have a proven track record in building sales and marketing teams and driving business growth. I'm delighted to welcome them onboard."
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