The co-founders of Swedish caller identification app Truecaller are stepping away from their day-to-day operations, marking the end of an era at one of Sweden's most successful consumer technology companies.
Alan Mamedi and Nami Zaringaram (pictured above), who co-founded Truecaller in 2009, hired Risit Jhunjhunwala, the company's head of product and head of its significant India operations, to run the company in January. take over the rights. Both founders will remain with the company as strategic advisors and directors.
“We are approaching 500 million users and are confident we can reach 1 billion users within the next few years,” Mamedi said in his final quarterly statement as CEO. “We are one of the few companies in the world whose products have managed to captivate hundreds of millions of people and, in doing so, put Sweden on the world map. [and] This is an accomplishment that my co-founder Nami and I are extremely proud of. ”
Jhunjhunwala, who joined the company in 2015 and holds a Swedish passport, takes over a company whose share price is recovering after a difficult few years. The company's stock steadily lost value after its 2021 IPO, and fell more than 32% overnight after the company reported a 20% drop in quarterly advertising revenue last year, largely due to a shrinking advertising market. did.
But the stock has since recovered well, nearly doubling in value, and Truecaller announced on Wednesday that third-quarter sales rose 15% to SEK 457.3 million ($42.3 million). More importantly, after several quarters of decline, advertising revenue rose 8% in the third quarter, going some way towards alleviating concerns about a key advertising revenue source.
The company also showed promising growth in strategic markets such as Colombia and Nigeria, with user numbers increasing by 40% year-on-year. Subscription revenue in the U.S. grew more than 60% as the company focused on converting users into paying customers.
Analysts at JPMorgan say new market entries and new sources of revenue could push the stock higher.
Truecaller dominates caller identification in emerging markets, but is proving difficult to penetrate developed countries. And while iPhone users make up just 7% of the company's user base, they generate 40% of its subscription revenue. This disparity highlights both the challenges and opportunities ahead.
The company plans to release what executives are calling its “biggest product improvement in history” for iOS this quarter to bring some of its app features on par with Android.
It was a great trip @AlanMamedi @Zarringhalam. I'm so proud of you that since the company started, our user base is now growing faster than ever.
And I'm very supportive of this transition. @rishj I have so much respect for this person and have built an organization with you… https://t.co/5CkOHi1qzT
— Shaileshlakhani (@shaileshlakhani) November 6, 2024
Jhunjhunwala will have to navigate a hopeful but difficult market. The company generates more than 70% of its revenue in India, where it faces regulatory scrutiny. Recent reports have suggested that carrier Airtel's new spam blocking tool could threaten TrueCaller's dominance, but early reviews of the company's service were favorable to TrueCaller.
“Having worked closely with Alan and Nami since 2015, I know this is a big undertaking,” said Jhunjhunwala, who has overseen product development and the company's two major revenue streams.
“We have an excellent management team in which we have tremendous confidence,” Mamedi and Zaringaram said in a joint statement. “With these elements in place, we are confident that we are well positioned for future success.”