Maju Kuruvilla, Indian-origin CEO of fintech startup Bolt, graduated from Mangalore University

Maju Kuruvilla had joined Bolt as its chief technology officer in January 2021 after nearly eight years with Amazon. (Image credit: Bolt/Amazon)

Indian-origin executive, Maju Kuruvilla, on Tuesday became the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of US-based fintech startup Bolt. But while he is now rooted in SanFrancisco, Kuruvilla actually has roots in Karnataka.

He had studied computer engineering from Mangalore University in Karnataka before getting a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Washington.

Kuruvilla then joined Amazon as Vice President. He managed all global logistics (referred to as Global Mile), as well as all Amazon Prime fulfillment technology teams worldwide. In his role he looked after the entire business unit spanning business, product, engineering, and operations.

He rose through ranks at Amazon, becoming one of the company’s fastest rising engineering stars. He eventually led one of the largest global engineering teams at the company – a team consisting of thousands, claims a blog post put up by Bolt.

Kuruvilla had joined the startup Bolt as its chief technology officer in January 2021 after nearly eight years with Amazon.

Speaking about his move to Bolt, Kuruvilla stated in a LinkedIn post, "I’ve always been attracted to complex problems, and how to use technology to simplify and improve the world around me....  Selling and buying things online is not easy, unless you are shopping at an ecommerce giant like Amazon."

He added that only a few companies can afford to build the entire stack and keep up with consumer expectations. "This is where Bolt comes in. Bolt provides a simple one click checkout experience for shoppers," Kuruvilla said.

In August, he was promoted to the position of chief operating officer.

And although he keeps a relatively low profile on social media, Bolt's founder Ryan Breslow said while announcing his recent promotion that Kuruvilla's talents included building world-class teams and “executing relentlessly and scaling globally”.