Weve brings in former Yahoo exec Rajeev Bector for new CTO role
Weve, the mobile marketing joint venture between O2, EE and Vodafone, has hired Rajeev Bector to the newly created role of chief technology officer.
Bector was previously director of engineering at Yahoo, during which time he led the build of the cloud storage system and technology strategy.
His move to Weve comes at a critical time for the business. In September this year it axed both its ‘wave and pay’ mobile payment system and loyalty wallet called Pouch which it launched just months earlier with café chain Eat as its first partner.
It was reported that the three rival networks couldn’t agree on the app's functionality. A Weve spokesperson at the time said it will continue to explore the potential in mobile contactless payments and was working on developments to streamline the mobile payments process.
Chief executive officer Tim Hipperson – who replaced David Sear in July – said Bector’s balance of experience from working in Silicon Valley start-ups to his time with Yahoo will be a major asset for Weve.
“His knowledge will help us continue to grow the Weve business in an agile marketplace so retaining our leadership position in data and the mobile web space,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bector said he was excited about working with a young business again.
“You only need to take a look at the buzz around mobile to see that the market is set to grow hugely in the next decade. Weve’s insight into the mobile user and its access to first party data is second to none, and it has a real vision for doing incredible things with data. I plan to bring my passion for innovating, experience of Silicon Valley and love of software and technology to the company to help bring that vision to life”.