e-commerce
Hari V Krishnan to step down as CEO of PropertyGuru group
MUMBAI: In a significant leadership announcement, Hari V. Krishnan has decided to step down as CEO of the Singapore-based PropertyGuru group after nearly a decade of remarkable growth and innovation.
Reflecting on his tenure, Hari highlighted key milestones such as achieving market leadership across regions, expanding into Vietnam, forming a transformative partnership in Malaysia, and leading the company’s public listing on the NYSE.
Hari’s leadership also saw the incubation of new businesses and solutions, multiple funding rounds, and the recent strategic partnership with EQT Group wherein the Swedish alternative investment firm acquired it at a valuation of $1.1 billion and delisted it from the NYSE. He will transition into the role of senior advisor to the board once a new CEO is in place.
PropertyGuru announced that Lewis Ng will take over as CEO in March. With a robust background at global firms such as Seek, TripAdvisor, and Apple, along with prior experience at PropertyGuru, Lewis is poised to lead the company into its next growth phase. Trevor Mather will join as chairman, bringing extensive experience from AutoTrader and Thoughtworks, alongside new board members Janice Leow and Ed Williams.
Hari expressed gratitude to stakeholders, reflecting on his journey of empowering communities to thrive and expressing confidence in the company’s future under new leadership.
Prior to heading the PropertyGuru group, Hari was a well-known executive in India as Linkedin vice president & MD, Asia Pacific & Japan before that country manager for India. He began his career wih Ciso as a product manage/ customer support engineer based in San Jose, moving onto assignments with Yahoo India, travelguru, Myspace, and then Linkedin. He is a mentor and investor in several startops.
e-commerce
Instamart and Duolingo launch street spell check campaign for Instaprint
Duo the owl fixes signboard typos across cities to showcase instant printing.
MUMBAI: If spelling mistakes had a sworn enemy, it might just be a bright green owl with a printer. Instamart has teamed up with language learning platform Duolingo for a quirky nationwide campaign that turns everyday spelling errors into a public spectacle while promoting its instant printing service, InstaPrint. The playful activation takes aim at the many misspelled shop boards and public signs scattered across Indian streets. From “saloons” that promise haircuts rather than drinks to menus and posters peppered with punctuation mishaps, the campaign sends Duolingo’s mascot Duo on a mission to restore linguistic order.
Armed with Instamart’s instant printing feature, Duo prints corrected versions of the mistakes on the spot and pastes them over the originals. The result is a series of humorous street interventions that have quickly begun circulating on social media.
Photos and videos of the grammar correcting owl have been widely shared online, with amused users reacting to the unexpected spell check patrol. One user joked, “Ab ayega na maza bhidu,” capturing the internet’s delight at the unusual campaign.
Behind the humour lies a practical message. The activation is designed to showcase the capabilities of Instaprint, Instamart’s printing service that allows users to print documents and posters almost instantly.
The company says the feature is meant for everyday needs such as printing resumes, visa documents or last minute posters without the usual scramble to locate a print shop.
Instamart introduced Instaprint in 2025 across select metropolitan cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Delhi. The service allows users to order printed materials directly through the platform, extending the quick commerce model beyond groceries and household essentials.
By combining Duolingo’s famously persistent owl with India’s street level spelling quirks, the campaign taps into the internet’s long running fascination with grammar mistakes while demonstrating a real world use case for instant printing.
After all, in a world full of typos, sometimes what you really need is a quick printer and a very determined language teacher.
