accident
The startup community is in mourning after Kindly creator Arash Saidi died in a tragic accident in Verbier, Switzerland on Tuesday this week.
Arash Saidi was the founder of Kindly and Supercompany. This week he died in a snowboarding accident in Verbier, Switzerland. Photo: Julia Hrncirova, Abracadabra
The 39-year-old was snowboarding off-piste in the forest when he and his hiking companion entered a very icy area. The two allegedly tried to get away from the scene, but Arash Saidi lost his footing and slid down a high cliff.
Norwegian media reported on the accident early Thursday morning. Late in the evening, managing director Gunnar Bjørkavåg of Kindly contacted Shifter to tell them that it was Saidi who had died and how it had happened. Earlier in the day, the company had held a memorial service on the occasion of the founder’s sudden death.
– Love smiled at him, and he was also very happy with the solution we found for him in Kindly. His new project was in the beginning and spring was on its way. So in the middle of this flowering time, this is happening, says a strongly affected Bjørkavåg.
Arash Saidi started the AI chatbot company Convertelligence together with John Antonio Nilsen in 2016 – based at StartupLab in Oslo. The company eventually changed its name to Kindly, and there was wind in the sails quickly. DNB, Obos and Visma were among the first customers, and the well-known investor Erik Must stepped in on the ownership sidethrough his investment company Erik Must AS.
Earlier this winter, the news came that Arash Saidi was leaving the company to focus on new projects – among other things together with serial entrepreneur Murshid Ali and their ambitious startup Supercompany. The former NHST top Gunnar Bjørkavåg then took over. The agreement was that Saidi would act as chief technology officer at Kindly until the summer, and he would retain his 15 per cent stake.
Read words of remembrance from Murshid Ali, Arash Saidi’s co-founder in Supercompany.