Philip Kuai Jiaqi, the 39-year-old founder of JD.com delivery affiliate Dada Nexus, has resigned from his chairman and CEO positions, becoming the latest young Chinese tech entrepreneur to retreat from the executive office.

Kuai, who received a master’s degree in logistics engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will give up his corporate roles at the Nasdaq-listed Dada in favour of “personal pursuits”, according to a statement on the company’s website.

The departure continues a trend among young Chinese tech entrepreneurs. Colin Huang Zheng, the founder of Pinduoduo, resigned as chairman last year at the age of 40, while Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, quit his corporate roles at the age of 38, amid Beijing’s increasing scrutiny over the power and influence of Big Tech.

Meanwhile, China’s rigid coronavirus control measures under its dynamic zero Covid-19 policy, including lockdowns and repeated mandatory testing, have undermined entrepreneurship and convinced some of its young, rich elites to venture abroad. Huang Yimeng, the billionaire co-founder of one of China’s largest video gaming companies, XD, told colleagues in late June that he would relocate with his family abroad next year, after bearing two months of lockdown in Shanghai.

Kuai’s chairmanship at Dada will be given to Xin Lijun, the CEO of JD Retail, a key business segment of JD.com, which owns 52% of Dada.

Dada vice-president Jeff He Huijian will become president and take over daily operational management, according to the website statement.

Kuai, who created Dada in 2014 as an open, local on-demand delivery platform, is a “serial entrepreneur” in China. He was on the founding team of Anjuke.com, an online property platform, and before that co-founded AdChina, an internet advertising platform. Earlier in his career, Kuai worked at Oracle, McKinsey and Accenture, according to Dada’s 2020 prospectus.

Dada Nexus went public on Nasdaq in June 2020, raising US$320mil . Its shares were most recently trading at US$6.53 , representing only 40% of its IPO price of US$16 per share.

On Tuesday, Dada reported revenue of 2.3 billion yuan (US$333 million) in the second quarter, an increase of 55 per cent from a year earlier, while net losses narrowed nearly 10 per cent to 578.8 million yuan.

In addition to the delivery service Dada Now, it also operates the on-demand retail marketplace JDDJ, acquired from JD.com in 2016.

As well as younger Chinese tech entrepreneurs, some of the “older guard” have retreated from hands-on duties.

In April, JD.com founder Richard Liu handed over his chief executive role to company president Xu Lei. Liu remains chairman where he “continues to focus on guiding the company’s long-term strategies”, according to a company statement.

Jack Ma, the principal founder of JD.com rival Alibaba Group Holding, relinquished his chairman’s role in 2019. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

 - SCMP