Anand Rajaraman
Encyclopedia
Anand Rajaraman is a Web and technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Cambrian Ventures and Kosmix
. Rajaraman also co-founded former Junglee Corp. and played a significant role at Amazon.com
in the late 1990s.
, India
. He has an MS
and a PhD
in Computer Science
from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from IIT Madras
(Class of 1988). While at Stanford, Rajaraman co-wrote a paper with Venky Harinarayan
and Jeff Ullman which is among the top 600 most cited computer science articles over the last 20 years.
Rajaraman went on to become Director of Technology at Amazon.com, where he was responsible for technology strategy. He helped launch the transformation of Amazon.com from a retailer into a retail platform, enabling third-party retailers to sell on Amazon.com's website. Third-party transactions now account for almost 25% of all US transactions, and represent Amazon's fastest-growing and most profitable business segment.
Rajaraman also was an inventor of the concept underlying Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk
.
Rajaraman and his business partner, Venky Harinarayan
, co-founded Cambrian Ventures, an early stage VC
fund, in 2000. Cambrian went on to back several companies later acquired by Google
. Cambrian has funded companies like Mobissimo
, Aster Data Systems
and TheFind.com.
In 2005, the business partners co-founded Kosmix
, a website which organizes the Internet by topic.
In addition to acting as a consulting assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, Rajaraman also has a blog called Datawocky, on which he discusses data mining techniques in search, social media
, and advertising.
Kosmix
Kosmix was an American privately held company in Mountain View, California. Their website earned revenue from advertising related to its categorization engine. The engine organizes the Internet into topic pages allowing users to explore the Web by topic, "presenting a dashboard of relevant videos,...
. Rajaraman also co-founded former Junglee Corp. and played a significant role at Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
in the late 1990s.
Personal life and education
Rajaraman was born in ChennaiChennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He has an MS
Master of Science
A Master of Science is a postgraduate academic master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is typically studied for in the sciences including the social sciences.-Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay:...
and a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science from IIT Madras
Indian Institute of Technology Madras
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras is an engineering and technology school in Chennai in southern India. It is recognized as an Institute of National Importance by the Government of India...
(Class of 1988). While at Stanford, Rajaraman co-wrote a paper with Venky Harinarayan
Venky Harinarayan
Venky Harinarayan is a web and technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Cambrian Ventures and Kosmix. Harinarayan also co-founded Junglee Corp...
and Jeff Ullman which is among the top 600 most cited computer science articles over the last 20 years.
Career
Together with four other engineers, Rajaraman founded Junglee Corp. in 1996. Junglee Corp. pioneered Internet comparison shopping. Junglee Corp. was acquired by Amazon.com Inc. in August 1998 for 1.6 million shares of stock valued at $250 million.Rajaraman went on to become Director of Technology at Amazon.com, where he was responsible for technology strategy. He helped launch the transformation of Amazon.com from a retailer into a retail platform, enabling third-party retailers to sell on Amazon.com's website. Third-party transactions now account for almost 25% of all US transactions, and represent Amazon's fastest-growing and most profitable business segment.
Rajaraman also was an inventor of the concept underlying Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk
Amazon Mechanical Turk
The Amazon Mechanical Turk is a crowdsourcing Internet marketplace that enables computer programmers to co-ordinate the use of human intelligence to perform tasks that computers are unable to do yet. It is one of the suites of Amazon Web Services...
.
Rajaraman and his business partner, Venky Harinarayan
Venky Harinarayan
Venky Harinarayan is a web and technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Cambrian Ventures and Kosmix. Harinarayan also co-founded Junglee Corp...
, co-founded Cambrian Ventures, an early stage VC
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
fund, in 2000. Cambrian went on to back several companies later acquired by Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
. Cambrian has funded companies like Mobissimo
Mobissimo
Mobissimo is a travel search engine website based in San Francisco, California. It allows consumers to compare prices on flights, hotels, and car rentals. It aggregates the results from over 180 online travel agencies, consolidators, and ticket vendors to show a side-by-side comparison of the...
, Aster Data Systems
Aster Data Systems
Aster Data Systems is a data management and analysis software company headquartered in San Carlos, California. It was founded in 2005 and acquired in 2011.-Products:...
and TheFind.com.
In 2005, the business partners co-founded Kosmix
Kosmix
Kosmix was an American privately held company in Mountain View, California. Their website earned revenue from advertising related to its categorization engine. The engine organizes the Internet into topic pages allowing users to explore the Web by topic, "presenting a dashboard of relevant videos,...
, a website which organizes the Internet by topic.
In addition to acting as a consulting assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at Stanford University, Rajaraman also has a blog called Datawocky, on which he discusses data mining techniques in search, social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
, and advertising.