Venky Harinarayan
Encyclopedia
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 played a significant role at Amazon.com
in the late 1990s.
, Harinarayan has 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, Harinarayan co-wrote a paper on implementing data cube
s with Anand Rajaraman
and Jeff Ullman, which is among the top 600 most cited computer science articles over the last 20 years.
Harinarayan then became General Manager at Amazon.com, where he worked with Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos
to help create Amazon.com's marketplace business. Marketplace is currently Amazon.com's most profitable and fastest growing business, accounting for almost 25% of all US transactions. Harinarayan also was an inventor of the concept underlying Amazon.com’s Mechanical Turk
.
Harinarayan and his business partner, Anand Rajaraman, 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
. Harinarayan also helped create search advertising startup Efficient Frontier, and is a board member and founding investor. Efficient Frontier is now one of the 25 most valuable privately-held companies in Silicon Valley, at an estimated $275 million valuation, according to Silicon Alley Insider.
In 2005, the business partners co-founded Kosmix
, a website which organizes the Internet by topic.
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
. He is the co-founder of Cambrian Ventures and 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,...
. Harinarayan also co-founded 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
Originally from Bombay, IndiaIndia
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...
, Harinarayan has 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, Harinarayan co-wrote a paper on implementing data cube
Data cube
In computer programming contexts, a data cube is a three- dimensional array of values, commonly used to describe a time series of image data...
s with Anand Rajaraman
Anand Rajaraman
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.-Personal life and education:...
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, Harinarayan 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.Harinarayan then became General Manager at Amazon.com, where he worked with Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston "Jeff" Bezos is the founder, president, chief executive officer , and chairman of the board of Amazon.com.-Early life and background:...
to help create Amazon.com's marketplace business. Marketplace is currently Amazon.com's most profitable and fastest growing business, accounting for almost 25% of all US transactions. Harinarayan 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...
.
Harinarayan and his business partner, Anand Rajaraman, 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. 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
TheFind.com
TheFind.com is a discovery shopping search engine targeting lifestyle products such as apparel, accessories, home and garden, fitness, kids and family, and health and beauty. - History:...
. Harinarayan also helped create search advertising startup Efficient Frontier, and is a board member and founding investor. Efficient Frontier is now one of the 25 most valuable privately-held companies in Silicon Valley, at an estimated $275 million valuation, according to Silicon Alley Insider.
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.