The United States of America has benefitted immensely from Indian talent and Indian-origin immigrants and citizens. With some of the world’s best IT-based companies being led by individuals of Indian origin, many other companies too are being led by Indians, making them hot property worldwide.
Let’s take a look at seven such companies and their Indian-origin founders.
1. Zscaler- Jay Chaudhry
Undoubtedly one of the top companies to garner attention in recent times is none other than Jay Chaudhry-led Zscaler, a cybersecurity firm.
A serial entrepreneur, Jay Chaudhry hails from an Indian village in Himachal Pradesh. He established a number of companies, like Verisign, SecureIT, CoreHarbor, CipherTrust, and AirDefense, all of which were eventually acquired or merged with other global companies.
Zscaler was founded in 2007. It provides data security services to 400 companies featured in the list of Forbes Global 2000 companies, like Microsoft, AWS, and Siemens. It has also gotten itself listed on NASDAQ in 2018.
2. Classpass- Payal Kadakia
Payal Kadakia is the founder of the transformational fitness and wellness platform Classpass. The platform offers access to the best-in-class fitness and dance classes, wellness experiences, and gyms around the world.
She started Classpass in 2013 and the year 2020 saw the company enter the unicorn club, making her one of the few women to do so.
3. Robinhood- Baiju Bhatt
Baiju Bhatt along with Vlad Tenev found Robinhood, a financial services company in 2013, with the aim of providing everyone aces to financial markets.
The app gained traction with more and more millennials using it, especially during the duration of the COVID-19-induced pandemic.
After a funding round last year, the company’s valuation stands at USD $40 billion, employing 3,900 employees.
4. Instacart- Apoorva Mehta
Apoorva Mehta found Instacart, a grocery delivery firm in 2012, after failing in 20 attempts at starting startups. During the pandemic, the company’s worth skyrocketed, reaching a valuation of $39 billion in 2021.
Instacart offers stiff competition to Amazon Fresh, a company of which Apoorva is an ex-employee.
5. Clubhouse- Rohan Seth
Rohan Seth co-found Clubhouse in 2019. The social media startup made news with Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg using the app which is an invitation-only voice chatroom.
Within a year of inception, it entered the unicorn club, with over 8 million downloads.
6. Jasper Technologies and Twin- Jehangir Mohammed-
A serial inventor with over 80 patents, Jehangir Mohammed, was named IoT Technology Pioneer at the World Economic Forum.
He found Jasper Technologies, which is now a part of Cisco. He then found Twin Health, a precision health platform, that uses machine learning, medical sciences, and sensors to reverse chronic diseases.
7. Bloom Energy- KR. Sridhar
Bloom energy makes solid oxide fuels that help in producing electricity. The company was founded by KR. Sridhar, with a mission to make clean and affordable energy accessible.
The company raised more than 41 billion in funding before going public in 2018.
Sources:
5 Indian-origin CEOs of successful start-ups in North America
https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/indian-americans-behind-some-of-the-most-popular-startups-and-technology-firms-in-the-us/slidelist/81884255.cms#slideid=81884408
Indians Have Founded More Unicorn Startups In The US Than In India
