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Naval Ravikant
American entrepreneur and investor (born 1974) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Naval Ravikant (born November 5, 1974) is an Indian-born American entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder and chairman of AngelList, a platform for startups, investors, and job seekers.[2] He is an angel investor who has made early-stage investments in companies including Uber, Twitter, Postmates, and Yammer.[3] Ravikant is a recipient of the Edmund Hillary Fellowship.[4] He also co-hosts a podcast with Brett Hall.[5]
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Early life and education
Ravikant was born in New Delhi, India in 1974. He moved to New York City with his mother and his brother, Kamal, when he was 9 years old. He attended Stuyvesant High School and graduated in 1991.[6] In 1995, he graduated from Dartmouth College with degrees in Computer Science and Economics.[6] During college, he interned at the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell.[6]
Career
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After graduating, Ravikant briefly worked at Boston Consulting Group before moving to Silicon Valley.[6]
Epinions
In 1999, Ravikant co-founded the consumer product review site Epinions. The company raised $45 million in venture capital from firms including Benchmark Capital and August Capital.[7] In 2003, Epinions merged with the comparison pricing site Dealtime to become Shopping.com, which held an Initial public offering (IPO) in October 2004.[7]
In January 2005, Ravikant and three of his co-founders filed a lawsuit against Benchmark Capital, August Capital, and co-founder Nirav Tolia, alleging they were misled into approving the merger under the pretense that the company was worth less than the capital raised, making their shares worthless.[7] The lawsuit was settled in December 2005.[8]
Hit Forge
Around 2007, Ravikant started a $20 million early-stage venture capital fund named The Hit Forge. The fund invested in startups including Twitter, Uber, and Stack Overflow.[9]
AngelList
In 2007, Ravikant began co-writing a blog called Venture Hacks, which offered detailed advice on negotiating term sheets.[10] That blog evolved into AngelList, which Ravikant co-founded in 2010 as a platform for startups to connect with angel investors.[10] AngelList also operates the product discovery platform Product Hunt. In 2022, AngelList Venture raised funds at a $4 billion valuation.[11]
MetaStable Capital
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In 2014, Ravikant co-founded MetaStable Capital, a cryptocurrency hedge fund.[12] A June 2017 regulatory filing reported the fund's assets as $69 million, with investors including Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia Capital.[12]
Spearhead.co investment fund
In 2017, Ravikant launched Spearhead, an investment fund that provides capital to founders to enable them to invest in technology startups as angel investors.[13] The fund's third cohort raised $100 million for 15 founders.[3] Companies backed by Spearhead founders include Neuralink, Opendoor, and Rippling.[14]
Podcasting and writing
Ravikant hosts a podcast, Nav.al, where he discusses topics including philosophy and investing. He has also been a guest on podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience and The Tim Ferriss Show.[15]
With Ravikant's permission, Eric Jorgenson curated his tweets, essays, and interviews into a book titled The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness.[16]
Airchat
In 2023, Ravikant co-founded Airchat, a social media application that uses voice notes and AI-powered transcription.[17]
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References
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