In our weekly tech mafia series we cover the biggest tech mafias in Silicon Valley and beyond, taking a closer look at what companies former employees have started, how much money they’ve raised, and who their investors are.
What is a tech mafia group?
Disruptive startups like PayPal have produced a line of ex employees who go on to start their own influential startups. For example, employees who worked at PayPal went on to found companies like LinkedIn and YouTube.
The Airbnb Mafia
This week we cover the top 38 startups founded by former employees of Airbnb, including rising stars.
Quick stats on the Airbnb Mafia:
Below is a breakdown of the top movers and shakers, followed by the rising stars of the Airbnb Mafia. Coinbase is for the moment the only company from this tech mafia group to have IPO'd.
Founder: Eric Levine, Steve Kirkham
Airbnb Role: Engineer, Product Lead
Capital Raised: $11.6M
Investors: Mayfield Fund
Stage: Series A
Berbix simplifies the online verification of photo IDs. Founded by former leaders in Trust & Safety at Airbnb and supported by Y Combinator and Initialized Capital, Berbix combines expertise in identity and fraud prevention.
Founder: Paul Yang, James Mayfield, Nick Handel
Airbnb Role: Engineering Manager, Director of PM, Infrastructure, Product Manager
Capital Raised: $24.5M
Investors: Index Ventures
Stage: Series A
Transform App is a metrics-first business intelligence product that goes beyond traditional BI tools. It leverages MetricFlow, an advanced open-source semantic layer, to provide powerful analytics capabilities.
Founder: Brian Armstrong
Airbnb Role: Technical Product Manager
Capital Raised: $498.7M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Public
Coinbase, founded in 2012, is a leading digital currency wallet and platform facilitating transactions with cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, ethereum, and litecoin.
Founder: Lu Cheng, Rujul Zaparde
Airbnb Role: Head of Engineering, Product Manager
Capital Raised: $181.3M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Series C
Zip is a leading intake-to-procure platform trusted by enterprises and high-growth startups.
Founder: Jack Naglieri
Airbnb Role: Security Engineering Manager
Capital Raised: $140.5M
Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners
Stage: Series B
Panther Labs, founded by experienced security practitioners, has developed Panther—a practical threat detection and response platform.
Founder: Alexander Leishman
Airbnb Role: Security Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $52.7M
Investors: Goldcrest Capital
Stage: Series B
River Financial is a San Francisco-based financial institution that empowers clients to harness the possibilities of Bitcoin.
Founder: Nick Grandy
Airbnb Role: Lead Engineer
Capital Raised: $240.2M
Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners
Stage: Series D
Outschool is an innovative education platform that offers engaging, small-group online classes for kids. Taught by experienced teachers via live video, Outschool allows children to explore their interests in-depth.
Founder: Florian Leibert, Tobi Knaup
Airbnb Role: Tech Lead
Capital Raised: $247.3M
Investors: Foundation Capital
Stage: Series D
D2iQ is the leading provider of an independent Kubernetes platform that simplifies and automates enterprise-grade production at scale.
Founder: Laura Modi, Sarah Hardy
Airbnb Role: Director of Hospitality, Head of Planning & Operations
Capital Raised: $21.5M
Investors: Bolt
Stage: Series A
Bobbie, the pioneering infant formula company, is founded and led by moms and women in the U.S. Their European-style recipe, crafted with pasture-raised milk from Organic Valley farms, surpasses FDA requirements.
Founder: Chetan Sharma
Airbnb Role: Data Science
Capital Raised: $19.5M
Investors: Menlo Ventures
Stage: Series A
Eppo is a cutting-edge A/B experimentation platform designed to empower product teams and foster an entrepreneurial culture.
Founder: Justin Santamaria
Airbnb Role: Director - Platforms & Guest Experience
Capital Raised: $110.5M
Investors: Courtside Ventures
Stage: Series C
Future revolutionizes personal training with its modern approach. Users can easily match with their ideal coach and enjoy personalized workout plans tailored to their goals.
Founder: Michael Chen
Airbnb Role: Engineering Manager
Capital Raised: $16.2M
Investors: Great Oaks
Stage: Series A
Motivo Health is a virtual clinical supervision platform based in Atlanta, Georgia. They provide a solution for behavioral health employers by offering virtual clinical supervision for individuals seeking licensure in fields such as therapy, social work, behavior analysis, and psychology.
Founder: James Wong
Airbnb Role: Engineering Manager
Capital Raised: $22.1M
Investors: Village Global
Stage: Series A
XP Health is an artificial intelligence-powered vision benefits platform for employees.
Founder: Michael Weiss
Airbnb Role: Product & Operations
Capital Raised: $23.7M
Investors: Winklevoss Capital
Stage: Series B
RISE Brewing Co. creates exceptional, organic beverages for conscious individuals.
Founder: Clay Schubiner
Airbnb Role: Senior Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $27M
Investors: Forerunner Ventures
Stage: Series A
Canal is a pioneering platform that empowers brands to optimize distribution and merchandising strategies. They enable inventory-free product drops, mini collections, and evergreen marketplaces, allowing brands to sell other brands' products.
Founder: Gunnar Froh
Airbnb Role: International
Capital Raised: $81.9M
Investors: FJ Labs
Stage: Series B
Wunder Mobility is a global leader in vehicle sharing solutions, offering customizable software and hardware for bike, scooter, and car-sharing systems.
Founder: Andrew Swain
Airbnb Role: Chief Financial Officer
Capital Raised: $135.7M
Investors: Founders Fund
Stage: Series C
Sundae assists homeowners and investors in achieving the optimal outcome when buying or selling distressed properties. Through the Sundae Marketplace, sellers and buyers connect to transact properties in need of repair.
Founder: Joe Doliner
Airbnb Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $28.1M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Series B
Pachyderm revolutionizes data engineering with cost-effective scalability.
Founder: Maxime Beauchemin
Airbnb Role: Data Engineer
Capital Raised: $48.4M
Investors: Redpoint
Stage: Series B
Preset is an open analytics data platform, powered by Apache Superset™, enabling teams to efficiently work with data. Its intuitive visual interface allows users to explore and analyze data.
Founder: Antonio Molins
Airbnb Role: Search & Discovery
Capital Raised: $44.6M
Investors: Ribbit Capital
Stage: Series A
Justos is a startup offering fair, smart, and human-centered insurance solutions for individuals seeking greater security but lacking car insurance or clarity on their current policies.
Founder: Craig Isakow
Airbnb Role: Senior Manager
Capital Raised: $160M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Series A
Moonshot Brands specializes in acquiring, operating, and growing e-commerce businesses. They empower entrepreneurs and offer a $25,000 referral program for successful deals. With a focus on an omni-channel future, they assist businesses built on platforms like Amazon or Shopify in taking their ventures to the next level.
Founder: Marc Bhargava
Airbnb Role: Business Development
Capital Raised: $40.7M
Investors: Founders Fund
Stage: Series A
Tagomi is an electronic brokerage for digital assets, providing institutional-grade services and robust infrastructure.
Founder: Tom Petit
Airbnb Role: Strategic Finance and Data Science
Capital Raised: $222M
Investors: Sequoia Capital
Stage: Series B
Landis assists renters in transitioning to homeownership. Their algorithms provide guidance on mortgage eligibility and purchasing a home.
Founder: Karri Saarinen
Airbnb Role: Principal Designer
Capital Raised: $17.2M
Investors: Sequoia Capital
Stage: Series A
Linear allows users to manage software development and track bugs.
Founder: Warren S.
Airbnb Role: Software Engineer Intern
Capital Raised: $18M
Investors: Founders Fund
Stage: Series A
Supermove is a web-based software designed to help moving and storage companies.
Founder: Jeremy Huang
Airbnb Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $23.4M
Investors: Nexus Venture Partners
Stage: Series A
Daloopa is a provider of AI-powered investment research data, offering a comprehensive solution for financial institutions such as asset managers, investment banks, and governments.
Founder: Akbar Thobhani
Airbnb Role: Advisor
Capital Raised: $23.1M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Series A
sFOX is a full-service crypto prime dealer catering to institutional investors.
Founder: Amol Jain
Airbnb Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $16.5M
Investors: Khosla Ventures
Stage: Series A
WorkWhile is a labor technology platform that helps workers find jobs that fit their skills, schedule, and location.
Founder: Jiang Chen
Airbnb Role: Software Engineer & Tech Lead
Capital Raised: $305M
Investors: Lightspeed Venture Partners
Stage: Series C
Moveworks is an enterprise copilot platform that integrates and streamlines various business systems. Leveraging generative AI, Moveworks enhances employee productivity by providing information and automating tasks through natural language interactions.
Founder: Shaun Modi
Airbnb Role: Design Lead
Capital Raised: $10M
Investors: Brian Chesky
Stage: Seed
Capitol AI unlocks the narrative within data, empowering users to uncover insights and take action. With its Data Stories Platform, users can automate routine tasks and unleash their data scientist capabilities.
Founder: Luba Yudasina
Airbnb Role: Product Manager
Capital Raised: $5.7M
Investors: a16z
Stage: Seed
Zarta is a creator-focused video platform that operates on a micro pay-per-view model, enabling video creators to monetize their content on a per-video basis.
Founder: Tommy Dang, Xiaoyou Wang
Airbnb Role: Software Engineer, Staff Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $11.8M
Investors: Gradient Ventures
Stage: Seed
Mage is an open-source data pipeline tool that enables developers to transform and integrate data easily.
Founder: Mo El Mahallawy
Airbnb Role: Senior Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $6.2M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Seed
Shepherd is an insurtech managing general underwriter (MGU) focused on providing better insurance solutions for contractors in the commercial construction industry.
Founder: Greg Foster
Airbnb Role: Infrastructure Engineer
Capital Raised: $2.5M
Investors: BoxGroup
Stage: Seed
By automating the management of small, interdependent changes, Graphite empowers developers to visualize, rearrange, and merge stacks effortlessly.
Founder: Katie F. Warner
Airbnb Role: Super Host Pilot Program & Early Adopter
Capital Raised: $1.3M
Investors: Launch Capital
Stage: Seed
LTH is leveraging travel content and influencers to make vacations bookable via social media., creating a "One Click Away" solution.
Founder: Alex Mostoufi
Airbnb Role: Product Design Experience
Capital Raised: $5.8M
Investors: LAUNCH
Stage: Pre-Seed
Rolebot is transforming the hiring process by revolutionizing passive talent acquisition.
Founder: Sonia Yang
Airbnb Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $6.4M
Investors: First Round Capital
Stage: Seed
Treet's mission is to revolutionize the secondhand market for fashion brands.
Founder: Noah Martin
Airbnb Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $1.7M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Seed
Emerge Tools is a software development company specializing in mobile app development. Their suite of revolutionary products is designed to enhance and optimize mobile apps, as well as empower the teams involved in building them.
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