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 Dell Mafia
Dell was founded in 1984 and it currently operates in 180 countries - crazy! The company has seen many employees come and go, and start their own companies.
Quick stats on the Dell Mafia:
We've selected 40 of the top most notable companies, followed by several rising stars of the Dell Mafia. Learn about their investor details, money raised, and more below!
Founder: Saroja Yeramilli
Dell Role: Director Retail
Capital Raised: $94.4M
Investors: Venture Catalysts
Stage: Series D
Melorra is a jewelry brand that designs and retails affordable and trendy jewelry for everyday wear.
The founder of Melorra - Saroja Yeramilli, has a diverse experience with Consumer goods’ Sales and Marketing, Retailing, Advertising for over 20 years.
Founder: Garfield S Collins
Dell Role: Account Management – Healthcare
Capital Raised: $190M
Investors: Newlight Partners
Stage: Series A
Zing Health is a developer of insurance technology used to solve traditional underserved existing healthcare plans.
Founder: Edward Hubbard
Dell Role: Office of CTO
Capital Raised: $31.2M
Investors: SoftBank Capital
Stage: Series B
United Devices develops software designed to utilize idle computer processing power, storage and bandwidth to give companies more resources in each of these areas.
Founder: Ryan Rusnak
Dell Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $136M
Investors: Defy VC
Stage: Series D
Airspace Technologies is a technology-enabled provider of time critical logistics.
Ryan is an experienced chief technology officer with a demonstrated history of working in the logistics and supply chain industry.
Founder: Peter Goldstein
Dell Role: Sr. Specialist, Application Development
Capital Raised: $84M
Investors: Insight Venture Partners
Stage: Series C
Valimail provides zero-trust email solutions services.
Founder: Laurent Christen
Dell Role: EMEA Program Manager, eCommerce Strategy & Operational Marketing
Capital Raised: $13.3M
Investors: Greylock
Stage: Grant
Dimension Data leverages technology to empower organizations in the digital era. As part of the NTT Group, they offer digital infrastructure, hybrid cloud, workspaces, and cybersecurity services.
Founder: Adrian Caceres
Dell Role: Technical Lead and Software Manager
Capital Raised: $144.4M
Investors: Voyager Capital
Stage: Series D
Ayla Networks empowers leading manufacturers by simplifying the inherent complexity of the Internet of Things (IoT), enabling them to turn their products into smart connected systems and transform their businesses to compete in the game-changing world of connectivity.
Founder: Felipe Lopes
Dell Role: Software Developer Sr. Analyst
Capital Raised: $10.4M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Series A
Mighty Health is a personal health coach that offers joint-friendly, low-impact workouts for healthy aging.
Felipe Lopes, the founder of Mighty Health, was previously the founder of Encore, a venture-backed company and recently named DC’s Hottest Startup by TechCocktail. His work at Encore has been featured in the Washington Post, NPR, and the Washington Business Journal.
Founder: Charles Paumelle
Dell Role: UK/Ireland Head of Online
Capital Raised: $36.7M
Investors: Motley Fool Ventures
Stage: Series C
Microshare provides Smart Facilities data solutions at scale that bring safety, cost savings, and sustainability. It provides turnkey Smart Facilities data solutions at scale that bring safety, wellness, cost savings, and sustainability to clients' vital assets.
Founder: Bruce Grove
Dell Role: Senior Development Manager, XPS Gaming Platform Group
Capital Raised: $13.5M
Investors: LVP
Stage: Series A
Polystream pioneers the 3D Internet with innovative command streaming tech, engaging audiences worldwide with cloud native games and experiences.
Bruce Grove, the founder of Polystream, began his career at British Aerospace, contributing to innovative jet engine test facilities. He later led teams at Sun Microsystems and TellMe, pioneering VoIP and language recognition.
As CEO and co-founder of Polystream, he revolutionized Web3.0 and merged with Mythical Games, revolutionizing cloud native gaming and the open 3D internet. P.S. he loves video games.
Founder: Rob Dickinson
Dell Role: Senior Software Engineering Manager
Capital Raised: $5.4M
Investors: Village Global
Stage: Seed
Resurface makes every user API call a durable transaction for troubleshooting, remediation, and rich data sets.
Founder: Caroline M Freedman
Dell Role: Global Business Operations, Etc.
Capital Raised: $9.8M
Investors: 37 Angels
Stage: Series B
NurturMe provides innovative and sustainable options for busy, modern parents to help ensure their children are getting the nutrition.
Founder: Jake Diner
Dell Role: Product Engineering Manager
Capital Raised: $11.6M
Investors: Ervington Investments
Stage: Series A
Driveway provides smartphone telematics solutions for the insurance sector. Jake Diner, the founder of Driveaway, is a veteran, serial entrepreneur, and a third time founder.
Founder: Sam Decker
Dell Role: Marketing Director
Capital Raised: $130.6M
Investors: Battery Ventures
Stage: Series C
Bazaarvoice helps brands capture, analyze, and act upon social data, and enables authentic customer-powered marketing.
Founder: Doron Gan
Dell Role: Computer Engineer
Capital Raised: $28.7M
Investors: Launch Capital
Stage: Series B
ViralGains is the zero-party data gathering and advertising tool for finding, understanding, and nurturing new and returning customers.
Founder: Dominic Zippilli
Dell Role: SOA Engineer (and other positions previously)
Capital Raised: $85M
Investors: NEA
Stage: Series D
Fugue ensures cloud infrastructure stays in continuous compliance with enterprise security policies.
Founder: Christian Okonsky
Dell Role: Engineer
Capital Raised: $47.2M
Stage: Public
Volcon is an off-road power sports company that offers electric off-road vehicles. The company was founded in 2020 and is based in Austin, Texas, United States.
Founder: Robert Suh
Dell Role: President, Consulting and Systems Integration
Capital Raised: $18.7M
Investors: a16z
Stage: Series B
OnCorps is a provider of decision and behavioral science into machine learning nudges to help people make better decisions.
Founder: Eric Seifert
Dell Role: Marketing, Strategy, & Business Development
Capital Raised: $15.4M
Investors: Updater
Stage: Series A
Milestones empowers homeowners to manage their most valuable asset — in collaboration with their trusted advisors.
Founder: Joshua Aronson
Dell Role: Cloud Architect
Capital Raised: $15.3M
Investors: Snowbridge Capital
Stage: Seed
Software to improve the guest experience & increase revenue by up to 61%. Joshua is an experienced Chief Technology Officer with a demonstrated history of delivering Software-as-a-Service platforms.
Founder: Vlad Blumen
Dell Role: Account Executive
Capital Raised: $560M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Series E
Alto is America's leading digital pharmacy—with free hand-delivery, easy-to-reach pharmacists, and automatic savings investigations.
Founder: Rob Leslie
Dell Role: Senior Manager Business Process Grou
Capital Raised: $18.2M
Stage: Public
Kyckr Limited provides products for the authentication of businesses globally.
Founder: Kalidindi Bhaskar Varma
Dell Role: Sales Manager
Capital Raised: $22.3M
Investors: Intel Capital
Stage: Series B
NxtGen delivers central IT platform as a service, including data center.
Founder: Thomas Henry
Dell Role: OEM Account Manager
Capital Raised: $68M
Investors: Insight Partners
Stage: Series B
StormForge brings together data scientists and software engineers to enable businesses to drive breakthrough IT and operations efficiency.
Founder: Adam Green
Dell Role: Senior Process Engineer
Capital Raised: $47.5M
Investors: Bessemer Venture Partners
Stage: Series A
Collective Medical's platform strengthens care teams, connecting providers, hospitals, and health plans nationwide, improving patient outcomes by identifying at-risk individuals, enabling collaboration, and streamlining care transitions.
Founder: Rushton McGar
Dell Role: Senior Pricing Manager
Capital Raised: $75.3M
Investors: Hercules Capital
Stage: Series B
Market Force Information provides a wide array of customer experience management solutions, analytics and reporting technology.
Founder: Cliff Sharples
Dell Role: MBA Intern - Dell International
Capital Raised: $22.3M
Investors: Tritium Partners
Stage: Series A
Fexy Media is a top online food journalism platform.
Founder: Yair Almagor
Dell Role: Business Consultant
Capital Raised: $5M
Investors: ATX Venture Partners
Stage: Pre-Seed
gigaroo’s mission is to empower GenZ by addressing their financial needs and equipping them with the tools and services necessary for their financial well-being.
Founder: Ganesh Padmanabhan
Dell Role: General Manager, Converged Infrastructure Solutions
Capital Raised: $4M
Investors: Loop Ventures
Stage: Seed
Autonomize AI is a human-centric AI platform that uses multi-structured clinical and biomedical data combined with human context.
Ganesh was born in a small Southern Indian town, his journey encompassed cricket training, a shift to mechanical engineering, and a successful tech career. As a two-time founder, his skill stack combines business and technology expertise, fostering strong relationships and scaling high-output organizations.
Founder: Bogdan Predusca
Dell Role: Application Development Advisor
Capital Raised: $1.1M
Investors: Spark Capital
Stage: Seed
Revolutionary way of creating fitness video content at scale using AI. The founder of Hyperhuman has 18+ years in tech ranging from startups to global enterprises. Part of two high-profile mergers and acquisitions.
Founder: Greg Ross
Dell Role: Technology Sales and Consulting
Capital Raised: $2.8M
Investors: Launch NY
Stage: Seed
Ognomy is a SaaS health tech company enabling patients to get diagnosed and treated for sleep apnea completely from home.
Founder: Corey Kossack
Dell Role: Director, Center for Entrepreneurs
Capital Raised: $2.9M
Investors: Supernode Ventures
Stage: Seed
Aspireship is an industry-recognized reskilling and job placement platform that helps pivot careers into SaaS sales.
Founder: Jake McCarley
Dell Role: Managing Director, Infrastructure & Integration Consulting
Capital Raised: $3M
Investors: Praxis
Stage: Seed
Blockit provide services for connecting healthcare’s technology infrastructure and facilitating the flow of patient access to information in health systems.
Jake, the founder of Blockit, says that he has always enjoyed building and solving since a young age and it served him in his roles within the Health Tech from Fortune 30 to start-up environments before starting Blockit in late 2016.
Founder: Sheji Ho
Dell Role: Strategy & Business Development Manager, Greater China Consumer Online
Capital Raised: $6M
Investors: Z Venture Capital
Stage: Seed
HD offers healthcare financing solutions to increase access to affordable care and surgeries.
Founder: Laura Bosworth-Bucher
Dell Role: Executive Director, WW Customer Experience Strategy
Capital Raised: $3.7M
Investors: National Science Foundation
Stage: Seed
TeVido makes life-changing skin cell transplants available to those who need them.
Laura Bosworth, former Fortune 50 exec, is CEO/co-founder of TeVido BioDevices, a biotech using living cells for restoring skin color. Renowned press coverage, grants, and diverse leadership skills.
Founder: James Malachowski, Nathan Rockhold
Dell Role: Solutions Architect, Onsite Systems Engineer
Capital Raised: $8.6M
Investors: Menlo Ventures
Stage: Seed
NodePrime helps service providers, SaaS players and online gaming companies reliably operate massive IT infrastructures.
Founder: Neal Foster
Dell Role: Executive Director / General Manager, Enterprise Mobility Solutions
Capital Raised: $7.9M
Investors: SOSV
Stage: Seed
Gatehouse Bio is a biotech company developing effective therapeutics using AI that harnesses the power of small RNA. Their platform discovers disease-associated mutations and designs therapeutics to counteract their effect.
Founder: Ola Muse
Dell Role: Lead Product Technologist: Enterprise / Datacenter Solutions
Capital Raised: $5.3M
Investors: Redpoint
Stage: Seed
Scale3 Labs is a web3 platform for monitoring and maintaining blockchain networks and nodes.
Founder: Ain McKendrick
Dell Role: GM, Mobile Devices / Content / Software
Capital Raised: $5.9M
Investors: Y Combinator
Stage: Seed
Faction is a software company that develops driverless solutions based on light electric vehicles.
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