Best Startup
At Best Startup US we track over 1,000,000 US startups and over 3 million people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based Founder operating in the Automotive space. If you think a Founder is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.us.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Richard Parrillo
Founder & CEO of United Automobile Insurance Company
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About United Automobile Insurance Company: Provide a high quality and low cost insurance product to the non-standard automobile insurance market.
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Jonathan Matus
Founder & CEO of Zendrive
Jonathan Matus Prior to Redpoint, Jonathan Matus spent 6 years at Facebook and Google, where he’s been focused on various mobile and speech-recognition projects. At Google, one of the early Android team members, Jonathan managed product marketing for the platform’s software releases and device launches globally. During his tenure, the OS grew from zero to global best-selling mobile platform. In his role as Head of Product Marketing in Asia Pacific Jonathan lived in Tokyo and jumpstarted regional device launches and relationships all over Asia. Jonathan received the Google Founders Award and Android Founders Award in recognition for his contributions.
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About Zendrive: Zendrive leverages mobile sensor data to provide actionable insights that improve safety for passengers and drivers worldwide.
Johnson Shan
CEO & Co-Founder of Black Sesame Technologies
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About Black Sesame Technologies: Black Sesame Technologies is an AI digital imaging technology firm that creates solutions for real-world AI challenges.
Aarjav Trivedi
CEO and Co-Founder of Ridecell
Aarjav is the founder and CEO of RideCell. Before RideCell, Aarjav worked in engineering at SpiDynamics (Acquired by HP) and as a research engineer at CipherTrust and Secure Computing (Acquired by McAfee) where he helped invent and ship security systems used by over 40% of the Fortune 500 as well as the Pentagon. Aarjav has a Masters degree in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and a Bachelors in in Computer Science from University of Mumbai.
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About Ridecell: Ridecell provides car-sharing, ride-sharing, short-term leases, and autonomous vehicle fleet services for car rental companies.
ArunKumar Elangovan
Co-Founder of Ridecell
ArunKumar Elangovan is the Co-Founder of Ridecell.
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About Ridecell: Ridecell provides car-sharing, ride-sharing, short-term leases, and autonomous vehicle fleet services for car rental companies.
Scott Painter
Founder of Fair
Scott Painter is the founder and former CEO of Fair and TrueCar. He is a serial entrepreneur having incorporated 37 companies and having raised over $1.25 billion in debt and equity capital for those businesses over the last 20 years. His primary focus and passion is auto-retail and he was founder and CEO of CarsDirect.com and Build-To-Order as well as having been an early advisor to numerous automotive businesses including Tesla. He was an Army interrogator and then attended West Point where he studied political science and systems engineering. While at West Point he served as class president before transferring to UC Berkeley where he studied political economics. Prior to graduation he dropped out to sell his first auto-related start-up, AUTOAccess, an electronic database of used cars for sale. Mr. Painter was an IdeaLab CEO and an eCompanies CEO.His other ventures include Advertise.com, SharesPost, PriceLock, CarsDirect.com, US Digital Gaming, Zag.com and Brighthouse. Mr. Painter is married and lives in Los Angeles with his four children.
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About BrightHouse, BrightHouse, Fair: Fair is a car leasing company that is revolutionizing the car-as-a-service concept.
Jennifer Parke
Co-Founder of Fair
For over fifteen years Jennifer has used her background in art direction and design to create advertising platforms and help set the vision for global brands like Apple,Cisco, Old Navy and HBO to name a few. And she’s worked at agencies across the country, including Chiat, Deutsch, BBDO and Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Her entrepreneurial smarts and innovative spirit have also led to the creation of several companies including: Sugar Shots, an organic liquid sugar alternative, SubGiant, a motion graphics company that served as a creative collective helping usher students into the business and Boombang Inc., an innovative think tank where Jen partnered to help with product development and branding. Her creativity and leadership have helped her break barriers in the business; and she’s honored to be part of the 3% of women ECDs in the world of advertising.
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About Fair: Fair is a car leasing company that is revolutionizing the car-as-a-service concept.
Craig Nehamen
Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Fair
Craig has a BSBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. He has a passion for creating new financial technology products. Previously Craig was head of strategy and corporate development at Westlake Financial Services, a national auto finance company.
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About Fair: Fair is a car leasing company that is revolutionizing the car-as-a-service concept.
Boone Park
Co-Founder, General Counsel & Board Memb of Fair
Boone Park is one of the nation͛s most knowledgeable experts on auto regulatory compliance.He comes to Fair from TrueCar, where he played an integral role in all aspects of legal operations. Prior to TrueCar, Boone practiced at the law firm of Alston & Bird. He graduated as a member of the Order of the Coif from the University of Kentucky College of Law.
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About Fair, TrueCar: Fair is a car leasing company that is revolutionizing the car-as-a-service concept.
Hope McDonald
Co-Founder, Bosch mLab of Bosch
Hope is the director and founder of the Bosch mLab at the Chicago Connectory. She and her team support strategic projects and provide consulting services for startups from the Connectory and 1871 and the various brands and divisions in the Bosch family. She identifies and consults on potential investments and partnerships and is the innovator behind both the Bosch Next and connectiCity platforms. A 20 year veteran at Bosch, Hope leverages her network to align creative, strategic and financial opportunities to build best-in-class experiences. Her recent portfolio spans various mobile, internet of things, virtual and augmented reality experiences. She is a techy at heart, UX evangelist, and known for driving innovation in various roles throughout her career.
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About Bosch: The Bosch Group is a global supplier of technology and services.
Michael Patterson
Founder & CEO of Battle motors
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About Battle motors: Battle motors is a technology leader in the electrification of commercial vehicles.
Bryan Frist
CEO & Co-Founder of Yoshi
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About Friále, Yoshi: Yoshi fills a vehicle’s tank wherever a driver wanted instead of the owner having to stop at a gas station.
Dan Hunter
Co Founder of Yoshi
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About Yoshi: Yoshi fills a vehicle’s tank wherever a driver wanted instead of the owner having to stop at a gas station.
Bryan Harmon
Co-Founder of Autoliv
Bryan Harmon is the CEO and co-founder of DreamWare Inc. Car Lister is one of DreamWare’s web application that is transforming the way people buy and sell cars online.An opportunity in business sales at AmeriLife Group led Harmon to Florida, where he was awarded the honor of Rookie of the Year. His eagerness for continuing education guided Harmon to return home to Michigan, where he enrolled at Eastern Michigan University on a scholarship to study Organic Chemistry. There, a government research grant enabled him to synthesize a test inhibitor to inhibit the PAI-1 enzyme. As a top eBay power seller during this time, Bryan began questioning the efficiency of the online selling process, which sparked his desire to change eCommerce. Along his journey, he has assembled a dedicated team, devoted to programming a revolutionary, enterprise level web application.
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About Autoliv: Autoliv is a holding company and a supplier of automotive safety systems.
John B. Rogers
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Local Motors
John B. Rogers, Jr. is the CEO and co-founder of Local Motors, a technology company based in Phoenix that designs, builds and sells vehicles. This disruptive company is redefining vehicle development by pairing micro-manufacturing with co-creation. Local Motors is the first company to utilize Direct Digital Manufacturing (DDM) in vehicle production, as evidenced when it debuted the world’s first 3D-printed car, the Strati, in September of 2014. Rogers founded Local Motors after serving for seven years in the United States Marine Corps, where he was an Infantry Company Commander. He has worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Co., as an investment analyst at Ewing & Partners, and at a startup medical device company in the People’s Republic of China. He serves as the Chief Investment Officer and Director of the RBR Foundation, a philanthropic foundation focused on education and healthcare. A graduate of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Rogers holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School (Baker Scholar).
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About Local Motors: Local Motors is an American motor vehicle company that creates and delivers safe and accessible mobility solutions for local communities.
Paolo Tiramani
Founder of Supercar System
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About 500 Group, Boxabl, Supercar System: Combining precision engineering with award winning designs at an affordable price.
Michia Rohrssen
Co-Founder, CEO of Prodigy
Michia Rohrssen is CEO at Prodigy, a growing Auto Startup.
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About Prodigy, Upstart: Prodigy digitizes the process to save customers’ time while improving trust and satisfaction.
Chris Spanos
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Urgently
Chris Spanos is the Co founder and CEO of Urgent.ly. He is the Advisor of Startups. Prior to this, he worked as General Manager at Repair.com. He was the Founder & CEO of SeniorChecked. He worked as General Manager, Vice President, Director, International Product Management, Sr. Manager, Brand Development and Marketing Consultant at AOL LLC. He worked as Award Winning Producer at Independent Film Producer. He was the Consultant to CEO of 1-800 Members/DHL. He worked as Consultant to President at VidiSolutions. He served as Consultant to VP Product Management at RealNetworks. He worked as Consultant to U.S. Director of Business Development at Moonfruit. Before that, he worked as Consultant to VP of Broadband at Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
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About Pax Momentum, Urgently: Urgently features a roadside assistance industry to the benefit of global brands and roadside assistance professionals.
Surendra Goel
Co-Founder & CTO of Urgently
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About Urgently: Urgently features a roadside assistance industry to the benefit of global brands and roadside assistance professionals.
Luke Kathol
COO & Co-Founder of Urgently
Luke Kathol is a Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Urgently, Inc
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About Urgently: Urgently features a roadside assistance industry to the benefit of global brands and roadside assistance professionals.
Andy Moss
Founder and CEO of Roadster
Andy Moss is CEO at Fabkids.
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About Roadster: Roadster provides consumer-driven commerce solutions for today’s modern dealership.
Trey Matteson
Co-Founder of Roadster
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About Roadster: Roadster provides consumer-driven commerce solutions for today’s modern dealership.
Vincent Lo
Co-Founder of Roadster
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About Roadster: Roadster provides consumer-driven commerce solutions for today’s modern dealership.
Mike Lenz
Co-Founder of Roadster
Mike Lenz is Vice President of Engineering at POPSUGAR. In this role, Mike oversees engineering for POPSUGAR’s commerce properties and mobile applications, which include ShopStyle by POPSUGAR and DesignerApparel. Mike was a co-founder of ShopStyle, which POPSUGAR acquired in 2007. Prior to POPSUGAR, Mike held several senior technology and management roles at Netscape, Apple, VeriSign and various startups. Mike holds a bachelor’s degree in symbolic systems and a master’s degree in computer science from Stanford University.
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About Roadster: Roadster provides consumer-driven commerce solutions for today’s modern dealership.
Mika Kozma
Co-Founder of Roadster
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About Roadster: Roadster provides consumer-driven commerce solutions for today’s modern dealership.
Carl Icahn
Chairman and Founder of Icahn Enterprises
Carl Icahn is best known as an activist investor. He buys large stakes in companies in an attempt to gain seats on the board of directors and increase shareholder value. Some of his more recent moves involved [Yahoo](/organization/yahoo), [Take-Two Interactive](/organization/take-two-interactive-software), [Motorola](/organization/motorola), [Blockbuster](/organization/blockbuster-2) and [Time Warner](/organization/timewarner).
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About Apple, Icahn Enterprises: Icahn Enterprises L.P. (NASDAQ: IEP), a master limited partnership, is a diversified holding company engaged in nine primary business.
Manju Hegde
CEO and Co-Founder of Uhnder
Manju Hegde is corporate vice president, AMD Global Business Unit, with responsibility for leading the development of the software ecosystem around AMD products. As head of AMD’s Content, Applications and Solutions team, Manju is responsible for driving and executing AMD’s ecosystem, strategy across the technology, marketing and business functions as well as directing AMD strategy and collaboration in engaging the computing ecosystem to shape the next generation of devices, environment, tools and application experiences made possible by the AMD‘s product roadmap. Before joining AMD, Manju was vice president of CUDA technical marketing at NVIDIA, where he focused on training and enabling researchers and developers to leverage the parallel architecture and performance of the GPU for general purpose applications. Prior to joining NVIDIA in 2008, Manju was co-founder and CEO of AGEIA Technologies (acquired by NVIDIA in 2008) since 2002, when he began his mission to minimize the challenge of physics in game development. From 1999 to 2001, Manju was co-founder and CTO of Celox Networks, which developed the industry’s leading edge router able to deliver high bandwidth applications with QoS. Manju was also a professor of electrical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis and at Louisiana State University. Manju earned his Bachelors of Electrical Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, and his Ph. D in Computer Information and Control Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He also has his master’s degree in management from the University of Bombay.
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About Uhnder: Uhnder develops a digital automotive radar-on-chip designed to automate systems for safety and better feedback response.
Curtis Davis
COO and Co-Founder of Uhnder
Curtis Davis currently works as Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder at Uhnder, Inc.
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About Uhnder: Uhnder develops a digital automotive radar-on-chip designed to automate systems for safety and better feedback response.
Joe Justice
Founder & CEO of Wikispeed
Joe Justice is a consultant at Scrum, Inc., a TEDx speaker, and coach for agile hardware and manufacturing teams around the world. Scrum, Inc. is the principle thought leadership and training body on Scrum and agile development. He is the founder of Team WIKISPEED, an all Scrum volunteer-based, “green” automotive prototyping company, with a goal to change the world for the better. Joe consults and coaches teams and companies on implementing Scrum at all levels of their organization, both in software and physical manufacturing. Joe has been featured in Forbes 5 times, CNN Money once to date, interviewed by Fast Company, featured on the Discovery Channel, and other media outlets globally for his work reducing time to value in companies globally and within the non-profit social good do-tank, Team WIKISPEED. Joe founded Team WIKISPEED in 2006, and with the distributed, collaborative, volunteer team tied for 10th place in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize and in the process formalized eXtreme Manufacturing, a process adapting the fastest moving methods of fast moving software startups to non-software development, testing, and manufacture. As a result, he is lucky enough to serve on the board of advisors for groups from aerospace engineering to manufacturing to education. Joe has spoken and/or launched teams at UC Berkley, Cambridge, Google, Microsoft, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, John Deere, and others; in Vietnam, India, China, Switzerland, Germany, France, Romania, the UK, Brazil, Canada, the United States, and others. Lucky for Joe, this is tremendously enjoyable and rewarding work, resulting in faster time to value in industries from medical devices to construction.
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About Wikispeed: Wikispeed is a green automotive-prototyping company dedicated to offering mass-production road-legal vehicles.
Isaac Deutsch
Co-Founder & CEO of WaiveCar
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About REEF, WaiveCar: Waive’s goal is to bring the cost of mobility to zero by utilizing cutting edge ad tech.
Zoli Honig
Co-Founder of WaiveCar
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About REEF, WaiveCar: Waive’s goal is to bring the cost of mobility to zero by utilizing cutting edge ad tech.
Christopher Wendel
President and Co-Founder of Volta Charging
Chris is a global finance executive with 20 years of experience running large sales teams and raising capital in equity markets. The bulk of this time was with Goldman Sachs in the United States, Germany, and Japan. While on sabbatical in Hawaii, Chris stumbled upon Volta stations at the Kailua Whole Foods. He soon after became an investor and joined Volta as partner and CFO in 2012. Chris lives in Napa with his wife and three children, loves flying, and will challenge you to a tennis match any day of the week. He and his wife each drive a Tesla Model S in fire engine red and metallic blue.
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About Volta Charging: Volta Charging designs, installs, and maintains a network of electric vehicle charging stations.
Scott Mercer
Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Volta Charging
Scott Mercer is the founder and CEO of Volta, an electric vehicle charging network with the most-utilized stations in the US. An entrepreneur fascinated by both cars and future-focused technology, Scott founded Volta to bridge the gap between electric vehicles and the mainstream. The network delivers free electric vehicle charging in areas where stations are most needed, as determined by Volta’s proprietary machine learning algorithms. Under Scott’s leadership, Volta is experiencing consecutive 3x year-over-year revenue and footprint growth. Scott launched Volta in 2010 in Hawaii, where he was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Hawaii Venture Capital, 40 Under 40 by Pacific Business News and Hawaii Business’ 20 for the Next 20. Previously, Scott ran a business buying, restoring and selling vintage cars in his early 20s. He sold a restored 1967 Jaguar XKE to seed the beginnings of Volta, which has now raised $62 million in funding. Scott currently rides an electric motorcycle, drives an electric Fiat, and occasionally, a 1971 Alfa Romeo.
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About Volta Charging: Volta Charging designs, installs, and maintains a network of electric vehicle charging stations.
George Palikaras
Founder, President/CEO of Metamaterial Inc.
Founder at Metamaterial Technologies
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About Metamaterial Inc.: Mastering Light using Smart Materials & Photonics. Changing the way we use, interact and benefit from Light.
Joshua Aviv
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of SparkCharge
Joshua is a certified Data Scientist and the Founder and CEO of SparkCharge, a company specializing in the portable charging of electric cars. His experience in entrepreneurship and startups spans over 4 years and he is a dynamic figure in the cleantech community. Joshua is also the most recent winner of the New York Business Plan Competition and won awards in over seven business competitions. Joshua holds B.A. in Economics and Masters in Information Management from Syracuse University.
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About SparkCharge: SparkCharge is an automotive company that manufactures and develops charging stations for electric vehicles.
Terrence Gaskin
Founder & Chairman of Project Overlord
Terrence Gaskin, Founder and Chairman of Project Overlord, was raised in Washington DC. Mentored by entrepeneurial parents, and starting his first job doing door-to-door sales at the age of 12; Mr. Gaskin learned at a young age the essential values of drive, ambition, humbleness and integrity that it takes to be successful. Entering the technology space after a successful career as an insurance broker, Mr. Gaskin continues to strive to be involved in several global philanthropic initiatives related to hunger and children’s advocacy. The founding principles he lives by are being relentless, passionate, focused, humble, thankful, caring and always being driven. He is committed to changing the world on multiple fronts for the better.
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About Project Overlord: Project Overlord, specializing in the creation & design of Technology designed to eliminate wheel theft on various vehicle types globally
David William Baum
Founder, Partner & Managing Director of Stage 1 Ventures
David William Baum is an experienced venture capital general partner with twenty one years in the information technology industry, including twelve years in technology finance and nine years in entrepreneurial operating management roles. As an operating entrepreneur, David founded two companies including Pensoft Corporation, a venture-backed (Mohr, Davidow Ventures, IVP, and Bay Partners) mobile communications company that was sold to AT&T in 1994. David served as VP of Engineering at Pensoft for over four years. David was a key principal that raised, launched, staffed, and managed Prism Venture Partners, a leading early stage venture capital fund. Founded in 1996, Prism has provided start-up equity to more than eighty-five companies, which have completed four public offerings and twenty five strategic mergers and acquisitions. During his tenure at Prism, the firm grew from zero to over $1.25B under management. Previous investments include Network24 Communications (sold to Akamai), DotBank (sold to Yahoo), Altaworks (sold to Opnet), Integral Access (sold to Telco Systems), Syncra Systems (sold to Retek), Softricity (sold to Microsoft), Salesnet (sold to RightNow) and Bitfone (sold to HP). After leaving Prism, David founded CCVentures, a stage-agnostic operational consulting business. At CCVentures, David assisted private companies in business plan development, governance issues, financing strategies, and go-to-market campaigns. Investments and clients include: Carbonite, OnePin, Intouch Systems, mVisible, Nimbit, H2Index, Skyhook Wireless and WorldWinner. In January of 2006, CCVentures merged with Ametron to form Stage 1 Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm. New investments include 800-411-INFO, Mophap, Gaterocket, Cuesol, Magnify Media, and AgileCo. David holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School with second year honors and BS in Computer Science from Drexel University where he graduated first in his science class.
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About CVP Management, Stage 1 Ventures: Stage 1 Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm that is seeking to build partnerships with great entrepreneurs that are flexible
Junwei Bao
Co-Founder & CEO of Innovusion
During his career, he has spent nearly 20 years developing innovative technologies and products in the precision instrument and optical sensor space. Prior to founding Innovusion, Junwei led the Sensor and Hardware Team for the Autonomous Driving Business Unit at Baidu. In other previous roles, he co-founded Timbre Technologies, Inc., the startup that invented and productized OCD, the “microscale LiDAR” for semiconductor manufacturing, and led Tokyo Electron’s metrology division in Silicon Valley. Junwei holds a B.S. in Physics from Peking University. He received his M.S. and PhD in Electrical Engineering at UC Berkeley. He has more than 40 patents in the area of optical metrology and semiconductor process control.
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About Innovusion: Innovusion is an autonomous vehicle LiDAR technology developer.
Yimin Li
Co-Founder & CTO of Innovusion
Yimin Li currently works as the Co-Founder and CTO for Innovusion.
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About Innovusion: Innovusion is an autonomous vehicle LiDAR technology developer.
Dave Grannan
Co-Founder & CEO of Light
Prior to Light, Dave was CEO of Vlingo, the first natural language speech recognition service for mobile phones. Vlingo provided speech recognition for the first Siri app and powered Samsung’s S-Voice product. Nuance Communications acquired Vlingo in 2012. He previously held leadership roles at Nokia, Sprint PCS, and Geoworks. He began his career in the US Marine Corps and holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley.
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About Light: Light enables machines to see like humans using a camera-based perception platform that revolutionizes perception for ADAS/AV.
Donny Hall
Co-Founder & CEO of SureSale
Donny helped build successful SoCal tech companies including LowerMyBills.com, HomeLoanCenter.com and Leadpoint.com prior to building one of the largest DTC auto warranty sellers in the US which he sold to Innovative Aftermarket Systems.
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About SureSale: SureSale’s Certification as a Service platform and marketplace allow dealers and private sellers to certify and market used vehicles.
Mark Haidar
Co-Founder & CEO of Vinli
Mark Haidar is a serial entrepreneur who combines advanced technological skills with astute business knowledge. Throughout his career, Mark was able to build more than 42 different notable products and grow several technology-based businesses. Mark started his first technology company in Lebanon at age 17. By the age of 21, he had built the first fully integrated web-based university management system in Lebanon, the first 3D game engine built locally in the Middle East, the first wireless application protocol based internet-to-home remote control system in Lebanon, and won a People’s Choice Award for Best Web Product in the Middle East for transforming municipality records from paper to digital. In 2006, Mark moved to the US and led the development of a state of the art research and development project for the US Army Tank Automotive Research Development Engineering Center (TARDEC). He was able to successfully create an original service-oriented intra and inter-vehicle communication system for transportation, robotic, and military systems that enhanced each vehicle’s situation assessment and awareness in military combats and have the potential to help create safer and more efficient highway systems. With a huge demand for innovative and scalable technology solutions, Mark co-founded Dialexa, a global product-focused technology innovation and development company headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Dialexa has been growing at an exponential rate with clients ranging from venture-backed startups to Fortune 20 companies and governments around the world. In 2014, Dialexa started a division under the name of Dialexa Labs, a self-funded venture lab that develops internal products or services that spins out new companies. In September 2014, Dialexa Labs launched Vinli, the first connected car technology platform at Techcrunch Disrupt. Mark is currently serving as the CEO of Vinli. Mark also serves on the board of directors for Dialexa Labs portfolio companies Robin and Silvr. Mark has numerous journal publications, pending patents, and is a regular speaker at global technology conferences. Most recently Mark founded Peace.Report, an online news aggregator that focuses on current conflicts around the world. It collects news articles that promote peace. Peace.Report is scheduled to go live early 2015. Mark has also launched LISA (Levant International Startup Association), which helps startups in the Levant region to launch and scale their companies in international markets. Mark is trilingual and holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering.
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About Dialexa, LISA, Robin Autopilot, Vinli: Vinli is a universal car-to-cloud data computing platform that turns any car into a connected car.
Michael Birch
Founder of Monkey Inferno
Michael Birch is the Co-founder of Bebo and Birthday Alarm. Birch was raised in North London, England, went to Imperial College, London in Central London (where he met Xochi, his wife), then worked in West London. After finally deciding that he had done London, Michael moved to San Francisco in 2002. Michael and Xochi Birch sold Bebo to AOL in March 2008 for USD 850 million. Their combined 70% stake yielded a profit of $595 million from the deal. In June 2008, Michael invested in, and joined the board of MyStore.com along with Julian Lennon and Gordon Crawford. He is also an investor in Goodreads, a book oriented social network. Having worked in a number of not-so-exciting computer related jobs, he relished the chance to set up an Internet based family business with his wife, Xochi and brother, Paul. Remembering birthdays was never his strong point, much to his embarrassment, so what could be better than something he could use himself. Michael was responsible for developing the original Birthday Alarm website back in 2001, but is no longer involved in its development.
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About 1% of Nothing, Birthday Alarm, Monkey Inferno, PROfounders Capital, The Battery: Monkey Inferno is a personal tech incubator that develops internet projects into successful businesses.
Matt Taylor
Founder and CTO of Gogoro
Matt Taylor is a co-founder and chief technology officer at Gogoro, where he manages the technical direction of the company’s products. Prior to Gogoro, Matt served as the chief technologist at HTC, managing the software and hardware teams responsible for defining the company’s architectural direction. He joined Microsoft in 1998 to begin development on their early smartphone and wireless Pocket PC efforts. Prior to Microsoft, Matt worked at Motorola in Libertyville, Illinois working on RF, software, logic and baseband designs on a range of analog and digital cellular products.
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About Gogoro: Gogoro is an electric scooter maker and a battery swapping system provider.
Chris Urmson
Co-Founder and CEO of Aurora
Chris Urmson is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Aurora, where he leads a world-class team in bringing self-driving technology to the transportation industry quickly, broadly, and safely. Over the last 15 years Chris has worked to advance self-driving technology and bring it to market. Chris helped found the self-driving car team at Alphabet and led the team for seven years. Prior, Chris was a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University, and was the technical director for the winning team of the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. Chris has a Ph.D in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University.
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About Aurora: Aurora is a self-driving vehicle company providing a platform that brings software and data services to operate passenger vehicles.
Sterling Anderson
Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Aurora
Sterling Anderson is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Aurora, the company delivering the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly. A longtime developer of autonomous vehicle technology, Sterling developed the MIT Intelligent Co-Pilot, a shared autonomy framework that paved the way for broad advances in cooperative control of human-machine systems. In 2014, he joined Tesla, where he lead the design, development, and launch of the Tesla Model X, then led the team that delivered Tesla Autopilot. Sterling holds several patents and over a dozen publications in autonomous vehicle systems, and an MS and PhD from MIT.
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About Aurora: Aurora is a self-driving vehicle company providing a platform that brings software and data services to operate passenger vehicles.
Alex Rodrigues
CEO & Co-Founder of Embark Trucks
Embark is working to make the self-driving future a reality. While most of the spectacle has been around passenger vehicles, Embark is working to revolutionize $700 billion commercial trucking industry, the backbone of our economy. Commercial transport stands to reap untold benefits by deploying automated trucks – particularly during the “long haul” stretches. Alex studied Mechatronics Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
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About Embark Trucks: Embark develops self-driving truck technology designed for freight and logistic services.
Dongho Kim
Co-Founder & CTO of Secondmind
Dongho’s research interests are various fields of machine learning and in particular decision making under uncertainty via reinforcement learning. He is originally from South Korea and a former postdoctoral researcher at Cambridge University Engineering Department. He is co-founder and CTO at PROWLER.io. He used to play the keyboard and write songs in a rock band. He has also been practising guitar with games like Rocksmith.
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About Secondmind: Machine learning for automotive innovators
Rodney Williams
Co-Founder | Chairman of LISNR
Rodney Williams is the co-founder of SoLo Funds and LISNR.
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About LISNR, LISNR, SoLo Funds: LISNR enables secure and seamless data transmission using the most advanced ultrasonic data technology
Chris Ostoich
Co-Founder of LISNR
Chris Ostoich is Co-Founder and Head of Innovation at LISNR, the world’s leading data-over-audio platform,and the new standard for microcommunications between devices using sound. LISNR’s proprietary technology is being used to connect the customer journey and power transactions around the globe – for customers like Visa, Target, METRO, Ticketmaster, Macy’s, Jaguar Land Rover and more. Under the founder’s leadership, the company has raised more than $50MM in venture capital (from the likes of Visa, Intel and Synchrony Financial), joined the TechStars Connected Devices Accelerator, grown to more than 50 employees in 3 offices, won a Gold Lion at Cannes Lions International Festival for Creativity, and has been named to CNBC’s Disruptor50 three times. In addition to LISNR, Chris also serves the Founder and Chairman of the professional athlete representation and development agency BLVCKOPS, Founder and Chairman of global talent series DisruptHR, and head of digital strategy for ArtsWave, greater Cincinnati’s local arts agency and the nation’s first and largest community campaign for the arts. Chris is a sought after public speaker, a contributing writer in Forbes, Fast Company and Inc., and an active investor in a variety of companies including FC Cincinnati, ShowerPill, and many more.
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About LISNR: LISNR enables secure and seamless data transmission using the most advanced ultrasonic data technology
Cameron Teitelman
Founder, Chairman, and head of admissions and oversee investment vehicles of StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund)
Cameron Teitelman is the Founder and Chairman of StartX, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit that runs an accelerator for Stanford affiliated entrepreneurs. Under his management, StartX has supported more than 1,100+ founders building 500+ companies. StartX companies have raised over $3.3B to date. In 2013, the Stanford-StartX Fund was launched. To date, SSF has invested in 250 StartX companies across 400+ rounds, investing $130 million in capital.
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About StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund): StartX is an educational non-profit that helps Stanford’s top entrepreneurs.
Dan Ha
Co-Founder, Sr. Managing Director of StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund)
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About StartX (Stanford-StartX Fund): StartX is an educational non-profit that helps Stanford’s top entrepreneurs.
Moncef Abbou
Founder of CurbStand
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About CurbStand: Seamless, cashless valet parking in Los Angeles. Pay & tip right from your phone.
William Billiter
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Acertus
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About Acertus: Acertus operates as an automotive logistics company, providing unparalleled service and visibility into the transportation process.
Scott Naz
Co-Founder, CSO & Board Member of Acertus
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About Acertus: Acertus operates as an automotive logistics company, providing unparalleled service and visibility into the transportation process.
Steve Jillings
Founder & CEO of Signal Automotive
Steve has more than 30 years of business-building experience, specifically in the areas of corporate finance, sales, marketing and technology. He has been responsible for eight startups throughout his career, taking them from inception to commercialization and in several cases leading to successful liquidity events. Most recently as CEO at TeleSign, Steve raised $79MM in growth capital and lead TeleSign to become the #1 Company in the Two Factor Authentication and Digital Identity category. Starting with 12 employees and single digit millions in revenue, TeleSign grew to 300 employees and more than $100MM in profitable annual revenue. Steve was also chairman and CEO of Vantage Media, an online digital marketing firm, where he and his investment partners raised $80MM to acquire in Vantage February 2007. Vantage Media grew into one of the largest performance-based online marketers in the country. As president and CEO of FrontBridge Technologies, Steve took the company from a startup to a global leader in SaaS email security services. Raising a total of $28MM of funding, this allowed the team to build a broad portfolio of services combined with the largest global distribution footprint in the email security category. This lead to the successful sale of FrontBridge to Microsoft in August 2005 for more than $200MM. Specialties: – Helping start-ups grow fast – Ensuring that the Go-To-Market strategy is the right one. – Raising money (I’ve raised more than $200m) – Product strategy – Sales and marketing strategy – Attracting the right people to win
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About Signal Automotive: Signal is a technology-enabled automotive wholesale platform that employs data to optimize wholesale dealer trades.
Sahas Katta
CEO + Founder of Smartcar
CEO of Smartcar.
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About Smartcar: Smartcar is the car API for developers. Our platform allows web and mobile apps to locate and unlock cars using simple HTTP requests.
Sanketh Katta
CTO & Founder of Smartcar
Sanketh Katta is a Founder and CTO at Smartcar.
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About Smartcar: Smartcar is the car API for developers. Our platform allows web and mobile apps to locate and unlock cars using simple HTTP requests.
Apeksha Kumavat
Co-Founder & Chief Engineer of Gatik
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About Gatik: Gatik is developing technology for autonomous light & medium duty trucks for B2B short-haul logistics.
Arjun Narang
Co-Founder & CTO of Gatik
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About Gatik: Gatik is developing technology for autonomous light & medium duty trucks for B2B short-haul logistics.
Gautam Narang
Co-Founder & CEO of Gatik
Gautam Narang is the CEO and co-founder of Gatik, developing Autonomous Vehicles for B2B Short-Haul Logistics.
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About Gatik: Gatik is developing technology for autonomous light & medium duty trucks for B2B short-haul logistics.
Robert Stefanski
Co-Founder and Managing Director of eLab Ventures
Robert Stefanski is an entrepreneur with deep operational and board experience in the software, mobile and Internet markets. He was on the founding management team of TIBCO Software, where he served as the Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, General Counsel and Secretary. As a member of TIBCO’s executive management team, Bob had broad responsibility for day to day business operations from its founding in 1997 to its emergence in the early 2000s as one of the leading enterprise infrastructure software companies in the world. TIBCO remains a world leader today in enterprise infrastructure software, with annual revenue exceeding $1 billion. Bob left TIBCO in 2008 to more actively pursue his passion as an advisor and board member for Silicon Valley early stage startups. He began his career as an attorney with Weil, Gotshal & Manges in New York City, where he represented technology, media and entertainment companies in a broad range of matters. He joined Reuters 1996 as Director of Intellectual Property. He has also been involved with the UM Center for Entrepreneurship since its inception in 2007 and currently serves on its Board of Directors as well as being a mentor at the student startup incubator, TechArb. In addition to his work with Michigan eLab, he is a partner with the international law firm Reed Smith in its Silicon Valley office. Bob is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and University of Michigan Graduate School of Engineering. He has an undergraduate degree in computer science/mathematics from Northern Michigan
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About eLab Ventures: eLab Ventures is an early stage technology venture capital fund.
Rick Bolander
Co-Founder and Managing Director of eLab Ventures
Rick Bolander is a General Partner at Michigan eLab Venture Fund. Rick has been a private investor since 1988 launching Blue Sky Ventures, a real estate investment firm, and entering the venture capital industry in 1994 at Apex Venture Partners where he was general partner. In 1999, he co-founded Gabriel Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in and assists information technology startups. Rick identifies the smartest entrepreneurs and works side-by-side with them to build highly successful companies from the ground up. Rick has been involved in more than 50 venture deals, and has led over $100 million in early-stage financings and has had over $200 million in realizations. Rick has served on the boards of AccessLine Communications (acquired by Telanetix), Arula Systems (acquired by Raritan), Concord Communications (IPO – NASDAQ: CCRD), Exodus Communications (IPO – NASDAQ: EXDS, then acquired by Savvis), IPWireless (acquired by Nextwave), Jacked (acquired by Roundbox), Neopath (acquired by Cisco), NetScaler (acquired by Citrix Systems), Persistent Systems (IPO – BSE India: PER EQ), Placeware (acquired by Microsoft) Tut Systems (IPO – NASDAQ: TUTS), and Chegg (IPO – NYSE:CHGG). Education MBA – Harvard Business School MS – Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan (full fellowship) BS – Electrical Engineering, University of Michigan (with honors)
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About eLab Ventures: eLab Ventures is an early stage technology venture capital fund.
Doug Neal
Co-Founder and Managing Director of eLab Ventures
Doug Neal is Co-Founder and Managing Director of eLab Ventures.
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About eLab Ventures, New Vital Signs: eLab Ventures is an early stage technology venture capital fund.
Robert Seidl
Managing Director, Co-Founder of Motus Ventures
Robert Seidl is Managing Partner at Motus Ventures.
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About AutoAdvantage, Motus Ventures: A combination of recent technology shifts and emerging consumer trends – internet connected cars, vehicle to vehicle communications.
Tel Ganesan
Founder & Chairman of Kyyba Inc.
Tel Ganesan is the Managing Partner of Kyyba Ventures, a venture firm that focuses on connected cars, digital health and disruptive technologies. He is the Chairman of Kyyba Inc, a Michigan headquartered global IT, engineering, professional staff augmentation company with customized project solutions and business consulting services. He is the Board Member of James and Patricia Anderson Engineering Ventures Institute, Wayne State University. Tel is on the Advisory Committee for the National Veteran Business Development Council (NVBDC), Board of Directors for Global Detroit, Asian Pacific American Chamber of Commerce (APACC) and also is a member and Board of Advisors of Ann Arbor-SPARK, Global Talent Retention Initiative of Southeast Michigan (GTRI – strengthening and diversifying Michigan’s economy through the retention of top international talent) and Astia (to propel women’s full participation in fueling innovation and driving economic growth). Prior to founding Kyyba, Tel worked as Lead Engineer at Daimler Chrysler. Tel is currently the President of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) Detroit chapter for the second term and previously the president of the chapter for two consecutive years (2009-2010). He served as the Chairman of TiECon and led the development of TiE’s flagship conference on Entrepreneurship in Detroit during turbulent times. Tel is the Founder & President of the Kyyba Kidz Foundation to assist orphaned children and underprivileged individuals by providing job training for job placement resulting in gainful long term career. He served as the past VP of American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin (ASEI). Tel received his EMBA in Business Administration and Management from University of Michigan – Stephen M. Ross School of Business and his Mechanical Engineering from Wayne State University and Oklahoma State University. Tel has appeared on several TV and radio interviews such as CBS62/CW50 News, FOX 2 News, Detroit Public TV, NPR, WWJ News Radio and Indian TV Channels. In addition, Tel has been featured in numerous digital and print media such as Financial Times, Detroit News, Oakland Press, Dbusiness Magazine, Corp Magazine. Tel has received several awards of excellence & honor such as Founders Award, Diversity Business Leader, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year finalist – 2014, 2013, 2012, Outstanding Young Asian American of Michigan, Special Tribute for Excellence – Michigan State Senate, Outstanding Service & Contribution Award, Excellence Award, Leader & Innovator Award. In addition, Tel is a public speaker and has spoken at several conferences and seminars.
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About Astia, Kyyba Inc., Kyyba Inc., Kyyba Innovations, Kyyba Ventures, Kyyba Xcelerator: Staffing, IT, Engineering
Behrooz Abiri
CTO and Co-Founder of GuRu
A hardware hobbyist and International Physics Olympiad gold medalist – Behrooz has always been an avid inventor. He’s spent his life studying, learning, and exploring emerging technologies. His work at GuRu stems from a wish to share miraculous technology with the world at large. At GuRu, Behrooz is responsible for the ongoing development of core technology and system architecture. Under his leadership, GuRu’s millimeter-wave technology has been developed into an accessible consumer product. Before GuRu, Behrooz helped develop system design and architecture in Caltech’s Space Solar Power Initiative. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Caltech.
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About GuRu: Enables safe, effective and customizable transmission of power over-the-air using proprietary mmWave and Smart RF Lensing technology
Florian Bohn
CEO & Co-Founder of GuRu
Florian has always felt compelled to understand the way the world works. His curiosity moved him to study Electrical Engineering at Caltech (B.S. Cum Laude), to receive an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UC Santa Barbara, and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Caltech. At GuRu, Florian is thrilled to be building technology that will enrich people’s lives on a global scale. He is also proud to be building a community of passionate and like-minded engineers at the organization. As a co-founder and CEO at GuRu, Florian brings years of technology experience. At Axiom Microdevices, he helped define and implement high-frequency RF integrated circuits which have shipped more than 400 million units. At Agilent Laboratories (formerly HP Labs) he worked on clock and data recovery circuits as well as novel test and measurement systems. As a Caltech Lead Scientific Researcher, Florian guided engineering and operational aspects of implementing the microwave system at Caltech’s Space Solar Power Initiative.
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About GuRu: Enables safe, effective and customizable transmission of power over-the-air using proprietary mmWave and Smart RF Lensing technology
Osman Khan
Co-Founder of Squared Circles
Osman Khan is the Co-Founder of Squared Circles.
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About Squared Circles: Squared Circles is a venture studio that focuses on operations, branding, capital, and talent.
Alexander Gilkes
Co-Founder of Squared Circles
Alexander Gilkes is the Co-Founder of SQUARED CIRCLES.
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About Squared Circles: Squared Circles is a venture studio that focuses on operations, branding, capital, and talent.
Victor Darolfi
Founder & CEO of RoboTire
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About RoboTire: RoboTire automates vehicle maintenance by combining robots and computer vision.
Richard Williams
Co-Founder of Texas Direct Auto
Graduated with a Finance Degree from Stephen F. Austin State University. Co Founded Medianet, a web services company that supplied fortune 500 clients with billing solutions to deregulated energy markets. Co Founded Texas Direct Auto in 2002 and grew it to the largest independent dealer in the United States.
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About Joyride.com, Texas Direct Auto: With over $500M in annual sales, Texas Direct is the largest independent dealership in the nation and is the largest online Dealership.
Adam Roe
Founder and CEO of Zero Labs Group
Founder, CEO and Product Architect for Zero Labs Group – a privately held Southern California based business incubator and idea development firm for business and retail strategies, product ideation, business model architecture and exit strategy. ZLG has a specific focus on innovation for EV Automotive, Digital Retail, Snowsport Equipment and Conservation sectors. Adam competed as a skateboarder for 14 years. With a background in Advertising and design, and inspired by skateboardings energy and creativity, he started Lunchbox Studios in 1991 as an type-foundry, advertising and design company landing MTV as his first client. After, Adam went on to produce advertising and branding for hundreds of top level clients, founded New York’s Pavement Magazine, Reelhouse Footage and FX. Along with former partners, Adam reopened the Los Angeles office of Lunchbox in 2004 as the agency CEO to develop business solutions for Walmart, Unilever, P&G, Time Warner and Viacom. Adam also is a Licensed Master practitioner Neuro Linguistic Programming, Licensed Clinical Hypnotherapist, Certified NLP Communication Skills Master, Time Line therapist and has certifications from Society of NLP, American Institute Hypnotherapy and American Board Hypnotherapy among others.
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About Zero Labs Group: Private Business Incubator/Lab with a specific focus on innovation for EV Automotive, Retail, and Conservation technology.
Matthew Levin
Co-Founder and CEO of Donut Media
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About Donut Media: A digital network for the next generation of automotive enthusiasts.
Christopher Heiser
Founder & CEO of Renovo Auto
Christopher Heiser is a Founder & CEO at Renovo Auto
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About Renovo Auto: Renovo builds AWare the software platform for autonomous vehicles
Taras Kravtchouk
Founder , CEO & Designer of Tarform Motorcycles
Taras Kravtchouk is the Founder , CEO & Designer at TARFORM.
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About Craftsman Ave, Tarform Motorcycles, TriplAgent: Electric, zero-emission premium motorcycles, developed using sustainable materials and smart connectivity.
Jean-Christian (JC) Jung
Co-Founder of Tarform Motorcycles
Jean-Christian (“JC”) is a repeat entrepreneur and advisor with vast expertise in strategy planning, business development and bringing ideas to life in various industries and across multiple geographies. His goal is to build innovative and successful businesses, that contribute to a larger positive impact on the world. JC advises early-stage and growth companies across various business topics, including fundraising, market entry, product validation and recruitment. He is also co-founder of Tarform, an electric motorcycle start-up set to disrupt the two-wheeled transportation industry through advanced manufacturing and clean technology.
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About JCJ360, Tarform Motorcycles: Electric, zero-emission premium motorcycles, developed using sustainable materials and smart connectivity.
Volkmar Uhlig
Co-Founder & CTO of Ghost
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About Ghost: Ghost is developing the revolutionary technology that finally makes self-driving safe.
John Hayes
Founder & CEO of Ghost
John Hayes joined John Colgrove to co-found Pure Storage in 2009 after serving in Yahoo!’s Office of the Chief Technologist, where he investigated web architectures for collaborative development of highly-reliable systems. He joined Yahoo! via the acquisition of Bix, where he was a founding engineer. His work prior to Yahoo! focused on developing distributed platforms for real-time interpersonal interaction in a variety of areas including entertainment, medicine, psychology, and defense. During this time, he became interested in the underlying architecture of reliable distributed systems, particularly those built from unreliable components. His diverse experiences have led him to develop new approaches to make today’s increasingly complex distributed systems more reliable. John holds a degree in Computer and Systems Engineering from Guelph University in Ontario, Canada.
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About Ghost: Ghost is developing the revolutionary technology that finally makes self-driving safe.
Donald Abrams
Founder of Reliable Carriers
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About Reliable Carriers: The nation’s largest exotic, luxury & collector car transport company
David Moxam
Founder & Managing Partner of MalibuIQ
David Moxam (Mox) is a founder of Malibu IQ and acts in the role of Managing Partner. He chairs the Ideation Council with representative executives from HRL, GM, Boeing, and the owner investors of Malibu IQ, to set strategy and approve the formation of new companies (NewCos). Mox also works with the Malibu IQ Investment Team making contributions in NewCo value proposition and creation of the path to commercialization for NewCos. Primarily focused on commercializing invention assets originating at HRL, as a technically strong investment group, Malibu IQ also looks for opportunities that have the potential to leverage or align its core assets; and has the ability to invest in seed and series A level ventures. Additionally, the Team has resources and relevant subject matter expertise in a number of emerging disciplines to provide a fair bit of initial commercial guidance in addition to capital. Mox is a successful entrepreneur with extensive experience in bringing advanced technologies to market. His expertise includes working in a senior executive capacity with a Global 500 leader; and in founding a pioneering technology start-up through sale to a prestigious private equity group. Through invitation, he has served on the Board of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for 2 terms and is a vocal champion of new innovation models for accelerating advanced technology insertion into design and production. Operating globally, he has received the prestigious UK Queen’s Award for Enterprise and was recognized as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Technology in the US. While with EDS in 1998 he received their Pinnacle Award for Leadership, for work in founding the global financial markets group and IT developments with the NASD, Electronic Broking Services and the NYMEX. Mox was the founder of Authentix, Inc. a molecular engineering firm operating in the authentication & security industry; a founder and Director for Compassites Software Solutions in India; and he enjoys putting sweat equity into standing up NewCos. Two recent NewCos (independent of Malibu IQ) are; Decisio Health (predictive algorithms for healthcare), and Tenaxis ArterX (a next generation surgical sealant). Mr. Moxam holds graduate diplomas in Physics and Business Administration from Laurentian University in Canada; and has participated in corporate executive programmes with INSEAD in France. Notably, Mox has recently slipped to #2 on the family fly-fishing grid, losing coveted #1 to his son Cody.
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About MalibuIQ, Manti Resources, The Clear Creek Group: HRL Labs Technology Commercialization
Brad Title
President, CEO and Founder of Gubagoo
Brad Title is the president, CEO, and founder of Gubagoo. Prior to that, Brad served as the vice president of sales at DME Automotive. He is a former national program manager at Cobalt and president and CEO of Cowboy Corp.
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About Gubagoo: Gubagoo is a leading provider of dealer live chat, text, video and Messenger solutions for the automotive industry.
Eyal Amir
CEO & Founder of Ai Incube
Eyal Amir is the CEO & Founder at Parknav.
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About Ai Incube, FasPark, Parknav, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Ai Incube is an API for the Live Street, for every street in the world 24/7. It’s first product, Parknav, is an API for on-street parking.
Grant Feek
Founder & CEO of TRED
Grant Feek is the Co-Founder, CEO at Tred.
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About TRED: Tred is the most trusted peer to peer used car marketplace.
Andrew Leto
Founder of GlobalTranz
Andrew Leto has 13+ years in the Transportation Industry starting at Logistics Freight Systems based in Phoenix, Arizona. His mission with CarrierRate.com is to provide a “one-stop shop” for supply chain management. Andrew Leto started GlobalTranz in 2003 out of his bedroom with only an unemployment check as his investment and until 2011, had not received any outside investment capital. He teaches other entrepreneurs how to start a company using the resources available and capitalizing on cash flow and profit. Prior to being in the transportation industry, Andrew Leto honorably served 5 years in the United States Navy.
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About 10-4 Systems, Emerge, GlobalTranz, Leto Ventures, Vantage Freight: GlobalTranz is a logistics management firm that specializes in carrier, supply chain, and warehouse management.
David Michery
CEO & Founder of Mullen Technologies
David Michery is CEO & Founder at Mullen Technologies. David Michery is a successful businessman and music executive. Born in California, David Michery attended Garfield High School. Michery began his music career as a teenager and went on to produce or executive produced more than a dozen18 award-winning gold and platinum records. In 2012, after 27 years in the music industry, David Michery purchased Mullen Motors from Arthur Allen, a Vietnam veteran and West Point graduate. David Michery’s company was re-named Mullen Technologies in August 2014, and now produces energy-efficient vehicles that are environmentally-friendly and affordable. In April 2018, Mullen Technologies opened its California-based Energy Division facility, which operates as a battery manufacturer division with a, battery pack testing facility and renewable energy research and development center.
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About Mullen Technologies: Mullen Technologies is a car manufacturer and distributor.
Kevin Czinger
Founder and CEO of Divergent 3D
Kevin Czinger serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Miles Electric Vehicles. He has extensive operating experience and a proven track record of performance in start-up and emerging growth companies. Czinger has served as a senior executive with Goldman Sachs, Bertelsmann AG, the Webvan Group and Global Signal. He has also been active at Benchmark Capital and as a senior Managing Director of Fortress Private Equity Funds.
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About Divergent 3D: Divergent 3D aims to revolutionize the auto industry through 3D printing.
Bek Abdullayev
Founder & CEO of Super Dispatch
Founder & CEO of Super Dispatch.
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About Super Dispatch, TED: The advanced auto transport platform built for everything carriers and shippers need to move cars faster, smarter, and easier.
Jeffrey Chou
CEO & Co-Founder of Sonatus
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About Diamanti, Sonatus: Sonatus builds game-changing vehicle and cloud-based software solutions that create a future-proof foundation for software-defined vehicles.
Yu Fang
CTO and Co-Founder of Sonatus
Yu Fang is the CTO and co-founder at Sonatus.
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About Sonatus: Sonatus builds game-changing vehicle and cloud-based software solutions that create a future-proof foundation for software-defined vehicles.
Sam Anthony
CTO & Co-Founder of Perceptive Automata
Sam Anthony is an Ex-hacker, vision scientist, expert in human cognition, veteran of tech booms and busts. Sam is fascinated by systems, from artificial neural networks to urban transit grids to the human brain.
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About Perceptive Automata: Perceptive Automata enables those vehicles to understand what people might do next so they can navigate safely and smoothly around humans.
Walter Scheirer
Co-Founder of Perceptive Automata
Walter Scheirer is the Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at University of Notre Dame .
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About Perceptive Automata, University of Notre Dame: Perceptive Automata enables those vehicles to understand what people might do next so they can navigate safely and smoothly around humans.
Ryan Melohn
COO & Co-Founder of Expansion Venture Capital
Ryan Melohn is co-founder and chief operating officer for Expansion VC. In addition Mr. Melohn is vice-president and property manager for the Expansion Group Inc. , a real estate corporation with holdings in both residential and commercial sectors. As chief facilitator for Expansion VC, Mr. Melohn has been responsible for successfully pairing potential entrepreneurs/companies with ideal investments. Ryan’s networking throughout the venture capital and corporate worlds, have proven extremely valuable to EVC. His portfolio includes but is not limited to Postmates, RelayRides, AngelList, Life360, Firebase, TheRealReal, Enigma.io, Compstak, Engrade and eShares among many others. Ryan’s philanthropic interests are varied and eclectic. He is particularly dedicated to Kids of Courage, an organization focused on improving the daily lives of children and adults battling catastrophic illnesses.
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About Expansion Venture Capital: Expansion Venture Capital is a New York-based company providing investment and mentorship to early- and growth-stage companies.
Alden Woodrow
Co-Founder & CEO of Ike
Co-Founder & CEO at Ike
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About Ike: Ike is a self driving truck startup, focused on building automation technology to help improve the trucking industry.
Nancy Sun
Co-Founder & Chief Engineer of Ike
Nancy Sun is the Co-Founder and Chief Engineer of Ike, an automated trucking startup building cutting-edge automation technology to help improve the trucking industry in the safest way possible. Prior to founding Ike, Nancy was the Engineering Lead for the self-driving truck program at Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group, which she joined via the Otto acquisition in 2016. Nancy’s deep expertise in systems engineering and transportation extends beyond Uber to Apple, where she was an Engineering Manager for their Special Projects Group, and electric motorcycle startup Mission Motors, where she was the VP of Advanced Development. Nancy has bachelors and masters degrees in Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and it was during her years at MIT that she first developed a love of robotics.
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About Ike: Ike is a self driving truck startup, focused on building automation technology to help improve the trucking industry.
Jur van den Berg
CTO & Co-Founder of Ike
Dr. Jur van den Berg is CTO and co-founder at automated trucking startup Ike. He is passionate about bringing automated vehicle technology to the road as a product. Dr. Van den Berg has developed technology for multiple leading companies in the automated vehicle space, including Google (now Waymo), Apple, Otto, and Uber. He holds a PhD in computer science from Utrecht University, and has taught robotics as a professor at the University of Utah. Dr. Van den Berg’s experience has contributed to a strong belief in the specific application of AV technology to moving freight on highways, as it meaningfully constrains the technical problem, while at the same time positively impacting truckers and the trucking industry as a whole.
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About Ike: Ike is a self driving truck startup, focused on building automation technology to help improve the trucking industry.
Maha Achour
Founder & CEO of Metawave
CEO and Founder of Metawave, Maha is senior leader with more than 20 years’ experience in both public and entrepreneurial start-up companies in the RF, wireless, optics and networking industries. Demonstrated track record of: developing an idea from concept to product, delivering industry leading technologies, building teams and companies. Strong technology background combined with leadership, business and marketing skills. Previously, Maha served as co-founder and CTO of Rayspan, where she commercialized the first Metamaterial antennas and RF front-end subsystems for the cell-phone and WLAN industries. She has also pioneered the first broadcast HDTV system over satellite, mm-wave/Free-Space Optical systems for last mile connectivity, and led various DARPA projects in wireless MIMO and Optical devices.
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About Metawave, Polyceed Inc.: Metawave is a wireless technology company that builds intelligent and high-performance automotive radars by leveraging metamaterials and AI.
Sandy Godsey
Co-Founder & Chief Legal Officer of Metawave
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About Metawave: Metawave is a wireless technology company that builds intelligent and high-performance automotive radars by leveraging metamaterials and AI.
Niko Vuori
Founder & CEO of Drivetime
Founder & CEO Drivetime, co-founder & COO of Rocket Games, product at ToyTalk & BranchOut, GM Zynga Poker, founder & CEO Informifi.
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About Drivetime: Drivetime provides an online platform designed to help users play games while they drive.
Corey Brundage
CEO, Founder of HONK
Serial entrepreneur. Founder at HONK, betterSHIFT, KorMethod, SendLove.to and Sentient Systems. Investor and startup advisor.
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About HONK: HONK is an innovative roadside assistance platform that uses both technology and a unique business model.
David Barzilai
Executive Chairman, Co-Founder of Karamba Security
David brings extensive entrepreneurial and go-to-market experience to Karamba. He was the CEO and co-founder of Conduct Ltd., which was acquired by Mercury Interactive (NASDAQ: MERQ), and the VP of Software Business for Voltaire Ltd. (NASDAQ: VOLT), when Voltaire was acquired by Mellanox Technologies (NASDAQ: MLNX). After the Voltaire acquisition, David was the VP of Marketing at Mellanox, during a hyper-growth period that saw the company’s annual revenue grow from $260M to $500M. David earned a Computer Science Bachelor degree from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
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About Karamba Security: Karamba Security provides embedded cybersecurity solutions to protect all types of connected systems from attacks.
