Ram Shriram
Kavitark Ram Shriram | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1956/57 |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, philanthropist, venture capitalist |
| Known for | Founding board member and initial investor in Google; president of Junglee; vice president at Netscape; founder of Sherpalo |
| Notable work | Founding board member of Google; founder of Sherpalo venture capital firm |
Kavitark Ram Shriram (born 1956/57) is an American billionaire entrepreneur and philanthropist recognized for being a founding board member and one of the initial investors in Google. His career includes a tenure at Amazon, which he joined in 1998 following its acquisition of Junglee, an online comparison shopping platform where he held the position of president. Prior to this, Shriram was part of the executive leadership team at Netscape starting in 1994, before the company began generating revenue.
As reported by Forbes in September 2020, his estimated net worth stood at $2.3 billion.
Early life
Shriram completed a bachelor's degree in mathematics at Loyola College, Chennai, affiliated with the University of Madras.
Career
His professional journey began at Bell-Northern Research. In 1994, he advanced to vice president at Netscape and subsequently assumed the role of president at Junglee. In January 2000, Shriram launched Sherpalo, a venture capital firm focused on investing in emerging disruptive technologies.
In 2020, he was honored with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
Philanthropy
Together with his wife, Shriram has made substantial contributions to education via the Dhanam Foundation. They founded the Shriram Family Professorship and Fellowship in Science Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education, and provided $57 million to establish the Shriram Center for Bioengineering & Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. Additionally, in 2014, they donated $61 million to support Stanford's Department of Bioengineering.
Personal life
Shriram is married to Vijaya Shriram. Their daughters, Jhanvi and Ketaki—both alumni of Stanford—are co-founders of the Palo Alto–based AI startup Krikey AI.