Amit Kapur Explained

Amit Kapur is an American-born internet entrepreneur. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of WhoCo, a technology company focused on hiring and recruiting. He is best known as co-founder of technology start-up Gravity[1] and as the former chief operating officer at MySpace.[2]

Early life and education

Amit grew up in Huron, South Dakota. He then graduated with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.

Career

After graduation, Kapur worked at NBC Universal in their planning and digital strategy department.[3] Kapur joined MySpace in 2005 and was in charge of the development of MySpace Music and MySpace mobile. He was named chief operating officer of the company in January 2008.[4]

In 2009, Kapur along with 2 other MySpace employees, Jim Benedetto and Steve Pearman, left the company[5] to found Santa Monica-based Gravity.[6] They raised $10 million in Series A funding in May 2009[7] and another $10.6 million in Series B funding in October 2012.[8]

Gravity was acquired by AOL in January 2014.[9] [10] After the acquisition, Kapur was named President of AOL's publisher platform where he remained until 2017.[11]

In early 2019, Kapur co-founded Santa Monica-based WhoCo, a technology startup focused on hiring and recruiting, alongside former Google and AOL executive Tim Armstrong.[12]

Notes and References

  1. http://www.laweekly.com/news/is-myspace-destined-to-fail-again-4623363 "Is Myspace Destined to Fail (Again)?"
  2. Book: Nielsen Business Media, Inc.. Billboard. 23 August 2008. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.. 21–. 0006-2510.
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/technology/from-myspaces-ashes-silicon-start-ups-rise.html?_r=0 "From Myspace’s Ashes, Silicon Start-Ups Rise"
  4. News: MySpace Names Amit Kapur Chief Operating Officer. BusinessWire. January 30, 2008.
  5. News: Kee. Tameka. MySpace COO Amit Kapur Leaving With Two Other Execs For Startup. GigaOM. March 3, 2009.
  6. Web site: Our Team. Gravity. 2014-08-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20140201111344/http://www.gravity.com/company/. 2014-02-01. dead.
  7. News: Arrington. Michael. Former MySpace Execs Get Funding For New Venture; Some Details Leak. TechCrunch. May 20, 2009.
  8. News: Yeung. Ken. Gravity to improve its personalization platform engine with new Series B funding. The Next Web. October 2, 2012.
  9. News: Swisher. Kara. Kara Swisher. AOL Buys Personalization Startup Gravity for 90 Million in Cash. Re/Code. January 23, 2014.
  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20151124065130/http://www.newindianexpress.com/lifestyle/tech/Tech-guru--Amit-Kapur/2015/02/01/article2643412.ece "Tech guru | Amit Kapur"
  11. http://techli.com/2015/02/los-angeles-dawn-of-a-startup-town/#. "Los Angeles: Dawn of a Startup Town"
  12. Web site: Boorstin. Julia. 2019-02-07. Tim Armstrong is launching a new company to bring products and experiences directly to consumers, no retailer required. 2021-02-18. CNBC. en.

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