CEO Sundar Pichai-led Google today is one of the world’s biggest companies and among the very few ones on the $1 trillion market cap list. When it comes to Google’s early years, two names that come to mind are its co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, right?
However, did you know that there is an Indian billionaire named Ram Shriram who was among the very first investors in Google?
Let's unfold this story.
Who Is Ram Shriram?
Kavitark Ram Shriram was born in Chennai and studied mathematics at the University of Madras.
After moving to the U.S., he joined Netscape in 1994 as an executive. Later, he became president of Junglee, an online comparison shopping firm acquired by Amazon in 1998. Ram took on a vice president position at Amazon. He left Amazon and, since 2000, has been investing in technology startups through his firm, Sherpalo Ventures. The name of Shriram's VC company, Sherpalo, comes from combining the words sherpa and palo alto.
His portfolio includes online invitation service Paperless Post, online HR service provider Gusto, and mobile advertising company InMobi.
When Did He Invest In Google?
Shriram was among the early Google backers. He had invested $250,000 in 1998 and had 5.3 million shares at Google’s IPO. In the past two decades, while he has sold most of his stock, he remains on the board of its parent company, Alphabet.
Also Read: When Google Was Almost Sold For $1 Million
How Did He Play A Role When Jeff Bezos Invested In Google?
As per the Medium report, Jeff Bezos convinced Google’s founders to let him become an early investor, even though the funding round had already closed.
Bezos and his wife were vacationing in the Bay Area when he reached out to Ram Shriram with a request to meet the guys behind Google. After the meeting, Jeff Bezos ended up investing $250,000 in Google in 1998 at 4 cents a share.
What Is Shriram's Net Worth?
As per Forbes, Shriram’s current net worth is $2.6 billion. A lesser-known fact about him is that in 2014, Shriram and his wife donated $61 million to engineering initiatives at Stanford University, which both of his daughters attended and where he is a trustee.
Also Read: What Google Employees Wrote In Their Open Letter To CEO Sundar Pichai
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