Garrett Camp

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Garrett Camp
Garrett Camp 2018 Headshot Cameron Harris Flickr.jpg
Camp in 2018
Born (1978-10-04) October 4, 1978 (age 43)
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Calgary (BSc, MSc)
OccupationFounder, Expa
Co-founder & board member, Uber
Founder & chairman, StumbleUpon
Websitegarrettcamp.com

Garrett Camp (born October 4, 1978) is a Canadian billionaire entrepreneur.[2][3] He has helped build a series of companies, including founding StumbleUpon, a web-discovery tool, co-founding Uber,[citation needed] and founding Expa, a startup studio.[citation needed] Camp is chairman of Mix, the successor to StumbleUpon, and is on the board of directors of Uber.

Early life and education[]

Camp was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[4] His father was an economist, and his mother an artist, and both later became home builders.[5] He graduated from the University of Calgary with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 2001, and later earned a master's degree in software engineering, researching collaborative systems, evolutionary algorithms and information retrieval.[4]

Career[]

StumbleUpon[]

Camp at the 2008 The Next Web Conference in Amsterdam

Camp co-founded StumbleUpon in 2002. It was the first web-discovery platform[6][7][8][9] and personalized recommendation engine.[10][11] The service enabled users to discover web content with a single click,[clarification needed] during the Web 2.0 era.[12] In 2006, StumbleUpon relocated to San Francisco, after receiving its first round of funding from Silicon Valley angel investors. In 2007, StumbleUpon was included on the Time magazine's "50 Best Websites" list,[13] and on its 2013 "50 Must-Have iPad Apps" list.[14]

StumbleUpon was acquired by eBay for $75M[15][16] in 2007 and spun-out in 2009,[17][18][19][20] becoming an independent company again.[21][22] Following its spin-off, Camp worked to expand its offerings to include mobile phone app discovery and social networking.[20] He grew the company to over one hundred employees and over 25 million registered users[23] as its founding CEO before stepping down in mid 2012 to work on other ventures.[24] In August 2015, he acquired it again, after resetting all previous shareholders at $0/share.[25] The platform continued to have standalone web and mobile apps until mid 2018, when its users were transitioned to the Mix.com, a venture built in part through Camp's studio startup company, Expa.[26][27]

Uber[]

Camp founded Uber as UberCab[28][29] in early 2009 while he was CEO of StumbleUpon, and self-funded the seed round of $250K.

Uber launched in San Francisco in mid 2010 with just a few cars on the road and, in late 2010, raised $1.25M in venture capital.[30] In 2011, the company continued to expand across the United States and abroad, including major markets such as New York City and Paris.[31][32] Uber's motto is "Everyone's Private Driver"[33] and, in mid-2012, launched UberX[34][35] and Uber SUV[36] to offer customers low cost options and more vehicle choices. In late 2012, Uber launched UberTAXI,[37][38] allowing taxi drivers to use the application with taxi-like fares for customers, and, in early 2013, CEO Travis Kalanick announced that Uber would begin offering a ride-sharing service,[39][40][41] allowing community drivers to use the application.

Uber was listed in Forbes's Top 10 Companies of 2012,[42] and was ranked number 6 in Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies of 2013.[43] Uber is based in San Francisco, and has expanded in the US and abroad, offering service in over 600 cities worldwide.[44] Camp currently serves on Uber's Board of Directors.[45]

Expa[]

Camp formed Expa in 2013,[46][47] integrating his ten years of start-up experience into a system for building new companies. Expa is a startup studio to create and launch new companies by providing early-stage startups with starting capital, a workspace, and technical advice.[48][49] Companies that partner with Expa work from offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver or, most recently, London.[50]

In March 2014, Expa raised its first $50 million from investors[51][52] to fund the design and development of new companies. In March 2016, Expa raised an additional $100 million to fund the creation of new startups. Expa has helped to build and launch a number of companies, including Mix.com, Haus.com and Cmd.com, among others.[53][54][55]

on April 29, 2020, Expa announced that David Clark will join the company as its European partner to set up a new headquarters in London.[56][57]

Eco[]

Camp is currently working on a cryptocurrency he calls Eco. Camp is striving to make it a digital global currency that facilitates daily transactions between business as a form of payment in order to improve commonly occurring issues with digital currencies.[58] Eco also aims to be the most energy efficient currency in terms of transaction verification and token generation.[58]

Investments[]

Previously, Camp invested in Prism Skylabs;[citation needed] SoundTracking;[citation needed] WillCall;[citation needed] PSDept;[citation needed] and BlackJet, an on-demand private aviation service.[59]

Awards and honors[]

Camp was named to the TR35 List of Top Innovators[60] under the age of 35 at Technology Review's Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT in 2007.[61] In 2008 Camp was named by Bloomberg Businessweek as one of Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs.[62] Camp was honored at the 2013 Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards for his accomplishments at both StumbleUpon and Uber.[63]

Wealth[]

In 2015, he was the 283rd-richest person in the world and the third-richest Canadian, with an estimated wealth of US$5.3 billion according to Forbes.[64] As of March 2019, Camp's net worth is calculated at US$4.6 billion according to Forbes.[65]

Allegations of exploitation[]

In June 2019, Camp bought a newly built, 11,000-square-foot mansion in Trousdale Estates of Beverly Hills for $72.5 million.[66] Camp's purchase drew the ire of activists and Uber drivers, who protested the firm's labor practices and advocated for better working conditions for drivers. Karim Bayumi, a Los Angeles Uber driver and labor organizer, said "this guy is buying lavish houses with our money, our hard-earned money that they are unjustly taking from us."[67]

Philanthropy[]

Camp has joined The Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away half of his wealth to charity. In a personal blog post announcing his plans, Camp spoke of recent travels to Kenya, where he connected with people living without access to basic services like clean water, food and electricity.[68] In 2018 Camp established the Camp Foundation, a non-profit research organization to support research into infrastructure, sustainability, and conservation projects that will have a significant global impact.[69]

Personal life[]

Camp lives in San Francisco.[5]

References[]

  1. ^ "Garrett Camp". Forbes. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
  2. ^ McCullough, Michael (21 September 2011). "Stumbling upon success". Canadian Business. Retrieved 19 April 2019.
  3. ^ Camp, Garrett (2011-10-22). "The Start-Up Advantage". The New York Times.
  4. ^ a b Plana, Vincent. "17 Facts You Didn't Know About Uber Co-Founder's $68 Billion Fortune". www.narcity.com. Retrieved 2019-04-30.
  5. ^ a b "Bloomberg profile: Garrett Camp". Bloomberg LP. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  6. ^ Helft, Miguel (2007-10-07). "A Way to Find Your Corner of the Internet Sky". The New York Times.
  7. ^ "Garrett Camp: "one-size-fits-all in search is history"". The Next Web.
  8. ^ "Interview with Garrett Camp, StumbleUpon Co-Founder". CenterNetworks. Archived from the original on 2012-05-20.
  9. ^ "SoMa-Based StumbleUpon Provides a "Forward Button" for Discovery on the Internet". 7x7SF.
  10. ^ "Q&A With Garrett Camp, Founder & Chief Architect, StumbleUpon". Search Engine Land.
  11. ^ "The Serendipity Of StumbleUpon - an interview with Garrett Camp, Chief Architect". ReadWriteWeb.
  12. ^ Waters, Darren (29 March 2007). "Web 2.0 wonders: StumbleUpon". BBC News. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  13. ^ "StumbleUpon: 50 Best Websites 2007". Time. 2007-07-08. Archived from the original on July 12, 2007.
  14. ^ "StumbleUpon: 50 Must-Have iPad Apps". Time. 2013-04-15. Archived from the original on 2013-04-19.
  15. ^ "eBay's StumbleUpon Acquisition: Confirmed at $75 Million". TechCrunch.
  16. ^ Fost, Dan (2007-06-24). "Company Stumbles its Way to 75 Million". The San Francisco Chronicle.
  17. ^ "StumbleUpon Beats Skype In Escaping EBay's Clutches". TechCrunch.
  18. ^ "StumbleUpon's Garrett Camp Speaks (About Being a Born-Again Start-up)!". AllThingsD.
  19. ^ Joyner, April (July 2011). "Garrett Camp: Buying Back the Company". Inc.
  20. ^ a b Mangalindan, JP (29 February 2012). "How StumbleUpon saved itself". Fortune. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
  21. ^ Borzo, Jeanette (November 15, 2010). "Interview with Garrett Camp: The Perils of Being the Little Fish". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  22. ^ Tsotsis, Alexia (March 17, 2011). "StumbleUpon's Garrett Camp On What It's Like To Buy Back Your Company". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  23. ^ Ha, Anthony (April 26, 2012). "StumbleUpon Reaches 25M Registered Users, Plans For Global Expansion And API". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  24. ^ Ha, Anthony (May 8, 2012). "Mufassil Steps Down As StumbleUpon CEO, Will Serve As Chairman". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  25. ^ Olanoff, Drew (August 26, 2015). "Co-Founder Garrett Camp Buys Back Majority Share In StumbleUpon". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  26. ^ Camp, Garrett (May 23, 2018). "SU is moving to Mix". Medium. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  27. ^ Carson, Biz (August 1, 2018). "Uber Cofounder Garrett Camp Is Back To An Old Problem: Finding Interesting Things On The Internet". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  28. ^ "UberCab Takes The Hassle Out Of Booking A Car Service". TechCrunch.
  29. ^ "A Peek Under the Hood at Uber". 7x7SF.
  30. ^ "UberCab Closes Uber Angel Round". TechCrunch.
  31. ^ Jeffries, Adrianne (26 April 2013). "After long battle, Uber becomes first taxi app to get approved in New York City". The Verge. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  32. ^ Schechner, Sam (13 November 2014). "Uber Launches Car Pooling Service in Paris". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  33. ^ "The Uber Experience: Everyone's Private Driver". Bloomberg Businessweek.
  34. ^ "Uber Opens Up Platform To Non-Limo Vehicles With "Uber X," Service Will Be 35% Less Expensive". TechCrunch.
  35. ^ "A Status Symbol Moves Down Market: The Context for Uber's Lower-Priced Launch". AllThingsD.
  36. ^ "SF, You Now Have the Freedom to Choose". Uber Blog.
  37. ^ "Despite NYC Delay, Uber Launches Taxi Option In SF". TechCrunch.
  38. ^ "Uber wins in NYC lawsuit filed by limo lobby, clearing the way for city to test e-hail apps". The Verge.
  39. ^ "Uber Moves Deeper Into Ride Sharing, Promises To Roll Out Services Where Regulators Have Given 'Tacit Approval'". TechCrunch.
  40. ^ "Uber Policy White Paper 1.0 by Travis Kalanick". Uber Blog.
  41. ^ "Uber will 'aggressively' pursue carpooling model, but only when lawmakers say it's okay". The Verge.
  42. ^ Prive, Tanya. "Uber: Top 10 Tech Companies Of 2012". Forbes.
  43. ^ "Uber: Most Innovative Companies 2013". Fast Company.
  44. ^ Dara Kerr and Marrian Zhou, "Uber to acquire Middle East competitor Careem for $3.1B," CNET, March 26, 2019.
  45. ^ "Leadership". Uber. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  46. ^ "Garrett Camp Distills His Uber And StumbleUpon Expertise Into New Holding Company Expa". TechCrunch.
  47. ^ "Garrett Camp's Expa Aims to Channel StumbleUpon and Uber Lessons Into New Companies". AllThingsD.
  48. ^ "Inside Expa Labs, Uber co-founder's take on the startup accelerator". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  49. ^ Yeung, Ken (30 March 2016). "Expa raises $100 million to build more companies, launches startup accelerator". VentureBeat. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  50. ^ Williams, Hannah (2020-04-29). "Expa Launches UK Office For European Startups". Computerworld. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  51. ^ "Expa Raises $50M". expa.com.
  52. ^ "Garrett Camp's Expa Raises $50M To Build New Startups". TechCrunch.
  53. ^ Crook, Jordan (1 August 2017). "Garrett Camp's latest Expa project, Mix, aims to curate the web". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  54. ^ Crook, Jordan (28 July 2016). "Uber co-founder launches new real estate venture for Expa called Haus". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  55. ^ Sawers, Paul (26 February 2019). "GV leads $15 million investment in stealth Canadian cybersecurity startup Cmd". TechCrunch. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  56. ^ "Former Uber Exec to set up startup funding HQ in London". Invezz. 2020-05-01. Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  57. ^ "Expa Taps Former Uber and Virgin Galactic Executive David Clark to Open New London Office". Retrieved 2020-06-25.
  58. ^ a b "Uber co-founder Garrett Camp is creating a new cryptocurrency". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  59. ^ "Celeb-backed BlackJet Is Grounded. Again". Fortune.
  60. ^ "Innovators Under 35". MIT Technology Review.
  61. ^ "Garrett Camp Named to Technology Review's Prestigious TR35 List of Top Young Innovators". PR Newswire.
  62. ^ "Garrett Camp: Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs". Bloomberg Businessweek.
  63. ^ "Garrett Camp: 2013 Honoree". Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards.
  64. ^ Forbes' 29th Annual World's Billionaires Issue, Forbes, March 2, 2015
  65. ^ "Garrett Camp". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  66. ^ "Uber co-founder Garrett Camp quietly shells out $71 million for Beverly Hills mansion". Los Angeles Times. 2019-06-28. Retrieved 2019-07-27.
  67. ^ Levin, Sam (2 Jul 2019) "Uber co-founder buys record-breaking LA mansion for $72.5m as drivers fight for wages." The Guardian. (Retrieved September 3, 2019.)
  68. ^ Kolodny, Lora (2017-11-22). "Uber and Infosys co-founders are latest billionaires to join The Giving Pledge". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-12-16.
  69. ^ "The Camp Foundation".

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