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

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

Career

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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]

References

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  1. ^ "Is Myspace Destined to Fail (Again)?". LA Weekly By Ben Westhoff May 1, 2014
  2. ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (23 August 2008). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 21–. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ "From Myspace’s Ashes, Silicon Start-Ups Rise". New York Times. By EILENE ZIMMERMANSEPT. 7, 2013
  4. ^ "MySpace Names Amit Kapur Chief Operating Officer". BusinessWire. January 30, 2008.
  5. ^ Kee, Tameka (March 3, 2009). "MySpace COO Amit Kapur Leaving With Two Other Execs For Startup". GigaOM.
  6. ^ "Our Team". Gravity. Archived from the original on 2014-02-01. Retrieved 2014-08-09.
  7. ^ Arrington, Michael (May 20, 2009). "Former MySpace Execs Get Funding For New Venture; Some Details Leak". TechCrunch.
  8. ^ Yeung, Ken (October 2, 2012). "Gravity to improve its personalization platform engine with new Series B funding". The Next Web.
  9. ^ Swisher, Kara (January 23, 2014). "AOL Buys Personalization Startup Gravity for 90 Million in Cash". Re/Code.
  10. ^ "Tech guru | Amit Kapur". New Indian Express. By Adarsh Matham 1 February 2015
  11. ^ "Los Angeles: Dawn of a Startup Town". Techli. Lee Schneider February 11, 2015
  12. ^ Boorstin, Julia (2019-02-07). "Tim Armstrong is launching a new company to bring products and experiences directly to consumers, no retailer required". CNBC. Retrieved 2021-02-18.