Seeking to provide short-term vacation rentals that set them apart from competitors with attention to details, founders Sean Breuner ’14 and Reuben Doetsch, a 2011 graduate of Columbia University, launched AvantStay in 2017 with $1 million in seed money. In addition to booking rental homes and villas online, the company decorates properties for owners looking to list.
Automated investment service Betterment was launched in 2008 while founder Jon Stein ’09 was still a student at CBS. He leveraged the network he had access to—friends and fellow students— for skills in finance, strategy, and marketing, as well as investment. His professors invested too, and they have served as board advisors for the $1.3 billion private company.
In 2009, Ethan Brown ’08 founded Beyond Meat to provide a main-course protein that’s better for human health and the environment. His plant-based substitutes for chicken, beef, and sausage are gluten-free, non-GMO, and soy-free. Beyond Meat went public in May 2019 and is listed on Nasdaq as BYND.
BlinkIt, one of India’s top online grocery delivery services, was launched by Albinder Dhindsa ’12 in 2013 to deliver household essentials “in the blink of an eye” (10-minute delivery from the point of order). BlinkIt was acquired in 2021 with a valuation of $932 million.
When they launched Compass in 2012, founders Robert Reffkin ’03 and Ori Allon built a tool that improves the potential for top real estate agents to assist more customers and increase commissions. The online brokerage services platform for residential properties went public in 2021 with a valuation of $8.22 billion.
Founders Harsh Jain ’14 and Bhavit Sheth launched Dream11, a fantasy sports app, in 2008. Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Dream11, which offers 11 fantasy sports, has become India’s leading fantasy sports platform with more than 100 million users. They have raised $1.6 billion, according to Crunchbase.
When Ryan Petersen ’08 founded Flexport in 2013, his goal was to “make global trade easier for everyone” using a cloud-based platform for freight forwarding services. The platform offers multi-modal transportation, shipment visibility, order management, customs brokerage, trade management, and other services. Flexport was valued at $8 billion in 2022.
Shazi Visram ’04 believes happy babies are healthy babies. That’s why she launched Happy Family Organics, an organic baby food company, in 2006. By 2013, Visram was able to sell 92 percent of the company to the French food products company Danone, reportedly for some $250 million.
Founders and co-CEOs Jamie Kern Lima ’04 and Paulo Lima ’04 launched IT Cosmetics in 2008 as one of the first brands to offer a makeup-skincare hybrid product. When the Limas first pitched it on QVC in 2010, 6,000 tubes of concealer sold out within minutes. Success and sales continued, and in 2016, industry leader L’Oréal bought IT Cosmetics for $1.2 billion.
K Health was co-founded by CEO Allon Bloch ’97 in 2016 as a way to create a healthcare system with better quality medical services at a lower cost. The on-demand text-based platform uses data technology to provide doctor visits and prescriptions 24/7 from a phone. In 2021, K Health achieved a valuation of $1.4 billion.
ShopKeep founder and former COO David Olk ’11 and co-founder Jason Richelson launched their point-of-sale (POS) software company in 2011 to manage sales transactions, inventory, human resources, and loyalty programs for groceries, boutiques, coffee shops, and restaurants. The company was acquired in 2020 by Canadian POS company Lightspeed for $440 million.
When he launched his dairy company in 2005, Siggi Hilmarsson ’04 introduced Americans to skyr, his native Iceland’s protein-rich yogurt made from a traditional recipe. French dairy firm Lactalis acquired Siggi’s for $300 million in 2018.
First launched as a content management system for marketers in 2001, Sitecore now goes beyond content management with features including analytics, personalization, and marketing. Founded by Michael Seifert, Thomas Albert, Lars Fløe Nielsen, Peter Christensen, Jakob Christensen, and Ole Sas Thrane, the company, which is still private, recently received a $1.2 billion investment.
Michael Witte ’14 and Xuan Yong launched the vendor management platform Workrise as RigUp in 2014 to support the oil and gas industry. Committed to supporting and empowering the largest oil and gas producers to have an impact on future sustainable energy production, the company saw its largest funding round in 2021, raising $300 million.
A combination of his CBS coursework and New York City’s vibrant culture propelled Federico Marchetti ’99 to create the e-commerce luxury fashion company Yoox in 2000. Natalie Massenet had started Net-a-Porter that same year, and in 2015, the two companies merged. After going public, the Yoox Net-a-Porter Group raised $113 million in 2016 post-IPO funding.
Zocdoc founders Cyrus Massoumi ’03, Oliver Kharraz, and Nick Ganju launched the healthcare app in 2007 to provide patients with a tech-based platform for finding doctors and booking appointments. Initially, the site listed only dentists but now includes practitioners in over 50 different medical specialties across the country. The private company has raised more than $365 million.