Ankur Jain
Ankur was born in Bellevue, WA. Growing up as a 90s kid to an entrepreneurial family, Ankur started visiting InfoSpace, his parents’ then newly formed company, from the young age of 7. He would help out where he could, but more importantly, he learned by observing his dad close new business deals and interact with people. At age 11, Ankur had already started his first startup – myquizonline.com. Ankur recollects how his father, Naveen, encouraged him to present business plans during family gatherings. The confidence and early-life lessons prepared Ankur to get out amongst businesses. His mom had to keep reminding him to focus on education and worry about starting a business after he finished his education. It led him to create an entrepreneurship society as soon as he entered college. He founded the Kairos Society – An initiative to enable young entrepreneurs to start businesses focused on solving big problems. Over the years, Kairos has grown globally and created many new companies.
Soon after graduating from college, Ankur started the company Humin, which later got acquired by Tinder. He became the VP of Product at Tinder, the world’s largest social network for dating. In May 2017, Ankur rejoined Kairos as the founder and CEO and created a venture studio, building companies to tackle the world’s greatest challenges. Currently, Kairos’ portfolio of brands aims to make essential services like housing and healthcare more affordable. Kairos has helped launch and grow over $6.5bn worth of companies tackling problems in healthcare, housing costs, transportation networks, and more.
Ankur believes that great opportunities lie in solving the biggest problems that face humanity. He feels that while technology is making giant strides in advancement, no one is questioning its responsibility. Today, most people are looking for solutions to real-life problems such as housing, child care, health care, and technology should step in where governments cannot. Ankur aims to solve these problems one by one. Ankur has recently launched his latest venture, BILT, which offers innovative loyalty programs and the only credit card in the world with no fees on rent, for the next generation of renters and homebuyers.
Over the years, Ankur has received recognition for a variety of achievements. In 2017, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum. In 2011, Inc. magazine named Ankur Jain the “Best Connected 21-Year-Old in the World” and awarded Jain “30 Under 30”. In 2012, Jain was named “30 under 30: Solution Broker” by the Christian Science Monitor. And in 2015, Forbes also named Jain to their “30 under 30” list. Jain also currently serves on the innovation board of the X-Prize foundation and as a member of the Pacific Council on Foreign Relations. Today, Ankur is following in the footsteps of his parents. He is creating several businesses focused on solving problems plaguing humanity to make this world a better place.