Where does Aravind Srinivas work?

Aravind Srinivas is Co-founder & CEO at Perplexity and Research Scientist at OpenAI and Research Intern at DeepMind.

What companies did Aravind Srinivas found?

Aravind Srinivas founded Perplexity, OpenAI, DeepMind.

Aravind Srinivas

Founder

Co-founder & CEO at Perplexity · Research Scientist at OpenAI · Research Intern at DeepMind

San Francisco, CA

FoundedPerplexity OpenAI DeepMind

About

Aravind Srinivas co-founded Perplexity AI in August 2022 and turned the citation-backed 'answer engine' into a $20 billion Google challenger — its September 2025 round closed at that mark, with Nvidia reported in August 2026 to be leading a new round above $30 billion. Raised in Chennai, he took a dual degree in electrical engineering at IIT Madras and a Berkeley PhD under Pieter Abbeel, with research stops at OpenAI, DeepMind, and Google before returning to OpenAI as a research scientist on work leading toward DALL-E 2. He founded Perplexity with Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski; at 31 the Hurun list called him India's youngest billionaire, and he once made an unsolicited $34.5 billion bid for Google's Chrome browser.

Beyond investing

Founded: Co-founded Perplexity AI in August 2022 with Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, positioning it as a citation-backed answer engine.
Education: Berkeley PhD (2017–2021) under Pieter Abbeel; dissertation on representation learning for perception and control.
Awards: Named to the TIME100 Most Influential People in AI, 2024. Debuted on the Hurun India Rich List in October 2025 at ~$2.5B, reported as India's youngest billionaire at 31.
Family: Born in 1994 and raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in a family with a finance rather than technology background.
More: Made an unsolicited $34.5B bid to buy Google's Chrome browser in August 2025. Worked at all three of OpenAI, DeepMind, and Google before founding Perplexity. Cristiano Ronaldo took a stake in Perplexity in December 2025 as part of a global brand partnership.

Mentioned above: the OpenAI mafia → · the DeepMind mafia →

From Aravind's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Co-founder & CEO at Perplexity

Intro paths

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In turn, Aravind can intro founders to Perplexity's investors below.

Perplexity's investors · 56

Co-founders at Perplexity

Andrew D. KonwinskiExecutive Officer, Director

Dzianis YaratsDirector

Aravind Srinivas LakshminarayananDirector, Executive Officer

Denis YaratsCo-founder & CTO

Research Scientist at OpenAI

Intro paths

→

In turn, Aravind can intro founders to OpenAI's investors below.

OpenAI's investors · 61

A.Capital VenturesSan Francisco A'Z AngelsLos Gatos Advent InternationalBoston · $1.1B checks Alpha Wave GlobalMiami Altimeter CapitalMenlo Park · $1M – $25M checks · since 2026 Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks AntiSan Juan · $250K – $30M checks BedrockLos Angeles · $5M – $30M checks boldstart venturesMiami · $1M – $3M checks Coatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks Cosmic Venture PartnersAustin · $100K – $5M checks Dragoneer Investment GroupSan Francisco · $100K – $5M checks · since 2025 Eastlink Capital PartnersMenlo Park · $100K – $5M checks Emerson Collective InvestingPalo Alto · $100K – $1M checks Everybody Ventures$100K checks Felicis VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $15M checks Firestreak Ventures Founders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks Frontier VenturesCupertino · $100K – $5M checks Galdana VenturesBarcelona Gestio CapitalLondon Glynn Capital ManagementMenlo Park Greylock PartnersSan Francisco · $100K – $200M checks HOF CapitalNew York · $25K – $15M checks ICONIQSan Francisco Ineffable VenturesStamford Kaleida CapitalSan Diego Khosla VenturesMenlo Park · $5K – $50M checks Lakeside CapitalTampa · $100K – $250K checks Madrona Venture GroupSeattle · $2M – $10M checks MastrySan Francisco Maverick VenturesSan Francisco · $3M – $10M checks Mech VenturesLas Vegas MGXAbu Dhabi · since 2025 Next Legacy PartnersPortola Valley NVIDIASanta Clara Ossian Capital Peter Thiel Riverbend CapitalWashington Rosecliff VenturesNew York City · $500K checks Sanctor CapitalNew York Sequoia CapitalMenlo Park · $4.4M – $214M checks SGH CapitalParis SoftBank GroupTokyo SoftBank Vision FundLondon Soma CapitalSacramento · $100K – $300K checks Sound VenturesSanta Monica SparkLabs KoreaPalo Alto SquareOne CapitalMiami Stack CapitalToronto Standard CapitalSan Francisco SV AngelSan Francisco T. Rowe PriceBaltimore · since 2025 Thrive CapitalNew York · $500K – $25M checks · since 2025 Touring CapitalSan Francisco Type One VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $5M checks Valkyrie Ventures Management, LlcPark City VU Venture PartnersSan Francisco · $200K – $1M checks WAGMI Ventures WealthUnion$10K checks XYZ Venture CapitalSan Francisco · $10K – $5M checks

Co-founders at OpenAI

Sam AltmanCo-founder & CEO

Elon MuskCo-founder & former Co-chair / board member

Greg BrockmanCo-founder & President

Ilya SutskeverCo-founder & Chief Scientist

Wojciech ZarembaCo-founder

John SchulmanCo-founder (departed 2024)

Andrej KarpathyCo-founder

Trevor BlackwellCo-founder

Research Intern at DeepMind

Intro paths

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In turn, Aravind can intro founders to DeepMind's investors below.

DeepMind's investors · 3

Founders FundSan Francisco · $500K – $5M checks Horizons VenturesHong Kong · $1M – $110M checks Long Journey VenturesSan Francisco · $100K – $1M checks

Co-founders at DeepMind

Demis HassabisCo-founder & CEO

Shane LeggCo-founder & Chief AGI Scientist

Mustafa SuleymanCo-founder

Experience

PerplexityCofounder, President, CEOcurrent2022 — present
Aravind SrinivasAngel Investorcurrent2023 — present
OpenAIResearch Scientist2021 — 2022San Francisco Bay Area
GoogleResearch Intern2020 — 2021Mountain View, California, United States
DeepMindResearch Intern2019London Area, United Kingdom
OpenAIResearch Intern2018San Francisco Bay Area

Education

University of California, BerkeleyDoctor of Philosophy - PhD, Computer Science
Indian Institute of Technology, MadrasDual Degree (B.Tech and M.Tech), Electrical Engineering

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Aravind Srinivas

CNBC's full interview with Perplexity founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas

CNBC Squawk Box · cnbc.com

Perplexity CEO on Chrome, AI and challenging the tech giants

The Times Tech Podcast · shows.acast.com

Aravind Srinivas: The Race to Build the AI Browser of the Future

AI Startup School

How To Build The Future: Aravind Srinivas

How to Build the Future

Frequently asked questions

Where does Aravind Srinivas work?: Aravind Srinivas is Co-founder & CEO at Perplexity and Research Scientist at OpenAI and Research Intern at DeepMind.
What companies did Aravind Srinivas found?: Aravind Srinivas founded Perplexity, OpenAI, DeepMind.

Paths to reach Aravind

People who overlapped with Aravind at the same organization — a shared school or employer with one of them is a warm way in.

Founder mafias

University of California, Berkeley mafia534

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Steve WozniakBSFounded Apple Tony XuB.S.Founded DoorDash Ali GhodsiPost-docFounded Databricks Ryan PetersenBAFounded Flexport David FriedbergBAFounded Climate +2 Andrew NgDoctor of Philosophy - PhDFounded Factored +2

+ 527 more

OpenAI mafia62

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Sam AltmanCo-founder & CEOFounded Tools for Humanity +2 Elon MuskCo-founder & former Co-chair / board memberFounded Tesla +4 Ilya SutskeverCo-founder & Chief ScientistFounded Safe Superintelligence Dario AmodeiVP of ResearchFounded Anthropic Daniela AmodeiVP of People, then VP of Safety and PolicyFounded Anthropic Sean GroveMember of Technical StaffFounded Linzumi +2

+ 55 more

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras mafia41

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Kamesh RaghavendraBachelor of TechnologyFounded Geminus +1 Venkat ViswanathanBachelor of Technology and Master of TechnologyFounded AIONICS +1 Akash AnandBachelor of Technology (BTech)Founded Desklamp +1 Neel BalarDual Degree(B.Tech + M.Tech)Founded Desklamp +1 Prajwal PrakashBachelor of Technology - BTechFounded Desklamp +1 Nikhil HandigolBachelor of TechnologyFounded Forward Networks +1

+ 34 more

DeepMind mafia8

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Demis HassabisCo-founder & CEOFounded Isomorphic Labs Mustafa SuleymanCo-founderFounded Inflection AI Arthur MenschResearch ScientistFounded Mistral AI Gabriel PereyraResearch ScientistFounded Harvey Marc ApicellaProductFounded Belidor Behnam NeyshaburSenior Staff Research Scientist & Team LeadFounded Mirendil

+ 1 more

Same school

Also attended University of California, Berkeley1,353

Byron DeeterPartner at Bessemer Venture Partners Steve WozniakCo-founder of Apple Tony XuCo-founder & CEO of DoorDash Ali GhodsiCo-founder & CEO of Databricks Ryan PetersenFounder & CEO of Flexport Trevor OelschigInvestment Team at General Catalyst

+ 1,347 more

Also attended Indian Institute of Technology, Madras107

Sundeep PeechuGeneral Partner at Felicis Ventures Rajesh SwaminathanInvestor at Khosla Ventures AparnaAdvisor at NewBuild.VC ParthaAdvisor at NewBuild.VC IlanInvestor at Eudemian Ventures RaghuInvestor at Eudemian Ventures

+ 101 more

Shared employers

Also worked at Perplexity38

Byron DeeterPartner at Bessemer Venture Partners Cack WilhelmInvestor at IVP (Institutional Venture Partners)Ash ShrivastavVenture Partner at Buckhill Capital Armita HosseiniVenture Fellow at Leonis Capital Taz PatelInvestor at Green Cow Venture Capital Étienne MérineauPartner at Inovia Capital

+ 32 more

Also worked at OpenAI125

Reid HoffmanCo-founder of LinkedIn; Partner at Greylock Pat GradyPartner at Sequoia Capital Greg BrockmanCo-founder & President of OpenAI Ilya SutskeverCo-founder of OpenAI; co-founder & CEO of Safe Superintelligence Dario AmodeiCo-founder & CEO of Anthropic Daniela AmodeiCo-founder & President of Anthropic

+ 119 more

Also worked at Google1,582

Ron ConwayFounder of SV Angel Elad GilSolo general partner investing through Gil Capital Kai-Fu LeeChairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AI Brian SingermanCo-founder of GPx; Partner Emeritus at Founders Fund Jess LeePartner and Chief Product Officer at Sequoia Capital Tomasz TunguzFounder & General Partner at Theory Ventures

+ 1,576 more

Also worked at DeepMind53

Demis HassabisCo-founder & CEO of Google DeepMind Mustafa SuleymanCo-founder of DeepMind and Inflection AI; CEO of Microsoft AI Arthur MenschCo-founder & CEO of Mistral AI Gabriel PereyraCo-founder & President of Harvey Jeff RoseAdvisor at AI Capital Vishal MainiFounder & Managing Partner at Mythos Ventures Management, Llc

+ 47 more

About

Beyond investing

Co-founder & CEO at Perplexity

Intro paths

Perplexity's investors · 56

Co-founders at Perplexity

Research Scientist at OpenAI

Intro paths

OpenAI's investors · 61

Co-founders at OpenAI

Research Intern at DeepMind

Intro paths

DeepMind's investors · 3

Co-founders at DeepMind

Experience

Education

Podcasts & interviews

Frequently asked questions

Paths to reach Aravind

Together at OpenAIAravind: Research Scientist

Together at DeepMindAravind: Research Intern

Together at PerplexityAravind: Co-founder & CEO

Founder mafias

University of California, Berkeley mafia534

OpenAI mafia62

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras mafia41

DeepMind mafia8

Same school

Also attended University of California, Berkeley1,353

Also attended Indian Institute of Technology, Madras107

Shared employers

Also worked at Perplexity38

Also worked at OpenAI125

Also worked at Google1,582

Also worked at DeepMind53