Where does Severin Hacker work?

Severin Hacker is Founder of Duolingo.

What companies did Severin Hacker found?

Severin Hacker founded Duolingo.

Where did Severin Hacker go to school?

Severin Hacker studied at Carnegie Mellon University (PhD, Computer Science); ETH Zürich (BSc, Computer Science).

Severin Hacker

Unicorn founder

Founder at Duolingo

New York, New York, United States

FoundedDuolingo$1.5B

Find your path to Severin

272 people in our graph share verified history with Severin — schools, employers, funds. One of them is your warm intro.

Javier SolterounlockedSeverin: together at Carnegie Mellon University (2007–2014)

×8Severin: together at Carnegie Mellon University

×2Severin: together at Duolingo

Severin: together at ETH Zürich

Founder at Duolingo

Intro paths

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In turn, Severin can intro founders to Duolingo's investors below.

Duolingo's investors · 14

CapitalGSan Francisco · $50M – $100M checks · since 2020 Drive CapitalColumbus · $5M – $30M checks Felicis VenturesSan Francisco · $500K – $15M checks Firebolt Ventures Management Company, LlcPalo Alto K2 GlobalSingapore Kleiner PerkinsMenlo Park · $500K – $15M checks · since 2019 Manta Ray VenturesLondon New Enterprise Associates (NEA)Menlo Park · $200K – $40M checks NewView CapitalBurlingame PROfounders CapitalLondon · $560K – $3.4M checks Runa CapitalSofia · $500K – $5M checks Sound VenturesSanta Monica Union Square Ventures (USV)New York City · $1M – $8M checks · since 2020 Wonder VenturesLos Angeles · $100K – $1.5M checks

Co-founders at Duolingo

Luis von AhnExecutive Officer, Director

Experience

DuolingoBuilder / Member of Technical Staff, cofoundercurrent2026 — presentNew York, NY
DuolingoCTO & Cofoundercurrent2011 — presentNew York, New York, United States
Above Ground CoffeeFoundercurrent2025 — presentUnited States
Carnegie Mellon UniversityPhD Student2007 — 2014Greater Pittsburgh Area
MicrosoftResearch Intern2009Redmond
ActantInternship2004

Skills & more

PythonComputer ScienceMachine LearningJavaArtificial IntelligenceMatlabRC++ProgrammingPerlData AnalysisHuman Computer Interaction

+4 more

CStatisticsData MiningDistributed Systems

Languages English · French · German

From Severin's professional profile.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Severin Hacker?: Director at Duolingo
Where does Severin Hacker work?: Severin Hacker is Founder of Duolingo.
What companies did Severin Hacker found?: Severin Hacker founded Duolingo.
Where did Severin Hacker go to school?: Severin Hacker studied at Carnegie Mellon University (PhD, Computer Science); ETH Zürich (BSc, Computer Science).

Founder mafias

Carnegie Mellon University mafia481

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Kai-Fu LeeResearch Computer Scientist / Assistant ProfessorFounded 01 Lucy GuoComputer Science & Human-Computer InteractionsFounded Passes +1 Guillaume LampleMaster's degreeFounded Mistral AI Joshua XuMaster's degreeFounded HeyGen Jonathan RothbergBachelor of Science (BS)Founded Raindance Technologies +4 Andrew NgBachelor of Science - BSFounded Factored +3

+ 474 more

ETH Zürich mafia195

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Thomas DübendorferMastersFounded Spontacts +2 Veronica Gambillara FonckEngineerFounded LimmaTech Biologics +1 Dr. Hanspeter FässlerHonorary Councillor Award (Ehrenrat)Founded Gravis Robotics +1 Stephen LakeVisiting ScholarFounded Jetson Home +1 Nikolay KobyshevMaster's DegreeFounded Assaia +1 Toni RosinolMaster of ScienceFounded Stack AI +1

+ 188 more

Same school

Also attended Carnegie Mellon University632

Kai-Fu LeeChairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AI Lucy GuoCo-founder of Scale AI; founder & CEO of Passes Guillaume LampleCo-founder & Chief Scientist of Mistral AI Joshua XuCo-founder & CEO of HeyGen Javier SolteroSenior Venture Partner at Felicis Ventures Avi BharadwajInvestment Director at Intel Capital

+ 626 more

Also attended ETH Zürich323

Bastian HasslingerInvestor at Index Ventures Cat WuInvestor at Index Ventures Steve VassalloInvestor at Foundation Capital Helge DaebelPartner, Head of Water at Emerald Technology Ventures Ag Maurin DaiInvestment Manager, Physical AI & Robotics at Emerald Technology Ventures Ag Christoph FreiPartner, Head of Energy at Emerald Technology Ventures Ag

+ 317 more

Shared employers

Also worked at Duolingo18

Jesse WedlerInvestor at CapitalG David YooPrincipal at Struck Capital Tim SheyInvestor at TMV Logistics Gillian MunsonChief Financial Officer Vimeo at Lytical Ventures John LillyInvestor at Gigascale Capital Bing GordonInvestor at G2 Venture Partners

+ 12 more

Also worked at Carnegie Mellon University239

Kai-Fu LeeChairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AI Javier SolteroSenior Venture Partner at Felicis Ventures Diana HuGeneral Partner at Y Combinator Cindy PadnosFounder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures Maryanna SaenkoCo-founder at Future Ventures Salvador GalaCo-founder & Managing Partner at Ev3 Ventures Llc

+ 233 more

Also worked at Microsoft1,852

Reid HoffmanCo-founder of LinkedIn; Partner at Greylock Garry TanPresident & CEO of Y Combinator Nat FriedmanCo-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDG Kai-Fu LeeChairman of Sinovation Ventures and CEO of 01.AI Bill GatesCo-founder of Microsoft; Chair of the Gates Foundation Mike KriegerCo-founder of Instagram; Chief Product Officer at Anthropic

+ 1,846 more