Weekly startup mafia: Instagram
Covering the biggest tech mafia groups in Silicon Valley and beyond.
What is a startup mafia group?
Disruptive startups like PayPal or Facebook produce a line of ex employees who go on to start their own influential startups. For example, employees who worked at PayPal went on to found companies like LinkedIn and YouTube.
In our weekly startup mafia series we cover the biggest tech mafias in Silicon Valley and beyond, taking a closer look at what companies former employees have started, how much money they’ve raised, and who their investors are.
This week we bring you the Instagram Mafia — a group of Instagram-bred innovators wreaking havoc on traditional industries with disruptive startups.
Let’s take a look at the stats:
→ Total number of companies founded: 33
→ Total capital raised: $248M
Alan
Founder: Charles Gorintin
Instagram Role: Data Scientist
Capital Raised: $543.67M
Investors: Ribbit Capital
Stage: Series E
Alan is a health partner that offers intuitive health insurance, mental well-being services, and access to its clinic. They cover over 315,000 members and partner with 20,000 companies to promote a healthy and productive lifestyle. Alan has raised over €490 million and is licensed in France, Belgium, and Spain.
Bitwise
Founder: Hunter Horsley
Instagram Role: Product Manager
Capital Raised: $84.5M
Investors: General Catalyst
Stage: Series B
Bitwise is a leading crypto asset manager in San Francisco, managing the world’s largest crypto index fund and offering a range of products. It collaborates with financial advisors to provide research and education and has been featured in prominent financial publications.
Tome
Founder: Keith Peiris
Instagram Role: Messaging & Camera AR Product Lead
Capital Raised: $75.3M
Investors: Greylock
Stage: Series B
Tome is a multimodal storytelling tool that utilizes generative AI. It’s the first of its kind to allow creators to generate narratives ranging from presentations to outlines to stories along with visuals within seconds.
Karat Financial
Founder: Eric Wei
Instagram Role: Product Manager
Capital Raised: $45.6M
Investors: Union Square Ventures
Stage: Series A
Karat Financial offers business credit cards tailored to the needs of digital creators and influencers. It is helping creators and influencers with their finances- eg taxes, bookkeeping, and cards.
Bleacher Report
Founder: Omar Raja
Instagram Role: Founder of SportsPosters
Capital Raised: $40.5M
Investors: Hillsven Capital
Stage: Series C
Bleacher Report is a digital platform that caters to sports fans, providing sports and culture content created and collaborated on by millennials. Their focus is on the next generation of fans, with headquarters in San Francisco, and offices in New York City and London.
Rylo
Founder: Alex Karpenko, Chris Cunningham
Instagram Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $31M
Investors: Sequoia Capital
Stage: Series B
Rylo is a compact and powerful camera that captures 360º videos with exceptional stabilization technology. Its advanced features enable users to create cinematic and visually appealing videos that can be effortlessly shared with others.
CyberConnect
Founder: Ryan Li
Instagram Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $25M
Investors: GGV Capital
Stage: Series A
CyberConnect is a crypto startup developing tools for Web3 social media, gaming, and metaverse applications.
Transform
Founder: Paul Yang
Instagram Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $24.5M
Investors: Index Ventures
Stage: Series A
The Transform App offers business intelligence with a metrics-first philosophy, providing stunning visualizations, governance tools, and monitoring capabilities. It is built on MetricFlow’s advanced open-source semantic layer for consistency and unique analytical experiences.
Run The World
Founder: Xiaoyin Qu
Instagram Role: Product Manager
Capital Raised: $14.8M
Investors: GGV Capital
Stage: Series A
Run The World is a one-stop solution for virtual social gatherings, webinars and conferences that deliver engagement. Run The World faced shut down worldwide due to the pandemic. Since then, Run The World has grown from five employees to 45 and hosted 10,000 virtual events for clients.
Guilded
Founder: Eli Brown
Instagram Role: Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $10.2M
Investors: Initialized
Stage: Seed
Guilded connects gamers and fans worldwide on all platforms, offering communication, recruitment, collaboration, and organizational tools to enhance their gaming experiences. The company’s goal is to create an inclusive and enjoyable space for all gamers.
Read the full article with the full list of startups here.
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