Hall of Fame
AI Lounge members who built a company and sold it or took it public, ranked by exit value.
120
143
$6.4B
$1.8B
$1.8B
BigCommerce's August 2020 Nasdaq IPO priced at $24 per share and was valued at about $1.8 billion at that offer price, per Renaissance Capital; the stock then rallied to roughly $5 billion by the first day's close, which is a trading figure rather than the listing value. sec.gov ↗
$1B
Sumeru Equity Partners bought a majority stake in GoGuardian in 2018 (terms undisclosed at the time). GoGuardian's August 2021 $200M investment from Tiger Global valued the company at well over $1 billion, so the exit is listed at $1B. sumeruequity.com ↗
$825M
Superhuman was acquired by Grammarly in 2025 in a deal reported at about $825M. techcrunch.com ↗
$762M
Entrust Technologies went public on Nasdaq in August 1998 at $16 a share, valuing the company at about $762M (47.6M shares outstanding after the offering), while John Ryan was its founding President & CEO. The IPO itself raised $86.4M for the company. fbcoverup.com ↗
$607M
Ardian, a private investment house, acquired a majority stake in Jakala, the Milan-based martech group, in February 2021. ardian.com ↗
$225M
In December 2024, Allwyn agreed to take a 51% majority stake in Logflex MT Holding, the owner of Novibet, for an initial €217m in cash, with George Athanasopoulos serving as CEO at the time. igamingbusiness.com ↗
@ryanallisRyan Allis $169MiContact, the email marketing company Ryan co-founded in 2002 and led as CEO, was acquired by Vocus for $169M in 2012. techcrunch.com ↗
@ryanallis3Ryan Allis $169MNasdaq-listed Vocus bought the Morrisville email marketer in February 2012 in a deal valued near $169 million. ryanallis.com ↗
@suresh.madanSuresh Madan $167MMyHealth Centre, founded by Suresh Madan in 2013, was acquired by WELL Health Technologies for C$206M (about US$167M at 2021 rates) at closing, with up to C$60M more in earn-out. bctechnology.com ↗
@rogersholankiRoger Sholanki $150MBook4Time, a spa management software company Roger Sholanki founded in 2004 and led as CEO, was bought by Agilysys for about $150M USD in August 2024. marketscreener.com ↗
@igorschlumIgor Schlumberger $126MLagardère Active took majority control of LeGuide.com through a 2012 public tender offer, reportedly valued near $126M. lagardere.com ↗Italian shipping and logistics group MBE Worldwide took a majority stake in Paris-based PrestaShop in 2021 at an undisclosed price. app.dealroom.co ↗
@pavansondurPavan Sondur $111MNetcore Cloud bought about 90% of Unbxd for roughly $100M in March 2022, valuing the whole company at about $111M. inc42.com ↗
@matthewrocheMatt Roche $65MOffermatica, the San Francisco testing software firm Matthew Roche founded, was sold to Omniture in 2007, with reported value of about $65 million. businesswire.com ↗BBoltnetAcquired by Houseplans.comHouseplans.com's October 2013 acquisition of the Pinterest-like BO.LT service had undisclosed terms, so no price is reported; the search found no reported deal value for it. vator.tv ↗
@guyGuy Yalif $55MWebflow acquired Intellimize in April 2024; TechCrunch reported the price as eight figures ($10M to $100M), counted at the $55M midpoint. techcrunch.com ↗
@dusanoDusan Omercevic $50MLeanIX acquired San Francisco-based SaaS management provider Cleanshelf in March 2021, with a reported price in the mid double-digit millions. prnewswire.com ↗
@ylechelleYann Lechelle $30MAppsfire was acquired by Mobile Network Group in February 2015 in a deal reported at about $30M, though the companies did not disclose terms. nocamels.com ↗Jamespot's 2016 acquisition of SonetIN has no disclosed or widely reported price; FrenchWeb says the financial terms were not revealed, and Crunchbase lists the price as blank. frenchweb.fr ↗Paris mobile-marketing studio KickYourApp, which Yann Lechelle co-founded, was bought by advertising agency CHANGE in 2013 at an undisclosed price. medium.com ↗No price was found for the 2008 acquisition of Etheryl by private investors; INSEAD case material says two recent INSEAD graduates offered to buy the company, and a French company registry shows a change of president in September 2008, but neither source gives a deal value. medium.com ↗
@degDavid Goldfarb $23M
@cyberDane Meah $23MInfoTrust was acquired by Spirit Technology Solutions in 2024 for A$34.6M in cash and shares. businessnewsaustralia.com ↗@rutger.peters
Rutger Peters $21MZZylomAcquired by RealNetworks$21MZylom was acquired by RealNetworks in 2006 in a deal valued at up to $21M. sec.gov ↗
@maxcrMax Faingezicht $12MThriveHive was sold to Quincy-based Propel Marketing for $11.8M in an all-cash deal in March 2016, with the full 25-person team moving to the buyer. bostonstartupsguide.com ↗
@somGlobalData completed its purchase of Singapore-based Ai Palette on 7 March 2025 for a reported $11.5M (about £8.9M), though GlobalData's 2025 annual report gives a £9.6M cash consideration. fhweek.com.au ↗
@gururajpGururaj Pandurangi $8.9MCloudneeti was acquired by Zscaler in April 2020 for $8.9M, plus up to $6M in restricted stock for employees who joined Zscaler. marketscreener.com ↗
@prakashPrakash Sadasivam $7.1MNasdaq-listed HeartCore bought a 51% majority stake in Sigmaways in 2023 for about $3.9M in cash and stock. With the other 49% booked at $3.2M, that values the whole company at about $7.1M. globenewswire.com ↗
@simplrRamas Balasubramanian $5.6MIBIZCS Group (IBIZ Consulting Services) was acquired by R Systems International in April 2015 for up to SGD 7.5M (about $5.6M) including earnouts. rsystems.com ↗
@balaMonk Tech Labs, the software company behind MonkSpaces.Ai, was reportedly acquired by Aurum PropTech in late 2021 or early 2022 in a deal PitchBook records at $5M. tracxn.com ↗Cozee Homes, the Bangalore managed-rental startup co-founded by Balaji Varadharajan, was sold to an unnamed real estate brokerage in 2019 for an undisclosed price. monkspaces.ai ↗
@mnstryErik Desrosiers $5MEvolve Energy was acquired by Octopus Energy in 2020 and became Octopus Energy US. solarpowerportal.co.uk ↗@oj
OJ Reeves $4.5MTesserent agreed in late September 2023 to buy Beyond Binary for A$7M, which the company said would be staged over time, roughly US$4.5M at the time of the deal. crunchbase.com ↗
@harshal201286Harshal Trivedi $1.8MSahana System Limited bought Softvan and Softvan Labs in August 2023 in a deal valued at about INR 150 million. sahanasystem.com ↗
@vikVik Ghai $1.3MMMokume Software, IncAcquired by Versant Corp.$1.3MVersant Corp. bought Redwood City-based real-time manufacturing software maker Mokume in November 2002, paying with roughly 2.4 million of its own shares. controleng.com ↗HID Global (ASSA ABLOY) bought Quantum Secure in March 2015 with the price left undisclosed, and no reported deal value appeared in the sources reviewed. locksmithledger.com ↗@gbildson
Greg Bildson $460KAOL bought the New York mobile social startup Kanvas Labs, with its five-person team, for about $0.46 million in August 2015. marketscreener.com ↗
@smarcombesSéverin Marcombes $11KLLimaAcquired by Atempo$11KLima's assets were bought by Atempo for about €10,000 after the company had been liquidated in 2019. maddyness.com ↗
@scardogSevco Security was acquired by Arctic Wolf in February 2026 for an undisclosed price. siliconangle.com ↗
@zhiyuan8Qualcomm's 2026 acquisition of Nexa AI was confirmed by the company's developer blog, founders' posts and GitHub, but no purchase price was found in the searches, so no amount is reported. github.com ↗
@mattbeuclerTCPA litigation-protection platform, acquired by Sonera together with Number Verifier (announced September 9, 2026). newswire.com ↗Phone number and caller-reputation verification, acquired by Sonera together with The Blacklist Alliance (announced September 9, 2026). newswire.com ↗
@rushilHypercard, also called Hyper and co-founded in 2022 with Rushil Nagarsheth as CTO, agreed in April 2026 to be acquired by American Express on undisclosed terms. businesswire.com ↗
@demianvoorhagenDemaTrading.ai, which he co-founded and led as CEO, was sold to Convolution Capital in 2026 (per his profile). dematrading.ai ↗
@dmytroLaw Insider, where Dmytro Sadovnychyi is a co-founder, was acquired by SimpleDocs in 2025 on undisclosed terms. simpledocs.com ↗
@arjanCCalagoAcquired by XSARUSCalago, a PIM consultancy based in Meppel, was acquired by XSARUS and merged into XSARUS PIM Masters in 2025. emerce.nl ↗
@yananai-chiwutaFFunnelVisionAcquired by UndisclosedFunnelVision, a London performance marketing agency Chiwuta founded in 2024, was sold in 2025 with the buyer and price not publicly disclosed. yananaichiwuta.com ↗@ricardo_ghekiere
Saasmic, the SaaS marketing agency he founded, was acquired in 2025 (acquirer not disclosed; per his profile). saasmic.io ↗Antwerp growth-marketing agency Fast Forward, later renamed Saasmic, was taken over by Upthrust in a deal whose price was not disclosed, with the timing around 2019. ricardoghekiere.com ↗