A Look into 28 Tech Mafia Groups
We've covered an incredible 28 tech mafia groups in the past 6 months since we started the weekly series. We also keep track of and update our weekly leaderboard on which group is leading the way in terms of the most money raised.
Below is the latest version of our weekly leaderboard, plus all the tech mafia groups we have covered so far.
But, we also decided it's time to do a quick recap of all the groups so far, so without further ado!
1. Google Mafia
As is to be expected, it is THE biggest tech mafia group we have covered so far. In fact, there's so many companies founded by former employees of Google that we couldn't possibly include all of them.
Quick stats:
Total number of companies founded: 2,300 companies
Total capital raised: $98.2 billion
2. OpenAI
OpenAI's ChatGPT language model is the talk of the town right now. The company was founded in San Francisco in 2015 by Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, Peter Thiel and others, who all together invested US$1 billion.
3. Amazon Mafia
Collectively, they've raised over $32 billion in funding and founded over 720 companies across different verticals. They're for sure one of the strongest Mafia groups around.
4. Tesla
An ode to none other than the man that is a symbol of technology and innovation - Elon Musk aka Tesla. We take a look at 25 successful companies founded by previous engineers and executives of Tesla.
5. Apple
We covered the 94 top startups founded by former employees of Apple, including rising stars.
Quick stats on the Apple Mafia:
- Total number of companies founded: 994
- Total amount of money raised: $25 billion
6. Uber
See the list of the top 66 startups founded by former employees of Uber, including rising stars.
Quick stats on the Uber Mafia:
- Total number of companies founded: 329
- Total amount of money raised: $13 billion
7. Square
Square, as many will know already, was co-founded by Jack Dorsey, one of the co-founders of Twitter. The Square Mafia has raised billions of dollars, and formed over 35 successful companies.
8. Skype
The OG video call and messaging service - the Skype Mafia!
Quick stats:
Total number of companies founded: 119
Total capital raised: $6B
Some massive names have come out of the Skype Mafia, like Wise, which was started by former Director of Strategy at Skype. Wise IPO'd in July 2021 at a valuation of $11 billion.
Learn about the top 32 companies in the Skype Mafia.
9. LinkedIn
Found out who the top movers and shakers are, followed by the rising stars.. You'll recognize some popular names like SuperHuman, Color, and Inflection AI.
10. Qualcomm
One of the oldest and most popular multinational corporations for designing and manufacturing semiconductors and telecommunications products - Qualcomm. The company IPO'd way back in 1991, it has since then consistently made billions in revenue every year.
Some impressive tech startups have come out of the Qualcomm Mafia, like Near Intelligence, which was started by former Associate at Qualcomm, Shobhit Shukla. Near went public in March this year.
Read more about the Qualcomm Mafia.
11. Twitter
Twitter has had thousands of genius employees rotating through its doors since its birth in 2006. Learn more about the biggest companies and a few rising stars to watch out for.
12. Dropbox
This alumni group is really one-of-a-kind, with over 30 successful companies founded by previous employees of Dropbox.
13. Airbnb
Check out the top 38 startups founded by former employees of Airbnb, including rising stars.
14. VMware
When we started researching this group, never in a million years could we have imagined that this would be a major tech mafia group, bigger than Tesla and Square in terms of the numbe rof companies founded! In the list below we've added the top 40, including rising stars.
Get the VMware Mafia stats right here.
15. Netflix
A list of the 17 most phenomenal startups that have come out from the Netflix Mafia.
16. Stripe
We took a deep dive into 22 phenomenal startups that have come out from the Stripe Mafia.
Quick stats:
Total number of companies founded: 52
Total money raised: $11.7 billion
17. Lyft
One of the very first tech mafia groups we covered. We put a list of 22 insanely innovative and successful companies founded by ex-employees of Lyft, including rising stars to watch out for.
18. YouTube
We selected the 32 top startups founded by former employees of YouTube.
Quick stats on the YouTube Mafia:
- Total number of companies founded: 103
- Total amount of money raised: $1.4 billion
19. Tinder
A list of the 14 top startups founded by former employees of Tinder, including rising stars.
20. SpaceX
The SpaceX Mafia is not playing small - more than 46 companies founded and $1 billion in funding. That's a strong group!
Check out the SpaceX Mafia crew.
21. Pinterest
The Pinterest Mafia has founded 70 companies so far and raised $845 million in funding.
Check out the Pinterest Mafia.
22. Coinbase
The Coinbase Mafia has a total of 60 companies founded and $557 million raised. Many of the companies founded are naturally, in the web3 space.
Check out the top companies of the Coinbase Mafia.
23. Revolut
A look at the powerful tech mafia group that has emerged from one of the most revolutionary finance apps (especially for frequent travelers)- Revolut. Founded in 2015, Revolut has over 15 million customers around the world, and is one of the most popular banks in the UK (where it was founded).
24. InstaCart
Meet the InstaCart Mafia. An elite group of founders and innovators who are behind some of the most successful startups.
25. Shopify
So far, a total of 54 companies have been founded by former Shopify employees, and a total of $262 million raised.
Learn about the Shopify Mafia.
26. Instagram
What's interesting about the Insta Mafia is that many of the companies founded are web3-based companies, it seems to have been a trend amongst the employees of Instagram!
Quick stats:
Total number of companies founded: 33
Total capital raised: $248M
27. Slack
Slack has a really interesting background, it pivoted from being a video game company to...Slack. And now, 43% of Fortune 100 businesses pay to use Slack. The Slack Mafia is super impressive, with more than 20 companies founded in various industries.
See the super impressive Slack Mafia stats.
28. Reddit
Compared to other Mafias we've covered so far, this one falls short in terms of the number of companies founded. Many of those that have raised money are what we'd typically classify as "rising stars," in other words, they're still in their early stages and not necessarily successful.
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