The eBay Mafia
In our weekly tech 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.
What is a tech mafia group?
Disruptive startups like PayPal have produced 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.
The eBay Mafia
eBay was founded in 1995, and it's original name was AuctionWeb before it was renamed to eBay. Since then, many former employees have founded wildly successful companies.
Quick stats on the eBay Mafia:
- Total number of companies founded: 459
- Total amount of money raised: $16 billion
We've selected 61 of the top most notable companies, followed by the rising stars of the eBay Mafia. One of the most popular platforms, YouTube, is part of the group. Co-founder Steve Chen used to be an Engineering Manager at eBay. Check out all the other major companies below!
Companies covered:
- Allume
- Jumbotail
- Grail
- Switchboard
- Rocket Internet
- CommerceIQ
- Hook
- Chairish
- Zum
- Phil
- Vida Health
- Quikr
- Empathy
- Atrium
- Recurly
- LeanData
- YouTube
- Magento Commerce
- Anomalo
- Hollar
- RichRelevance
- Happy Returns
- Diagnostic Robotics
- aiXplain
- MedArrive
- Kubit
- ZipRecruiter
- B-Stock Solutions
- BoomPop
- GrubMarket
- Adzuna
- Gilt Groupe
- Hugging Face
- Glopal
- Yummly
- Aro Homes
- Diffbot
- HashCash Consultants
- Grokker
- Boomerang Commerce
- Residently
- KiwiCo
- MyFitnessPal
- Wildfire Systems
- BookOutdoors
- Accompany
- TidePool
- Taelor
- Houzz
- GrowingIO
- Joyus
- TruSTAR
- Proper
- Gazelle
- fabric
- Tea Drops
- Consentio
- BountyJobs
- Crayon
- Secret Escapes
- Oodle
Allume
Founder: Mauria Finley
eBay Role: Sr Director, Buyer Product & E-Commerce Categories
Capital Raised: $12.2M
Investors: GGV Capital
Stage: Series A
Founded by e-commerce veteran Mauria Finley and headquartered in Redwood City, Allume has raised $10M and is backed by True Ventures and GGV Capital.
Grail
Founder: Jeff Huber
eBay Role: VP, Architecture & Systems
Capital Raised: $2B
Investors: Sequoia China
Stage: Series D
Grail develops a pan-cancer screening test designed to detect cancers at an early stage.
Jeff Huber is co-founder of Triatomic Capital, ex-CEO of GRAIL, led Google Maps, Ads & Apps, he was recognized as one of the ‘100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs’ in 2017, and is an active early-stage investor/advisor in breakthrough life sciences and technology companies.
Jumbotail
Founder: Karthik Venkateswaran
eBay Role: Sr. Product Manager 2, Search & Discover
Capital Raised: $160.4M
Investors: Invus
Stage: Series C
Jumbotail is an operator of an online B2B marketplace and a retail platform that simplifies food and grocery shopping. Karthik has worked with Indian Army for over 10 years, he has also worked in companies like eBay, Autodesk, Flipkart.
Switchboard
Founder: Amir Ashkenazi
eBay Role: VP, Product Search
Capital Raised: $25M
Investors: Sequoia Capital
Stage: Series A
Switchboard is a shared workspace where you can work on apps, websites, or files together with your remote team, just like you’re in-person. Switchboard is recognized by the TIME as one of the best inventions of 2022. The incredible team only met in-person once.
Rocket Internet
Founders: Marc Samwer, Oliver Samwer
eBay Role: Managing Directors
Capital Raised: $2.2B
Investors: Global Founders Capital
Stage: Public
Rocket Internet incubates and invests in internet and technology companies globally. Rocket started in 2007 and now has more than 30,000 employees across its network of companies, which are active in more than 110 countries across six continents.
CommerceIQ
Founder: Guru Hariharan
eBay Role: Director and GM, Global Marketplace Experience
Capital Raised: $195.5M
Investors: Insight Venture Partners
Stage: Series D
CommerceIQ is an omnichannel management platform that helps large brands use machine learning and automation to increase e-commerce sales.
Chairish
Founder: Nancy Ramamurthi
eBay Role: Sr. Director - Business Operations, Global Classifieds BU
Capital Raised: $50.8M
Investors: Altos Ventures
Stage: Series B
Chairish is an online marketplace for home furniture, art, and decor.
Nancy is a CEO, founder, and transformational consumer technology leader with over 25 years of executive operator experience and a track record of driving growth and innovation across digitally native startup disruptors, global consumer internet leaders, and powerhouse Fortune 200 organizations.
Zum
Founder: Ritu Narayan
eBay Role: Group Product Manager
Capital Raised: $201M
Investors: Sequoia Capital
Stage: Series D
Zum provides child transportation for school districts and busy families.After completing studies in India, Narayan the founder of Zum moved to the U.S. in 1999. She was initially a consultant for IBM, then PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 2004, she began the first of several product management roles in Silicon Valley, first at Oracle, then Yahoo, and eBay.
Phil
Founder: Deepak Thomas
eBay Role: General Manager, Global Mobile Products
Capital Raised: $121.6M
Investors: FJ Labs
Stage: Series D
Phil is on a mission to help people get their medications quickly, easily and affordably.
Vida Health
Founder: Stephanie Tilenius
eBay Role: SVP & GM, eBay North America and Global Product
Capital Raised: $188M
Investors: Canvas Ventures
Stage: Series D
Vida Health is a virtual care platform that provides health coaching from experienced health care providers and medical institutions.
Quikr
Founder: Jiby Thomas
eBay Role: Senior Manager - Motors
Capital Raised: $424.2M
Investors: Tiger Global
Stage: Series H
Quikr is a free classifieds and online marketplace that helps users to sell, buy, rent, or discover anything across India.
Jiby Thomas, the founder and CEO of Quikr, lives in Mumbai, India . He is an experienced professional with over 20 years of brand communication and digital experience.
Empathy
Founder: Ron Gura, Yonatan (Yon) Bergman
eBay Role: Product Director, Engineering Manager
Capital Raised: $43M
Investors: General Catalyst
Stage: Series A
Empathy is a platform for families to deal with the loss of a loved one.
With a combination of technology and human support, the Empathy app helps families through all the financial, legal, emotional, and logistical challenges after losing a loved one.
Atrium
Founder: Jason Heidema
eBay Role: Group Product Manager
Capital Raised: $33.5M
Investors: CRV
Stage: Series A
Atrium help sales managers with its data-driven management software that provides coaching insights and continuous monitoring.
Jason has 20 years of experience in SaaS and Consumer software. He is the co-founder and CEO of Atrium and was previously the co-founder and CEO of TalentBin, which was acquired by Monster Worldwide in 2014.
Recurly
Founder: Dan Burkhart
eBay Role: Director, Internet Marketing
Capital Raised: $39.1M
Investors: Greycroft
Stage: Series C
Recurly is a subscription billing management SaaS platform powers 2,000+ brands including Sling TV, BarkBox, Asana, FabFitFun, Cinemark and Twitch.
Dan Burkhart is the CEO and co-founder of Recurly, Inc. He is an internet veteran with experience in various areas such as product marketing, internet marketing, business development, corporate development, product management, and management of high-performing teams.
LeanData
Founder: Evan Liang
eBay Role: Senior Product Manager
Capital Raised: $42.6M
Investors: Sapphire Ventures
Stage: Series C
LeanData is a platform that enables revenue teams (marketing, sales, customer, and partner ops) to manage all go-to-market motions.
YouTube
Founder: Steve Chen
eBay Role: Engineering Manager
Capital Raised: $11.5M
Investors: Sequoia Capital
Stage: Series A
Steve Chen is one of the co-founders of one of the most successful companies - YouTube.
Magento Commerce
Founder: Roy Rubin
eBay Role: VP, COO at Magento
Capital Raised: $272.5M
Investors: Hillhouse Capital Group
Stage: Private Equity
Magento is a modern cloud commerce platform with an open-source ecosystem. Recognized as the leading commerce platform to the 2015 Internet Retailer Top 1000, B2B300, and Europe 500 lists.
Magento works hand-in-hand with the world’s biggest retailers, brands, and branded manufacturers across B2C and B2B industries.
Anomalo
Founder: Elliot Shmukler
eBay Role: Senior Product Manager
Capital Raised: $39M
Investors: Foundation Capital
Stage: Series A
Anomalo allows users to continuously inspect and validate the data coming into their warehouses. Elliot Shmukler is a co-founder and CEO at Anomalo. He has over 20 years of experience in Product and Growth leadership with Internet Consumer Software products. He specializes in consumer product strategy, driving Growth, and data-driven product optimization.
Hollar
Founder: David Yeom
eBay Role: Sr Business Analyst
Capital Raised: $77.5M
Investors: Index Ventures
Stage: Series C
Hollar is an online dollar store that features toys, apparel, electronics, beauty, accessories, party supplies, to home essentials.
RichRelevance
Founder: Sundeep Ahuja
eBay Role: Product Manager
Capital Raised: $95.8M
Investors: Greylock
Stage: Series G
RichRelevance is the world’s leading personalization provider, it is used by more than 240 multinational companies to deliver the most relevant and innovative customer experiences across web, mobile and in store.
Happy Returns
Founder: David Sobie
eBay Role: Senior Manager, Dealer Business
Capital Raised: $25M
Investors: Upfront Ventures
Stage: Series B
Happy Returns provides return solutions for leading online and omni-channel retailers. They provide aggregated shipping and logistics across all channels with optimized delivery to retailers' preferred destinations.
Diagnostic Robotics
Founder: Kira Radinsky
eBay Role: Chief Scientist (IL) & Director of Data Science
Capital Raised: $69M
Investors: Accelmed
Stage: Series B
Diagnostic Robotic develops a signal-agnostic artificial intelligence system for healthcare insurers, providers, and patients.
MedArrive
Founder: Dan R. Trigub
eBay Role: Global Business Development Lead
Capital Raised: $70.3M
Investors: Kleiner Perkins
Stage: Series A
MedArrive is a healthcare logistics platform that connects patients with on-demand medical transportation and care.
Kubit
Founder: Alex Li
eBay Role: Staff Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $22.8M
Investors: Shasta Ventures
Stage: Series A
Kubit is a leading innovator in the product analytics industry by providing a revolutionary no-code solution to self-service analytics.
ZipRecruiter
Founder: Will Redd, Ian Siegel, Ward Poulos
eBay Role: Software Engineer/Manager, VP Web Development, Senior Web Designer
Capital Raised: $769M
Investors: IVP
Stage: Public
ZipRecruiter is an online employment marketplace, connecting millions of employers and job seekers through mobile and email services.
B-Stock Solutions
Founder: Howard Rosenberg
eBay Role: GM, Private Marketplaces
Capital Raised: $73.2M
Investors: True Ventures
Stage: Series B
B-Stock Solutions offers liquidation sales management solutions for companies. Howard Rosenberg is the founder and chairman of B-Stock Solutions, a company that helps retailers and manufacturers liquidate excess inventory. He has over 20 years of experience in the e-commerce and venture capital industries.
BoomPop
Founder: Healey Cypher
eBay Role: Director, Head of Retail Innovation
Capital Raised: $14M
Investors: ACME Capital
Stage: Series A
BoomPop helps people connect with team offsites, virtual experiences, recognition, and more.
GrubMarket
Founder: Mike Xu
eBay Role: Senior Software Engineer
Capital Raised: $499.1M
Investors: Tiger Global
Stage: Series F
GrubMarket is a technology enabler and digital transformer of American food supply chain industry.
Mike Xu is the founder and CEO of GrubMarket, America's largest food supply chain eCommerce company. He previously worked at Brightidea as VP of engineering.
Adzuna
Founder: Andrew Hunter
eBay Role: Head of Internet Marketing
Capital Raised: $17.1M
Investors: Index Ventures
Stage: Series C
Adzuna is a job search engine that lists millions of job ads from thousands of websites. It helps jobseekers find the right job by providing smarter search options, powerful data about the job market, and unique tools like ValueMyCV.
Gilt Groupe
Founder: Alexis Maybank
eBay Role: eBay Motors; International Division; & Strategic Planning Group
Capital Raised: $286M
Investors: NEA
Stage: Series F
Gilt Groupe provides a shopping website that includes fashion for women, men, and children; home decor and unique activities.
Alexis is a NYC internet entrepreneur who co-founded Gilt Groupe and is on the boards of 2U and Girls Who Code.
Hugging Face
Founder: Clem Delangue
eBay Role: Innovation
Capital Raised: $160.2M
Investors: Sequoia Capital
Stage: Series C
Hugging Face allows users to build, train, and deploy art models using the reference open source in machine learning.
Glopal
Founder: Herbert Knibiehly
eBay Role: Head of Buying and Search Experience
Capital Raised: $26.5M
Investors: Axeleo Capital
Stage: Series A
Glopal is a full-stack solution for e-merchants that automatically generates incremental sales internationally.
Houzz
Founder: Alon Cohen
eBay Role: Senior Director, Engineering
Capital Raised: $613.6M
Investors: Sequoia Capital
Stage: Series E
Houzz is an online platform for home remodeling, architecture, interior design, decorating, landscaping, and home improvement.
GrowingIO
Founder: Jonathan Wu, Justin M. Chen, Simon Zhang
eBay Role: Software Engineer III, Sr. Business Insight Analyst, Senior Manager of Site Analytics
Capital Raised: $50M
Investors: Greylock
Stage: Series B
GrowingIO is a data analytics product based on user behavior, providing data acquisition and analysis technology. GrowingIO was founded in May 2015 by Simon Zhang, Dingding Ye, Justin Chen, Yuanming Shan, and Jonathan Wu.
Joyus
Founder: Diana L. Williams
eBay Role: Director, Verticals Fashion
Capital Raised: $67.4M
Investors: Accel Partners
Stage: Series C
Joyus is a startup that aims to enhance the online shopping experience by helping shoppers discover goods through short-form videos.
TruSTAR
Founder: Dave Cullinane
eBay Role: CISO
Capital Raised: $22M
Investors: Aspect Ventures
Stage: Series A
TruSTAR is a cloud native intelligence management platform that transforms and automates data for security operations.
Dave Cullinane is a renowned cybersecurity expert with 30+ years of experience. He founded TruSTAR Technology, served as CISO for eBay, and chaired the Cloud Security Alliance. Recipient of various prestigious awards and honors.
Gazelle
Founder: Israel Y. Ganot
eBay Role: Finance Director, eBay UK
Capital Raised: $55.9M
Investors: Venrock
Stage: Series E
Gazelle is an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used electronic gadgets.
Israel Y. Ganot is a technology-focused entrepreneur with a broad network and a passion for scaling Israeli technologies globally.
fabric
Founder: Ryan Bartley
eBay Role: Manager of Product - Global Post Transaction and Returns
Capital Raised: $293.5M
Investors: Norwest Venture Partners
Stage: Series C
fabric offers a headless eCommerce platform that enables companies to grow their online presence via its API-driven modular system.Fabric’s open and scalable platform is developed to empower mid-market and established businesses to drive business growth without the cost, time, and complexity of monolithic legacy solutions.
Tea Drops
Founder: Sashee Chandran
eBay Role: Internet Marketing Strategy: Marketing Leadership Program
Capital Raised: $7M
Investors: Halogen Ventures
Stage: Series A
Tea Drops is an organic tea company that makes a line of bagless, dissolvable tea blends.
Before founding Tea Drops, Sashee worked in Silicon Valley leading digital marketing and market research campaigns for Fortune 100 brands. Sashee’s own frustration with the labor intensive process of making loose leaf tea at her work desk, inspired her to to rethink how we drink and consume tea.
Over the next two years, she experimented with various tea properties and developed Tea Drops. Sashee patented the process and in 2015 and left her corporate life in Silicon Valley to build Tea Drops.
Consentio
Founder: Antonio Robert Aragonés
eBay Role: Head of Seller Development
Capital Raised: $7.7M
Investors: SquareOne
Stage: Seed
Consentio is an end-to-end food supply chain transaction platform. Their marketplace aims at improving ordering efficiency for all the players of the food supply chain - producers, cooperatives, whole sellers, and supermarkets - meaning less food waste and greater levels of transparency.
BountyJobs
Founder: Mark Hohmann
eBay Role: Head of New Businesses, eBay Motors
Capital Raised: $29.8M
Investors: Greylock
Stage: Series D
BountyJobs is a software technology for employer and recruitment agency collaboration.
Crayon
Founder: Jonah Lopin
eBay Role: Summer Intern, Top Seller Development
Capital Raised: $36.6M
Investors: Bedrock Capital
Stage: Series B
A competitive intelligence platform that enables businesses to see and seize opportunities and create sustainable advantages in their markets.
Secret Escapes
Founder: Tom Valentine
eBay Role: Strategy and Business Development Manager
Capital Raised: $323.6M
Investors: Index Ventures
Stage: Series E
Secret Escapes is a members-only travel club offering discounted rates on luxury hotels and holidays in the UK.
Tom Valentine, co-founder at Secret Escapes, has expertise in marketing, corporate strategy, and product management. Currently, he serves as the General Manager at Secret Escapes, overseeing flash/daily deals in luxury travel, with a focus on sending people on great holidays.
Oodle
Founder: Faith Sedlin
eBay Role: Product Manager
Capital Raised: $24.6M
Investors: Greylock
Stage: Series C
Oodle is a social marketplace offering customers a web and mobile app for buying and selling products.
Faith Sedlin is a strong, results-driven leader and innovator with over 20 years of experience in marketing and operations for high-growth marketplaces and consumer technology companies.
Yummly
Founder: David Feller, Vadim Geshel
eBay Role: Director - Product, Pricing, and Planning, Principal Architect
Capital Raised: $24.2M
Investors: First Round Capital
Stage: Series B
Yummly enables its users to search for recipes by ingredient, diet, allergy, taste, calories, price, cuisine, time, course, and source.
Aro Homes
Founder: Carl Gish
eBay Role: Vice President, Global Delivery Experience and Loca
Capital Raised: $21M
Investors: Innovation Endeavors
Stage: Series A
Aro Homes aims to redefine residential construction by building better, more sustainable homes faster, and more efficiently.
Carl Gish has been a general management, product and brand executive with a track record of driving growth, creating shareholder value and building successful teams and brands from Unilever, Amazon, Dyson, eBay and early stage companies.
Diffbot
Founder: Mike Tung
eBay Role: Consulting Search Scientist
Capital Raised: $13M
Investors: Felicis Ventures
Stage: Series A
Diffbot is an AI startup that provides knowledge as a service to power intelligent applications.
HashCash Consultants
Founder: Raj Chowdhury
eBay Role: Consulting
Capital Raised: $150M
Investors: PayBito
Stage: Series B
HashCash Consultants is a software company offering Blockchain, AI, Big Data and IoT products, platforms and services.
Raj Chowdhury, the CEO of HashCash Consultants, is a blockchain pioneer. He has implemented blockchain in major banks and advises industry leaders on its adoption. Raj has authored two books and co-founded startups in the financial and mapping sectors. He holds multiple degrees and is a member of Asha Silicon Valley.
Grokker
Founder: Lorna Borenstein
eBay Role: Vice President and General Manager
Capital Raised: $22.5M
Investors: First Round Capital
Stage: Series B
Netflix for wellbeing with community at its core. Grokker takes the work out of workplace wellness with an easy-to-implement, holistic, and cost-effective program. With over 3,700 exercise, mindfulness, nutrition, finance, and sleep videos from 5 to 50 minutes, more than 130 master experts to choose from, and a supportive community to connect employees across locations, Grokker’s patented program delivers results.
Boomerang Commerce
Founder: Guru Hariharan
eBay Role: Director and GM, Global Marketplace Experience
Capital Raised: $20.5M
Investors: Trinity Ventures
Stage: Series B
Boomerang Commerce empowers profitable growth through data driven merchandising decisions.
Residently
Founder: Sam Phillips, Tom Allason
eBay Role: Head of Engineering, Vice President - Product & Engineering
Capital Raised: $20.7M
Investors: Felix Capital
Stage: Series A
Residently is a mobile application that provides property rental services for agents, property managers, and institutional landlords.
MyFitnessPal
Founder: Albert Lee
eBay Role: Product Manager, Internet Marketing & User Acquisition
Capital Raised: $18M
Investors: Accel Partners
Stage: Series A
MyFitnessPal is a health smartphone app that tracks nutrition, exercise, and diet.
Wildfire Systems
Founder: Jordan Glazier
eBay Role: General Manager, eBay Business, Computers and Electronics
Capital Raised: $15M
Investors: Citi Ventures
Stage: TTV Capital
White-label cashback rewards platform with patented technologies to power custom loyalty solutions and reward customers' online shopping.
Accompany
Founder: Amy Chang
eBay Role: Product Manager - User Acquistion
Capital Raised: $40.6M
Investors: CRV
Stage: Series B
Accompany designs and develops a relationship intelligence platform.
Rising Stars
TidePool
Founder: Vamsee Nalamothu
eBay Role: Group Product Manager
Capital Raised: $7.5M
Investors: Amplify LA
Stage: Seed
Tidepool offers a game-based technology that enables users to decode personality traits, emotions, and short-term cognitive processes.
Taelor
Founder: Anya Cheng
eBay Role: Head of Product, Incubator/ Growth/ Emerging Markets
Capital Raised: $2.3M
Investors: Draper University Ventures
Stage: Pre-Seed
Taelor helps busy men look good without the commitment of buying clothes.
Proper
Founder: Nancy Ramamurthi
eBay Role: Sr. Director - Business Operations, Global Classifieds BU
Capital Raised: $9.5
Investors: Casa Verde Capital
Stage: Seed
Proper offers natural sleep supplements and sleep coaching to help consumers improve their long-term sleep health.
KiwiCo
Founder: Sandra Oh Lin
eBay Role: GM, Fashion
Capital Raised: $10M
Investors: First Round Capital
Stage: Series A
KiwiCo is a website for kids that provides inspiration and materials necessary for imaginative play and learning.
Sandra is passionate about launching and operating new businesses, creating products, developing go-to-market strategies, and building effective cross-functional teams.
BookOutdoors
Founder: Roy Rubin
eBay Role: VP, COO at Magento
Capital Raised: $4M
Investors: GreatPoint Ventures
Stage: Seed
BookOutdoors is a company that makes it easier and more affordable to plan and book outdoor travel. They offer a wide variety of campsites, RV resorts, cabins, and glamping options, all without memberships or booking fees.
Hook
Founder: Jake Nyquist
eBay Role: Software Engineering Intern
Capital Raised: $3M
Investors: Lattice Fund
Stage: Seed
Hook provides an NFT-native options protocol that enables active traders to earn more with less.
aiXplain
Founder: Hassan Sawaf
eBay Role: Head of Artificial Intelligence
Capital Raised: $8M
Investors: Transform VC
Stage: Seed
aiXplain is a no-code low-code AI IDE and a marketplace for small and medium enterprises offering Large Language Models, GPT, Multimodal AI.
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