Ben Pasternak facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ben Pasternak
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Ben Pasternak at Heureka Conference in Berlin, June 2016
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| Born | 6 September 1999 |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Education | Reddam House, Moriah College |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Co-founder & CEO of SIMULATE |
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Benjamin Pasternak (born September 6, 1999) is an Australian entrepreneur in the technology world. He is known for starting companies that use new ideas. Ben is the co-founder and CEO of SIMULATE. This American company uses food technology to create new kinds of food.
SIMULATE has received over US$57 million in funding from investors. Their main product is NUGGS, which came out in July 2019. NUGGS are chicken nuggets made from plants, not meat. Before SIMULATE, Ben created an app called Monkey. This app let teenagers video chat with other young people who shared similar interests.
Time magazine named Ben Pasternak one of the world's most influential teenagers in 2016. In 2021, he was also listed in Forbes 30 Under 30. This list highlights successful young people.
Contents
Ben's Early Life and School
Ben Pasternak was born in Sydney, Australia. His parents are Anna and Mark Pasternak. He grew up in Vaucluse, a suburb in eastern Sydney. Ben has a younger brother named Jake and a younger sister named Maya. He went to school at Moriah College and Reddam House.
Ben started making software when he was just 13 years old. He created his first app, Impossible Rush, while feeling bored in science class. He shared his idea with an online friend, Austin Valleskey. Austin was an iOS engineer from Chicago. Together, they built the game in only a few hours. Impossible Rush was downloaded millions of times. It even reached number 16 on the US App Store (iOS) charts.
In January 2015, both Facebook and Google offered Ben internships. An internship is like a temporary job to gain experience. A few months later, Ben made a big decision. At age 15, he dropped out of high school. He moved to New York City to get money from investors for his first company, Flogg. Ben was one of the youngest people ever to receive this kind of funding.
Ben's Career and Companies
In April 2015, Ben Pasternak started his first company, Flogg. Flogg was a social networking app. It allowed young people to buy and sell items to each other. Ben's early success caught the eye of a company called Binary Capital. This company invests in new businesses.
Binary decided to invest in Flogg even before the app was launched. Other investors joined them, including Greylock Partners and John Maloney. Flogg launched in April 2016. For a short time, it was the number one trending app on the US App Store (iOS).
In late 2016, Ben decided to close Flogg. He then changed his company's focus to building Monkey. Monkey was an app that let teenagers video chat with people who had similar interests.
In early 2017, Monkey received US$2 million in funding. By January 2020, the app had more than 20 million users. It had also enabled over 20 billion video calls. Monkey even reached the number one spot on the US App Store (iOS). In February 2018, another social networking company, Holla, bought Monkey.
SIMULATE: Food for the Future
In early 2018, Ben Pasternak started a new company called SIMULATE. He was a co-founder of this new venture. SIMULATE's main goal is to create a better food system for the world. Their first product is NUGGS. NUGGS are a plant-based alternative to regular chicken nuggets. This means they are made from plants, not from chickens.
In June 2021, Bloomberg reported on SIMULATE's success. The company had raised over US$50 million from investors. These investors included Alexis Ohanian's fund Seven Seven Six, Chris Sacca, McCain Foods, and even Jay-Z. At that time, SIMULATE was valued at over US$250 million.
Personal Life
Ben Pasternak lives in the Soho area of New York City.
