Naveen Jain facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Naveen Jain
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Jain at Tech Cocktail Week
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| Born | 6 September 1959 Uttar Pradesh, India
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| Education | IIT Roorkee (BE) |
| Occupation | Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Moon Express, CEO of Viome |
| Known for | Founder and former CEO of Infospace |
| Children | 3, including Ankur Jain |
Naveen K. Jain is an Indian-American business leader and entrepreneur. He is known for starting several companies. These include InfoSpace, Moon Express, and Viome. He has a passion for big ideas and solving global challenges.
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Early Life and Education
Naveen Jain was born in India in 1959. He grew up in New Delhi and in small villages in Uttar Pradesh.
In 1979, he earned an engineering degree from IIT Roorkee. That same year, he moved to the United States. He admired business people who built their own success, like Bill Gates.
Starting His Career
Naveen Jain's first job after college was in 1983 at Burroughs (now Unisys). He later moved to Silicon Valley, a famous area for technology companies. He worked for several small companies before joining Microsoft in 1989.
At Microsoft, he worked on important software like Windows NT and Windows 95. He even received three patents for his work on Windows 95. After eight years, he felt he wanted to make a bigger impact. He left Microsoft in 1995 to start his own company, InfoSpace. This was during a time when many internet companies were starting up.
InfoSpace
Building a Company
Naveen Jain started InfoSpace in March 1996. The company provided useful content and services. These included phone directories, maps, games, and stock market information. They offered these services to websites and early mobile phones.
InfoSpace grew quickly and became a public company in December 1998. This meant they sold shares of the company to the public. This helped them raise $75 million. Naveen Jain's personal wealth grew significantly during this time.
Challenges and Changes
Around March 2000, the "dot-com bubble" ended. This was a time when many internet companies that had grown very fast suddenly saw their value drop. InfoSpace's stock price fell sharply.
There were also disagreements and legal issues. Some former employees and partners claimed they were promised company shares but did not receive them. An investigation by the company's board looked into these claims.
Naveen Jain left his role as CEO of InfoSpace in December 2002. Later, in 2003, he was involved in a legal settlement related to stock trading. He said this was due to bad advice from his advisors. Eventually, InfoSpace and Jain reached an agreement to settle all remaining legal cases in December 2004.
After InfoSpace
Intelius and TalentWise
In 2003, Naveen Jain co-founded Intelius. This company gathered and sold background information on people. It grew successfully over several years. In 2012, he renamed the company Inome. He later sold most of his share in 2015.
He also founded TalentWise, which was a company that spun off from Intelius. TalentWise was sold in 2016.
Moon Express
Naveen Jain co-founded Moon Express in August 2010. He is the chairman of this company. Moon Express is working on building spacecraft to explore the Moon. Their goal is to find and mine valuable materials like gold, platinum, and a special fuel called Helium-3.
They also plan to look for water on the Moon's south pole. This water could be used to create rocket fuel for future missions to Mars and beyond. Naveen Jain has a big vision for Moon Express, including the idea of human colonies on the Moon.
Bluedot and Viome
In 2015, Jain founded Bluedot. This company takes research from government labs and turns it into products for everyday use.
Bluedot also has a spin-off company called Viome, which Naveen Jain founded in 2016. Viome offers services that test your body's unique makeup, especially your gut health. They then provide personalized advice on what foods might be best for you.
Other Interests
Naveen Jain is involved in several other important activities. He is on the board of the Kairos Society, which helps young entrepreneurs. He also serves on the board of the Xprize Foundation and Singularity University.
With his wife, Anu, he helped launch the Anu and Naveen Jain Women’s Safety Xprize. This competition offered $1 million to teams who could create an affordable device to quickly and quietly send emergency alerts.
Naveen Jain also collects meteorites. These are rocks from space that have fallen to Earth. His collection focuses on meteorites that people actually saw falling through the atmosphere.
Personal Life
Naveen Jain got married in 1988 and moved to Seattle with his family. He has three children, including Ankur Jain.
