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 (born 6 September 1959) is an Indian-American business leader and entrepreneur. He is known for starting several companies. One of his first big companies was InfoSpace. He also co-founded Moon Express in 2010 and started Viome in 2016.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Naveen Jain was born in 1959 into a Jain family. He grew up in New Delhi and in small villages in Uttar Pradesh, India.
In 1979, Naveen earned an engineering degree from IIT Roorkee. Soon after, he moved to the United States. He admired business leaders who built their own success, like Bill Gates.
Starting His Career
Naveen Jain's first job after college was in 1983 at a company called Burroughs (now Unisys). He worked in New Jersey as part of a special business program. Later, he moved to Silicon Valley, a famous area for technology companies. He worked for several small companies before joining Microsoft in 1989.
At Microsoft, Naveen worked on important computer programs like Windows NT and Windows 95. He even received three patents for his work on Windows 95. After eight years, he felt it was time for a new challenge. He wanted to start his own company where he felt he could make a bigger difference.
In 1995, a company called Netscape had a very successful stock offering. This showed that internet companies could become very valuable quickly. Naveen saw this as a great opportunity. He left Microsoft to start his own internet company, InfoSpace, that same year.
InfoSpace: A New Venture
Building InfoSpace
Naveen Jain started InfoSpace in March 1996 with just six employees. Many of them also came from Microsoft. InfoSpace created useful online tools like email and phone directories. The company provided content and services, such as maps, games, and stock market information. They offered these services to websites and even early mobile phones.
InfoSpace grew quickly without needing a lot of outside money. They partnered with other companies to expand their reach. On December 15, 1998, InfoSpace became a public company, meaning its shares could be bought and sold by anyone. This helped the company raise $75 million.
At one point, Naveen Jain's share of InfoSpace was worth a lot of money. He owned nearly half of the company's stock. However, there were some disagreements with former employees and partners. These issues were about promises of company shares that some people felt they did not receive.
Challenges and Changes
Around March 2000, the internet market faced a big change, often called the "dot-com bubble" bursting. Many internet companies saw their stock prices fall sharply. InfoSpace's stock also dropped a lot.
Despite the challenges, Naveen Jain continued to lead InfoSpace. However, as the company faced difficulties, there were more disagreements. In 2002, the company's board decided to remove Naveen Jain from his role as CEO and chairman.
After leaving InfoSpace, Naveen Jain faced some legal challenges related to his time at the company. These issues were eventually settled.
New Beginnings
Intelius and TalentWise
In 2003, Naveen Jain co-founded a new company called Intelius. This company gathered and sold background information about people. Intelius grew successfully and later filed to become a public company in 2008. In 2012, he renamed the company Inome. He later sold most of his interest in the company in 2015.
Naveen also founded TalentWise, which was a part of Intelius. TalentWise was sold in 2016.
Exploring the Moon with Moon Express
One of Naveen Jain's most exciting projects is Moon Express. He co-founded this company in August 2010. Moon Express aims to build special spacecraft that can travel to the Moon. Their goal is to find and collect valuable materials like gold, platinum, and a special fuel called Helium-3.
Moon Express also plans to search for water on the Moon's south pole. This water could be used to create rocket fuel, which would help future missions travel to Mars and beyond. Naveen Jain has even talked about his dream of building human colonies on the Moon by 2022.
Bluedot and Viome
In 2015, Naveen Jain founded Bluedot. This company takes new research from U.S. government labs and turns it into products for everyday use.
Bluedot also has a spin-off company called Viome, which Naveen founded in 2016. Viome offers special tests to understand a person's body, especially their gut health. It then provides personalized advice on what foods to eat to stay healthy.
Other Interests
Naveen Jain is involved in many other interesting activities. He is on the board of the Kairos Society, which helps young college students who want to start their own businesses. He also serves on the boards of the Xprize Foundation and Singularity University, which focus on big challenges and future technologies.
With his wife, Anu, he helped launch the Anu and Naveen Jain Women’s Safety Xprize. This competition offered $1 million to a team that could create an affordable device to quickly and quietly send an emergency alert.
Naveen Jain also has a unique hobby: he collects meteorites. By 2012, his collection was worth $5 million. He especially collects "witnessed falls," which are meteorites that people actually saw falling through the sky.
Personal Life
Naveen Jain got married in 1988 and moved with his family to Seattle. He has three children, including his son Ankur Jain.
