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Vinod Khosla (born 28 January 1955) is an Indian-American billionaire businessman and venture capitalist. He is a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and the founder of Khosla Ventures.[1] Khosla made his wealth from early venture capital investments in areas such as networking, software, and alternative energy technologies.[2] He is considered one of the most successful and influential venture capitalists.[3] Khosla was named the top venture capitalist on the Forbes Midas List in 2001 and has been listed multiple times since that time.[4][5] As of August 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$7.2 billion.[6]
Vinod Khosla | |
|---|---|
 Khosla in 2024 | |
| Born | 28 January 1955 Pune, Bombay State, India |
| Education | IIT Delhi (BTech) Carnegie Mellon University (MS) Stanford University (MBA) |
| Known for | Co-founder of Sun Microsystems Founder of Khosla Ventures |
| Spouse | Neeru Khosla |
| Children | 4 |
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Khosla was born on 28 January 1955, to a Punjabi Indian family[7] in Pune, Maharashtra. Khosla's father was an officer in the Indian Army[8] and was posted at New Delhi, India. His father wanted him to also join the army. He attended Mount St Mary's School for elementary school.[9] Khosla became interested in entrepreneurship after reading about the founding of Intel in Electronic Engineering Times as a teenager, which led him to pursue technology as a career and found his own business.[10] According to Khosla, he was inspired by Intel co-founder Andrew Grove, a Hungarian immigrant who got funding for Intel in Silicon Valley, when it was a startup.[11]
From 1971 to 1976, Khosla attended IIT Delhi where he earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering.[12] He started the first computer club in any IIT to do computer programming and operated the school's computer center while the operations staff were on strike. He also wrote a paper on parallel processing as a teenager before the concept was adopted by the IT industry, and helped to start the first biomedical engineering program in India. In 1975, Khosla attempted to start a soy milk company intended to provide a milk alternative to Indian consumers that do not have refrigerators to preserve cow milk.[11][13]
Khosla received a master's in biomedical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University on a full scholarship.[12] He applied to Stanford University's MBA program but was rejected for lack of work experience. He had two full-time jobs while finishing his master's for the two years of work experience, but was rejected a second time. Three weeks into starting at Carnegie Mellon for his MBA, Khosla convinced the admissions staff to accept him into Stanford Graduate School of Business and received an MBA in 1980.[14]
He is married to Neeru Khosla, his childhood girlfriend.[15][16] They have four children.[17][18]
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After completing his MBA at Stanford in 1980, Khosla decided to become an entrepreneur. He rejected several employment opportunities to establish his first business venture.[7]
Co-founding Sun Microsystems and early investments: 1980-2003
Khosla developed a business plan for an electronic design automation company for electrical engineers. He was introduced to employees at Intel and became the first full-time founder and Chief Financial Officer of Daisy Systems.[12] The company spent 80 percent of its resources on building custom computer hardware that could run its software. As a result, Khosla left the company in order to create a startup that manufactures general purpose computers. In 1981, Khosla co-founded Data Dump with a former Stanford classmate, which ended up failing.[19]
In 1982, Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems (SUN is the acronym for the Stanford University Network), along with Stanford classmates Scott McNealy, Andy Bechtolsheim, who was licensing a computer design to local companies.[16] UC Berkeley computer science graduate student Bill Joy later joined the company as co-founder. Sun Microsystems sold servers to the universities they graduated from and other colleges, desktop computers, and created the Java programming language. Khosla raised $300,000 in seed capital from venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Within five years, Sun made $1 billion in annual sales. Khosla also recruited early executives and developers such as Eric Schmidt and Carol Bartz. He served as the first chairman and CEO from 1982 to 1984, when he left the company to become a venture capitalist.[12]
In 1986, Khosla joined the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins as a general partner. At Kleiner Perkins, Khosla managed investments in technologies, such as video games and semiconductors.[10]
He helped create Nexgen, sold to AMD for 28 percent of its market cap, which was the first successful Intel microprocessor clone company. He invested in Go Corporation, which developed a stylus-operated computer and was seen as one of the largest Silicon Valley startup failures. In 1994, he suggested that Excite adapt its search engine for the internet and helped finance the special disk drive the company needed to run their search engine. He mentored the founders until the company was sold to @Home Network for $7 billion, which was it his first venture capital deal of that size. Afterwards, Khosla was an early proponent of fiber optics and the internet for faster communication and started focusing on telecommunication networking companies.[16]
He incubated Juniper Networks and suggested that it develop an "Internet router instead of the plain vanilla router mostly used." Khosla invested $275,000, which became his largest return on investment to date.[20] A $3 million investment in Juniper Networks in the 1990s earned $7 billion for Kleiner Perkins according to The Wall Street Journal.[21] He also incubated Cerent Corporation in 1996, which sold to Cisco for $7.8 billion, and Siara, which sold for $3 billion and was its chief executive officer for its first year.[22]
Development of Khosla Ventures: 2004-present
In 2004 to spend more time with his teenage kids and focus on science-based technology startups, Khosla moved to part-time and eventually left Kleiner Perkins. He founded his own venture capital firm, Khosla Ventures later that year as a way to invest in more experimental technologies with a "social impact."[23][24] At the time, he had about $1.5 billion from co-founding Sun Microsystems and his work with Kleiner Perkins. The firm is based in Menlo Park, California.[25]
In September 2009, Khosla Ventures III secured $750 million of investor commitments to invest in traditional early-stage and growth-stage companies. Khosla also raised $250 million for Khosla Seed, which will invest in higher-risk opportunities. He opened up Khosla Ventures to outside investors for the first time that same year.[26] The firm became known for being an early investor in Square and investments in alternative energy technology like solar, biofuel, and batteries.[27] He has advocated for breakthroughs in these "clean" energies rather than cutting back on energy consumption.[28] The firm incubated carbon recycling and aviation fuel company LanzaTech and QuantumScape, a solid state battery company and Impossible Foods, which works to make meat a more efficient energy source.[29] He believes carbon sequestration is an area that needs significant advancements and is the most feasible.[30][31][32] Khosla believes that a dozen dramatic technologies to solve climate change and it is inaccurate to consider cleantech investing as a bust.[29] By 2008, the company had a portfolio of 65 startups, the bulk of which were focused on clean technology.[33]
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Beginning in 2010, Khosla Ventures began investing in food and was the first investor in companies like Instacart and DoorDash. Fintech was also an area of focus with early investments in Square, Stripe and Affirm, which all resulted in large returns for Khosla Ventures.[34] In May 2010, it was announced that former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was to join Khosla Ventures to provide strategic advice regarding investments in technologies focused on the environment[35][failed verification]. During this time, Khosla had hired Condoleezza Rice's advisory firm to work with portfolio companies.[36]
In 2012, Khosla wrote an article titled "Do We Need Doctors Or Algorithms?" arguing the increasing importance of artificial intelligence in medicine claiming "bionic assistance" will eventually replace most doctors.[37] He started investing in medicine and robotics, such as companies that use artificial intelligence in medical treatments at that time.[38]
In 2018, Khosla stated the plan for the rest of his life was to "reinvent societal infrastructure" through innovation and technology such as 3D-printing houses for the homeless.[39] Khosla has stated "we need 1,000% change if billions of people in China and India are to enjoy a Western, energy-rich lifestyle." He invests in "black swan" technologies that have a high chance of failure but if successful, would have environmental and societal benefits.[24] In 2019, Khosla presented "Amazing: What KV Founders are Doing," which described 100 portfolio companies reinventing areas such as health, infrastructure, robotics, transportation, augmented reality and artificial intelligence.[40]
Khosla Ventures was the first venture capital investor in OpenAI during a period when it was "almost impossible to diligence" due to the company's corporate structure. The firm invested $50 million in OpenAI's for-profit subsidiary in 2019. It had a 5 percent stake in OpenAI at that time.[41]
Khosla offered personal loans to startups after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.[42]
In response to the removal of Sam Altman from OpenAI, Khosla expressed, on behalf of himself and Khosla Ventures, that Altman be reinstated.[43][44] He later criticized Elon Musk for his breach of contract lawsuit against OpenAI and Altman, referring to it as "sour grapes" for failing to stay committed to the company.[45][46]
Khosla Ventures manages approximately $15 billion of investor capital as well as investments funded by Khosla himself.[47]
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Capitalism
Khosla believes in using capitalism as a solution for social impact due to its ability to scale, which is something he does not believe is possible with non-profit organizations. He has insisted economical, large-scale solutions will succeed when facing global warming as well. Khosla has stated that machine learning technology will replace many jobs and increase income disparities however will also create enough GDP to provide basic income to everyone.[24][48]
Politics
Khosla has donated to a mix of Democrats and Republicans and supports politicians based on their climate policies. He is a Democrat and has donated to organizations that support left-leaning politics.[49] Khosla hosted Barack Obama for a fundraising dinner in 2013,[50] and Joe Biden in 2024 at his home in Portola Valley.[51] Khosla endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.[52]
Khosla was a major proponent of the "Yes on 87" campaign to pass California's Proposition 87, The Clean Energy Initiative, which failed to pass in November 2006.[citation needed]
With the withdrawal of Joe Biden from the 2024 United States presidential election, Khosla called for the Democratic Party to hold an open convention for its nominee. He stated that it was "hard for me to support someone with no values, lies, cheats, rapes, demeans women, hates immigrants like me" in social media exchanges after Musk referenced supporting Donald Trump.[53][54] Khosla pledged his support for Kamala Harris in July 2024 and joined "VCs for Kamala", a group of more than 100 tech investors and entrepreneurs signatories for Harris.[55]
China
In May 2023, Khosla gave a presentation examining how the Russian invasion of Ukraine and COVID-19 pandemic influences the future. He argued that the Ukraine invasion started an energy transition and COVID-19 lockdowns in China moved global supply chains out of the country, starting one of the most powerful 20-year innovation cycles. Khosla has also stated that America is in a techno-economic war with China which it would lose upon slowing down the pace of AI development, while indicating that artificial general intelligence should be closed-source for national security.[56][57]
In April 2024, Khosla wrote an op-ed in the Financial Times announcing his support of a bill that would force divestiture of TikTok from its parent company, ByteDance. Khosla later wrote an open letter to United States Senate urging them to pass the bill calling the social media platform a "weapon of war".[58]
Artificial intelligence
In 2014, Khosla wrote about artificial intelligence positing that it would create an income disparity while increasing gross domestic product (GDP) and productivity. He also stated that the value of "humanness" in occupational roles would become more valuable after the expansion of artificial intelligence, and have a "hugely deflationary" effect on the economy over the following 25 years.[59][60]
While concerns have been raised that artificial intelligence will displace jobs, Khosla argued it will enable humans to do what they are interested in and free humanity from the need to work. He has stated that 80 percent of all jobs will be eliminated with artificial intelligence having broader information and expertise in many industries and its growth will allow for universal basic income.[61][62][63]
In April 2024, Khosla gave a TED talk on his predictions for the future, several of which involved technology and artificial intelligence.[64] In October 2024, Khosla wrote "AI: Dystopia or Utopia?" on it being a transformative force capable of creating a world of abundance with both utopian and dystopian possibilities and a positive outcome achievable through thoughtful design.[65]
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Khosla was honorary chair of the DonorsChoose San Francisco Bay Area advisory board.[citation needed] In 2000, Khosla was a recipient of the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.[66] In 2006, Khosla's wife Neeru co-founded the CK-12 Foundation, which aims to develop open-source textbooks and lower the cost of education in the US and the rest of the world. Khosla and his wife are donors to the Wikimedia Foundation, in the amount of $500,000.[67]
In 2007, Khosla was an award recipient in the Northern California region for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year award.[68] Khosla was a member of the board of trustees of the Blum Center for Developing Economies at the University of California, Berkeley.[69] The center is focused on finding solutions to address the crisis of extreme poverty and disease in the developing world.[70]
He is also one of the founders of TiE, The Indus Entrepreneurs, and has guest-edited a special issue of The Economic Times, a business newspaper in India.[71] In 2009, he was awarded Champions of the Earth by the UNEP for in the Entrepreneurial Vision category for India.
He is involved with organizations that provide microfinancing to small businesses in third-world countries and worked closely with Muhammad Yunus funding multiple organizations for both profit and non-profit. In 2023, Khosla signed a letter along with over 170 global figures to stop the "persecution" of Yunus.[72][73] Khosla is on the Board of Trustees at Carnegie Mellon University.[74] Khosla was an early signatory to the Giving Pledge and sits on the Breakthrough Energy Ventures board.[75]
In April 2021, Khosla made an offer to fund oxygen imports for hospitals in India amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[76][77]
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Since 2010, Khosla has been engaged in a legal dispute regarding public access to Martins Beach, several miles south of Half Moon Bay, California, where he owns adjacent land.[78][79][80] Martins Beach was a popular family beach and surf spot before Khosla purchased the property adjacent to the beach and blocked access with a gate, armed guards at the road entrance and painting over the welcome sign.[81][82]
In August 2017, a Californian court of appeals ruled that Khosla must restore public access to Martins Beach.[83][84] The plaintiffs stated that they expected Khosla to take the case to the US Supreme Court.[85][86] In October 2018, the Supreme Court announced that it would not hear the appeal of the California appeals court decision.[87] In November 2018, a San Mateo County court found that the prior owners of the property had not intended for access to Martins Beach to be public. In January 2020, the California Coastal Commission sued Khosla, alleging he was in violation of the California Coastal Act of 1976.[88][needs update]
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