Did you know Indian-origin billionaire Ram Shriram played a vital role in Google's success story?

Google, currently led by CEO Sundar Pichai, stands as one of the largest companies globally with a market cap exceeding $1 trillion. Reflecting on Google's inception, most recall its co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Yet, lesser known is the fact that Ram Shriram, an Indian billionaire, was one of Google's earliest investors.

Meet Ram Shriram, a visionary businessman who has strong ties with Google, Amazon and several other tech companies

Kavitark Ram Shriram, born in Chennai, India, pursued his education in mathematics at the University of Madras. He later relocated to the United States, where he began his career by joining Netscape in 1994 as an executive. Following this role, he served as president of Junglee, an online comparison shopping firm that was acquired by Amazon in 1998. Subsequently, Ram Shriram held a vice president position at Amazon before departing in 2000.

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Since then, he has been actively investing in technology startups through his venture capital firm, Sherpalo Ventures.

The name "Sherpalo" is a combination of "sherpa" and "Palo Alto," reflecting his approach to guiding and supporting early-stage companies.

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Ram Shriram¡¯s early life

Ram Shriram, originally from India, studied mathematics at the University of Madras before moving to the United States in 1994. He began his career by joining Netscape as an executive. Following this, Shriram became the president of Junglee, an online comparison shopping company that Amazon acquired in 1998. After the acquisition, he served as a vice president at Amazon under Jeff Bezos.

In 2000, Ram Shriram founded Sherpalo Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage technology startups. He is renowned as a founding board member of Google, now Alphabet Inc., and although he has sold most of his stock in Google, he remains on the board of Alphabet. Shriram is also actively involved in various other roles, including serving on the boards of Paperless Post and Yubico. Additionally, he has contributed significantly to Stanford University, where he was vice chair of the Board of Trustees and a board member of Stanford Seed. He has also served as a longtime advisor to the School of Engineering at Stanford.

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Shriram¡¯s philanthropic deeds

Ram Shriram and his wife contributed $61 million to Stanford University to enhance its engineering programs. Their daughters also studied at Stanford, reflecting their deep ties to the university.

In 2023, Ram Shriram received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of his notable contributions and accomplishments.

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How much money did he invest in Google?

Shriram made his initial investment in Google in 1998, putting in $250,000 (Rs 1 crore approx as per dollar rate). By the time Google went public, he held 5.3 million shares. Over the following twenty years, although he sold the majority of his shares, he retained his position on the board of Alphabet, Google's parent company.

Not just Google, he has also invested in other tech startups including Razorpay, Inmobi, Notion, and Skyroot Aerospace (India's 1st space startup) among others.

Shriram facilitated a meeting between Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Google founders which resulted in Bezos becoming an investor in Google

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According to a Medium report, Jeff Bezos became an investor in Google after the funding round had officially closed. While vacationing in the Bay Area, Bezos contacted Ram Shriram to arrange a meeting with Google's founders. Following this meeting facilitated by Shriram, Jeff Bezos proceeded to invest $250,000 in Google in 1998 at a share price of 4 cents.

Madhuri Dixit¡¯s husband Dr Shriram Nene is all praise for the entrepreneur

Recently an X user shared by the name of Uttkarsh Singh posted an interesting thread on Ram Shriram. While the post garnered a lot of responses, Madhuri Dixit¡¯s husband Dr Shriram Nene also commented on the thread calling the entrepreneur one of the finest people he had ever met.

One of the finest people we have met and someone I share names with. ?#RamShriram https://t.co/8W0QONStaB

¡ª Dr. Shriram Nene (@DoctorNene) June 27, 2024

¡°This Indian American billionaire is the reason why Google exists,¡± X user Uttkarsh Singh wrote in the first post of his X thread. Shriram Nene re-shared the post with a caption, ¡°One of the finest people we have met and someone I share names with.¡±

Ram Shriram¡¯s net worth

As per Forbes, Ram Shriram's current net worth stands at $2.8 billion (Rs 23, 368 crore).