IT & Software Entrepreneurs

Widely recognized as one of the two important pioneers of the personal computer revolution, Steve Wozniak is credited with co-founding Apple Inc. along with Steve Jobs. Not surprisingly, he has been described as one of the men that changed the course of history through technology. Apart from being a programmer and technology entrepreneur, Steve Wozniak is also a well-known philanthropist.

Ratan Tata is a well-known Indian industrialist and the former charman of Indian multinational conglomerate Tata Sons. His reign as chairman was marked by acquisitions of iconic global brands, such as Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus by the Tata Group. Ratan Tata was instrumental in turning Tata Group from a largely India-centrist group into a global business.

Paul Allen was an American investor, business magnate, and philanthropist. He is credited with co-founding one of the most popular multinational technology companies in the world, Microsoft Corporation. Along with his philanthropic activities and ownership of several other companies and sporting clubs, Paul Allen had a major impact on sports, wildlife, education, arts, healthcare, community services, environmental conservation, and more.

Born into an affluent Jewish Brazilian family, Eduardo Saverin co-founded Facebook with his Harvard roommate Mark Zuckerberg and others in 2004. He was later involved in a lawsuit against Zuckerberg. He also renounced his U.S. citizenship and moved to Singapore, which some believe was his excuse to avoid paying taxes.

Computer programmer and entrepreneur Kevin Systrom is one of the co-founders of the photo-sharing app Instagram. He resigned as the Instagram CEO in 2018. He was named to Forbes’s 30 under 30 list in 2014 and was one of the U.S’s richest entrepreneurs below 40 in 2016.

Businessman Gabe Newell is the co-founder and president of the video game developer and digital distribution company, Valve. As a young man, he worked for Microsoft for several years before he quit to found his own venture. He was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in 2013.

Jan Koum is a Ukrainian American computer programmer and entrepreneur. He is credited with co-founding the popular cross-platform messaging service, WhatsApp. One of the most popular billionaires around the world, Koum donated almost $556 million to the donor-advised community foundation, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, in 2014.

Gottfrid Svartholm is a Swedish computer specialist best known as the ex-co-owner of the web hosting company and Internet service provider PRQ. He is also credited with co-founding The Pirate Bay along with Peter Sunde and Fredrik Neij. In 2014, Gottfrid Svartholm was imprisoned for his connection with WikiLeaks and released the following year.

Paul Buchheit is an American entrepreneur and computer engineer. He is credited with creating Gmail and developing a prototype of Google AdSense. In 2007, he launched FriendFeed, which was later acquired by Facebook. In 2011, Paul Buchheit was honored with the Economist Innovation Award. Also a noted philanthropist, Paul Buchheit has made donations to several health organizations.

Chinese business magnate Ma Huateng, or Pony Ma, is best known as the founder, chairman, and CEO of the technology giant Tencent. His company owns the messaging app WeChat. One of CEOWORLD’s Most Powerful People in the World, he was a delegate of the 12th National People's Congress.

Tech magnate Garrett Camp made headlines in 2020 when he quit his position of board director of Uber, a company co-founded by him, to focus on its product strategy. Camp has also formed companies such as StumbleUpon and the start-up incubator Expa Labs, and is part of The Giving Pledge.

David Baszucki is a Canadian-born American entrepreneur and inventor. He is credited with co-founding the Roblox Corporation, for which he also serves as the CEO. He is also credited with co-founding Knowledge Revolution, a company which was obtained by MSC Software in 1998. In 2017 and 2018, Baszucki was named one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs.

Marc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur, software engineer, and investor. He is credited with co-founding the independent computer services company Netscape as well as the private venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Marc Andreessen is also credited with co-authoring one of the first web browsers, NCSA Mosaic. In 1994, he was inducted into the World Wide Web Hall of Fame.

Business magnate Azim Premji revolutionized the Indian software industry with Wipro Limited. Twice listed to Time 100, he transformed his vegetable oil and soap manufacturing company to a leading IT solutions brand, through marked diversification. He owns a non-profit foundation and is the first Indian to join The Giving Pledge.

Jerry Yang is a Taiwanese-American billionaire internet entrepreneur, computer programmer, and venture capitalist. Yang is credited with co-founding Yahoo! Inc. where he also served as the CEO from 2007 to 2009. Jerry Yang is also credited with founding a venture capital firm named AME Cloud Ventures.

Yusaku Maezawa is a Japanese art collector and entrepreneur. He is credited with founding Japan's largest online fashion store, Zozotown. He is also credited with founding Contemporary Art Foundation, which aims at supporting young artists. Yusaku Maezawa is one of the richest men in Japan.

Kumar Mangalam Birla is an Indian industrialist best known as the chairman of the Indian multinational conglomerate company, Aditya Birla Group. He also serves as the chairman of IIM Ahmedabad and IIT Delhi. Over the course of his career, Birla has received several honors like the Business Leader of the Year award and Outstanding Business Man of the Year award.

Padma Bhushan-winning Indian billionaire businessman Shiv Nadar is known as the founder and chairman of the IT company HCL and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. While he transformed HCL from an IT hardware company into an IT enterprise, by 2021, he also turned himself into the third-richest Indian.

Apoorva Mehta is a serial entrepreneur and a former Amazon.com employee. He founded the grocery delivery and pick-up service Instacart in 2012. An engineer by qualification, he tried to start at least 20 other services, including an ad network for social gaming companies, before launching Instacart. He was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in 2013.

Kai-Fu Lee is a computer scientist, writer, and businessman. One of the Chinese internet sector's most important figures, Lee is credited with creating a website called Wǒxuéwǎng, which aims at helping young people achieve in their respective careers. Also popular on social media, Lee is one of China's most-followed micro-bloggers; he has more than 50 million followers on Sina Weibo.

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is also the man behind the Indian biometric ID Aadhaar. Named to the Forbes list of India’s Richest in 2021, he also once teamed up with Ratan Tata to form Avanti Finance to help the poor get loans. He unsuccessfully contested as a Congress candidate, too.

The son of former Wipro chairman Azim Premji, Rishad Premji has now taken over as the new chairperson of the company. Equipped with an MBA from Harvard, he now also serves on the board of the non-profit Azim Premji Foundation. He was also named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Born in Shanghai, An Wang studied electrical engineering before moving to Harvard to get his PhD. The Wang Laboratories co-founder is remembered for inventing the magnetic core memory, which was the main component of computers till the invention of the microchip. He also developed many word-processing systems.

Welsh-Canadian business tycoon Terry Matthews has been associated with countless companies, such as Mitel and Newbridge Networks, as their co-founder. A telecom and data networking magnate, he made it to the Forbes list of Billionaires 2021. His knighthood created diplomatic issues in Canada, which doesn’t allow acceptance of foreign titles.