Bryan Johnson (entrepreneur)

Johnson launched three startups, whilst at university, between 1999 and 2003. The first, which sold cell phones, helped pay his way through Brigham Young University. In that business, Johnson hired other college students to sell service plans along with cell phones; Johnson earned about a $300 commission on each sale.[8][13]

Johnson also started two other businesses. Inquist, a VOIP company Johnson co-founded with three other partners, with combined features of Vonage and Skype. It ended operations in 2001.[2] After that, he joined his brother and another partner on a $70 million real estate project later in 2001. The project did not achieve sales goals.[2]

Johnson founded Braintree in 2007.[14] The firm's rapid growth was spurred by clients in the technology industry including OpenTable, Uber, Shopify,[14] Airbnb,[15] and others. The company was 47th on Inc. magazine’s 2011 list of the 500 fastest-growing companies[16] and 415th in 2012.[17] That year, Braintree purchased Venmo, an app that allows users to send and receive money from each other electronically, for $26.2 million.[9]

By September 2013, the company announced it was processing $12 billion in payments annually, with $4 billion of that on mobile.[18] Shortly afterward, on Sept. 26, 2013, the company was acquired by PayPal, then part of eBay, for $800 million.[15][19][20]

In October 2014, at 37, Johnson announced the creation of OS Fund, which he backed with $100 million of his personal capital.[8] The venture capital fund invests in companies that use artificial intelligence and machine learning in fields including advanced materials, computationally derived therapeutics, diagnostics, genomics, nanotechnology, and synthetic biology.[21]

The fund has invested in companies including Ginkgo Bioworks,[22] NuMat Technologies[23] and Arzeda.[24]

Johnson began exploring the use of neuroprosthetics in 2016, when he founded Kernel.[25] The company later shifted its focus to building hardware that measures electrical and hemodynamic signals produced by the brain. In 2020, Kernel demonstrated a pair of helmet-like devices that can see and record brain activity. The company has said the devices may be used to help paralyzed individuals communicate, or people with mental health challenges access new therapies.[6]

By July 2020, Kernel had raised $53 million from outside investors, following Johnson's investment of $54 million in the company since its inception.[26]