Qasar Younis

Qasar Younis is a Pakistani American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He was the co-founder CEO of Talkbin (acquired by Google), and is the former COO of Y Combinator. He left Y Combinator in March 2017 to start Applied Intuition, a technology company that is building advanced softwares and infrastructure tools for self-driving vehicles.[1]

Early life and education

Younis was born on a farm in Pakistan, and emigrated to the United States in 1988. He grew up in the Detroit area. After graduating with an engineering degree from Kettering University, he went on to complete his MBA at Harvard Business School.[2]

Career

Younis started his career as an engineer at GM and then Bosch in Japan. After Harvard Business School he started Cameesa.com.[3] In 2010, he moved to the San Francisco bay area to start his second startup TalkBin, a platform for customers to send messages to businesses. The company graduated from Y Combinator and was acquired by Google in 2011.[4]

Y Combinator

After the TalkBin acquisition, Younis continued advising other startups, particularly through Y Combinator. In early 2013, he became a part-time partner at YC. In early 2014, he became a partner at Y Combinator. In 2015 he was promoted to COO.[5][6]

In his time at Y Combinator, he has helped start or create some of the most important initiatives inside the accelerator including raising $700m Continuity Fund, starting the software team, and creating Investor Day.[7]

Applied Intuition

In January 2017, Younis started a self driving car startup Applied Intuition, along with co-founder Peter Ludwig.[8] Applied Intuition provides simulated testing services for autonomous vehicles.[9]

The company reached unicorn status in 2020.[10] It is privately funded by Lux Capital,[10] Andreessen Horowitz,[10] General Catalyst,[10] and Tribe Capital.[11]

References
  1. Bergen, Mark (12 September 2018). "How Self-Driving Cars Can Get Past the Learning Permit Stage, Without Any Risk". Bloomberg. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
  2. "Making an impact in Silicon Valley" (PDF). Kettering Magazine. Fall 2016.
  3. White, April. "3 MINUTE BRIEFING: Y COMBINATOR'S QASAR YOUNIS". Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  4. Kincaid, Jason. "Google Acquires TalkBin, A Feedback Platform For Businesses That's Only Five Months Old". TechCrunch. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  5. Altman, Sam. "A new role for Qasar". Y-Combinator Blog. Y-Combinator. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  6. Yeung, Ken. "Y Combinator names partner Qasar Younis as its first COO". VentureBeat. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  7. "Inside Silicon Valley's most grueling ritual: Raising cash". Washington Post. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
  8. "Self-Driving Cars — Where Are We, Really?". Washington Post. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  9. Geron, Tomio (12 September 2019). "Applied Intuition, Whose Software Tests Self-Driving Cars, Grabs $40 Million". Wall Street Journal.
  10. Konrad, Alex (22 October 2020). "Applied Intuition Reaches $1.25 Billion Valuation In New Funding For Its Autonomous Vehicle Testing Software". Forbes.
  11. Abu Omar, Abeer; Daher, Nadine (9 November 2020). "Silicon Valley Firm Joins Gulf Investors to Fund Tech Deals". Bloomberg.
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