Zain Jaffer is an accomplished investor and entrepreneur. He started his first company at the age of 14 and later moved to the US as an immigrant to found Vungle, which was sold to Blackstone for $780M in all cash transaction in late 2019.
As Vungle’s CEO, he led the company from its inception to become the fastest growing company in the advertising industry. Within 7 years, Vungle achieved annual revenues in excess of $400M+ and employed 250+ people across 8 international offices. Vungle raised $25M in venture capital funding from investors including Google and AOL before it was acquired by Blackstone for $780M.
Zain’s achievements have garnered international recognition and acclaim; he is the recipient of prestigious awards such as “Forbes 30 Under 30”, “Inc. Magazine’s 35 Under 35” and the “SF Business Times Tech & Innovation Award”. He is regular contributor to business & tech publications such as Home Business Magazine, MediaPost, and Supply Chain Brain.
Jaffer has made live TV appearances on shows such as CNBC’s Squawkbox, was the leading star in the 12-series documentary by Mashable called “Behind the Launch”, and has been profiled in leading business books such as “Unleashing the Innovators”.
He is a positive role model to tens of thousands of students and has given guest lectures and motivational speeches at universities around the world including Berkeley (USA), IIT (India), and UCL (UK).
As student, he was was an advocate for entrepreneurship as the Founder & President of King’s Business Club (formerly KCLBC), a student-led society at his alma mater to encourage student enterprise. He was a Founding Member of a government-backed charity called NACUE (National Consortium of University Enterprise) which enabled every university in Europe to share best practices for entrepreneurship. He was also a Vice President at UCLEIS (University College London Enterprise and Invest Society).
Zain has also been an advocate for solving global poverty and pollution through enterprise. In his final year at university, he embarked on a trip to the Philippines to help found and expand a sustainable jewelry business called “Born in Manila” and to help build schools in partnership with PCF (Philippines Christian Foundation). For his work, King’s College London was recognized as the best university in the UK for student social enterprise by the non-profit organization SIFE UK (now called Enactus).
He is a graduate from two of Europe’s top 10 universities, and was awarded a scholarship to the elite Singularity University’s Graduate Student Program at the NASA Ames Research Center. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Management from King’s College London, and a Masters of Science degree in Technology Entrepreneurship from University College London.