Two locals appeared on Fortune’s 2013 40 Under 40 list, which was released this morning. Match Inc. CEO Sam Yagan came in at number 22, while Mu Sigma’s founder and CEO Dhiraj Rajaram ranked 37. Both entrepreneurs have been active in the local scene in recent years, with Yagan’s involvement proving key as a Board member for Built In Chicago and a mentor and investor to many startups, including those that have graduated from TechStars Chicago (formerly Excelerate Labs , which he co-founded).
Fortune says: “OkCupid...pioneered the use of data mining in online dating. They sold it to IAC's Match.com in 2011 for $90 million, and last fall Yagan was made CEO of Match Inc. Other companies now use OkCupid's vast trove of social data, and Yagan, a self-professed introvert who is married to his high school sweetheart, stands as the foremost authority in a fast-growing $2 billion industry.”
Fortune says: “This former consultant (Booz Allen and Price Waterhouse) has rocked the world of big data with his eight-year-old firm, which provides data and analytics services to a quarter of the companies on the Fortune 500. Recent investments from MasterCard and Fidelity have pushed the Sequoia- and General Atlantic-backed company's valuation to more than $1 billion and made it a rumored buyout target.”
See the full list here.
Images via Fortune.
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