Number of Portfolio Companies 4
Number of Exits 
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  • Investor Type  Individual/Angel
  • Investor Stage  Seed
  • Number of Exits 

Russ co-founded Yelp Inc. in July 2004 with former colleague and friend Jeremy Stoppelman.

Prior to Yelp, Russ was one of the early employees and the lead software architect at PayPal. He led a team of top engineers on critical projects related to security, scalability, stability, and internationalization as the company scaled rapidly. Following

his time at PayPal, Russ joined Max Levchin's (co-founder of PayPal) incubator, where he teamed up with Jeremy.

Russ holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Illinois.

Number of Investments 4
Russel Simmons has made 4 investments. Their latest investment was Pre Seed Round - ShareWell on Feb 16, 2023, when ShareWell raised
$1.3M
.
Announced Date  
Organization Name  
Lead Investor  
Funding Round  
Money Raised  
Feb 16, 2023
ShareWell
No
Pre Seed Round - ShareWell
$1.3M
Jan 30, 2020
Haus
Seed Round - Haus
$4.5M
Feb 1, 2014
Circa
No
Seed Round - Circa
$1.2M
May 1, 2011
Postmates
No
Seed Round - Postmates
$750K
Number of Exits 
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Russel Simmons has exits. Their most notable exits are Postmates and Circa.
  • Postmates Postmates is an on-demand food delivery platform that gives customers access to restaurants and retailers.
  • Circa Circa is a mobile news app that provides users with up-to-date news updates on diverse topics.
Number of Current Jobs 1
Number of Past Jobs 3
Russel Simmons is the Founder and Chief at Learnirvana, Inc.. Additionally, Russel Simmons has had 3 past jobs including Co-founder and CTO at Yelp.
Organization Name  
Title At Company  
Start Date  
End Date  
Yelp
Co-founder and CTOJul 2004Jul 2010
MRL Ventures Fund
CTO20042010
PayPal
Lead Software Architect1999Mar 1, 2003
Number of News Articles 35
Funding RoundFeb 16, 2023
ShareWell raised $1,300,000 / Pre Seed from Adrian Aoun and 6 other investors
Funding RoundJan 30, 2020
Haus raised $4,500,000 / Seed from Arianna Simpson and 36 other investors
NewsJul 17, 2017
NewsMar 30, 2016
NewsJun 23, 2015
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