Ambarish Mitra
| Ambarish Mitra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | March 9, 1979 |
| Residence | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Alma mater |
London School of Economics and Political Science University of London |
| Occupation | CEO & Co-Founder of Blippar |
Ambarish "Rish" Mitra (born March 9, 1979) is an Indian entrepreneur. He is best known for founding Blippar, a visual search and augmented reality (AR) company based in the United Kingdom, of which he is the CEO.[1]
Early life and education
Born into a middle class Indian family, Mitra ran away from home as a teenager following a dispute with his family about his future.[2] He moved into a slum in Delhi where he worked selling magazines door-to-door by day, and in a tea stall by night.[3] While living the slum, Mitra entered and won a business plan competition for "e-businesses" which he spotted in an English-language newspaper, netting him $10,000 to start what would become womeninfoline.com, an internet portral for women.[2] After taking the company public with a successful IPO,[4] Mitra relocated to the United Kingdom to continue his education, earning a master's degree from the London School of Economics.[5]
Career
Following his graduation, Mitra continued his entrepreneurship by co-founding several startups,[5] including U.K. insurance provider Swiftcover where he served as Head of Innovation,[6] as well as a mobile social network called "Stuck".[7] In 2007, Swiftcover was acquired by AXA Insurance.[8] While working for AXA Insurance, Mitra met Omar Tayeb, and the two were inspired to create Blippar in 2011 after sharing a joke in a pub about imagining the Queen of England coming to life from a £20 note.[4]
Today, Mitra serves as CEO of Blippar.[1] Under Mitra's leadership, Blippar has won several technology and innovation awards, including being ranked #19 on CNBC's 2015 Disruptor 50 list.[9] In February 2016, Mitra was named as an ambassador for the British government's GREAT Britain campaign "to promote British innovation around the world."[10]
References
- 1 2 "Blippar Aims to Be the Future of Search Engines". wsj.com. July 11, 2014.
- 1 2 "A Year In A Delhi Slum". FastCompany. July 31, 2015.
- ↑ "How one CEO went from a teenage runaway living in an Indian slum to founding a billion-dollar company". Business Insider. August 18, 2015.
- 1 2 "Growth capital: A blip on every screen: that’s the aim of ‘real-world browser’ Blippar". London Evening Standard. September 29, 2014.
- 1 2 "The $1bn unicorns - The Sunday Times". thesundaytimes.co.uk. March 29, 2015.
- ↑ "PSTF: Swiftcover brand boosted by non-insurance Iphone app". Post.
- ↑ "Ambarish Mitra: From runaway teen to tech genius and entrepreneur". DNA India. August 2, 2015.
- ↑ "Former Swiftcover exec Reames departs Axa". Post.
- ↑ "Meet the 2015 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies". CNBC. May 12, 2015.
- ↑ "Blippar tech pioneer to showcase British innovation around the world". London Evening Standard. February 5, 2016.