Joshua Kushner

Joshua Kushner (born June 12, 1985) is an American businessman and investor. He is the founder and Managing Partner of the investment firm Thrive Capital and co-founder of Oscar Insurance, and the son of real estate magnate Charles Kushner.

Early life and personal life

Joshua Kushner grew up in a Jewish family in Livingston, New Jersey.^[1] He is the son of Seryl (née Stadtmauer) and prominent real estate developer Charles Kushner, who has an estimated net worth of $500 million.^[2][3] His brother, Jared Kushner, heads the family real estate empire and graduated from Harvard University in 2003. Joshua graduated from Harvard University in 2008 and Harvard Business School in 2011.^[4][5] His father had previously made a $2.5 million donation to the university in 1998, which then named Charles Kushner to the Committee on University Resources, as catalogued by journalist Daniel Golden in his book The Price of Admission, which notes neither Joshua nor Jared were "academic standouts" in high school.^[6][7]

Career

Scene, Vostu and Unithrive

During his sophomore year, Kushner was founding Executive Editor of Scene, a new Brooks Brothers-sponsored student-publication that aimed to be "Harvard's version of Vogue and Vanity Fair."^[8] In its inaugural issue, the "society-style glossy" featured students modeling Brooks Brothers clothing and a peek into one junior’s suite at the Ritz-Carlton.^[9] According to The Harvard Crimson, Scene "faced blistering criticism upon its release," with students going so far as creating a “Scene Magazine is Bullshit” Facebook group criticizing it for its "completely ludicrous...skewed portrayal of the Harvard community" and lack of models who were minorities."^[9] Writing in the Crimson, Catherine Vaughan criticized the magazine's "extravagance and elitism" in depicting the lifestyles of Harvard students "whose incomes fall in the top 1 percent of the country."^[10]

In the spring of his Junior year, with two graduate students he pooled $10,000 to found social network Vostu,^[2] which aimed to "fill a void left by online communities in which English is the lingua franca," like Facebook. According to Kushner, Latin America was a promising market for a Facebook-alternative and new social networking site because "[it was] a place where Internet use is increasing every year and technology is booming at a rapid pace."^[11]

The year after graduation, he also co-founded a startup called Unithrive with the cousin of the president of Kiva, who was also a Harvard student. Unithrive was inspired by the peer-to-peer loan model of Kiva, but aimed to "ease the crisis in paying for college" by matching "alumni lenders to cash-strapped students..who [could] post photographs and biographical information and request up to $2,000," interest-free for repayment within five years of graduation.^[12] The startup is no longer operational.

Goldman Sachs and Thrive Capital

After graduating from Harvard, Kushner started his career in the Private Equity Group at Goldman Sachs, in the Merchant Banking Division,^[13] but left after a short stint to found Thrive Capital in 2009, his private equity and venture capital firm that focuses on media and internet investments.^[14][15] Since its founding, Thrive has raised $750 million from institutional investors, including Princeton University.^[16] Thrive has raised several capital funds, including Thrive II, which raised $40 million in 2011, Thrive III, which raise $150 million in 2012, and Thrive IV, which raised $400 million in September 2014.^[16][17] According to a profile in Forbes, Thrive was one of three firms (joining Sequoia Capital and Greylock Partners) to invest in Instagram's $50 million Series B round at a valuation of $500 million in 2012. Forbes wrote that after Instagram sold to Facebook, "Thrive had doubled its money in 72 hours."^[13]

For his work with Thrive, Kushner was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30, Inc. Magazine’s 35 Under 35, Crain’s 40 Under 40 and Vanity Fair’s Next Establishment.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Oscar

Kushner is also a co-founder of Oscar Health, a health insurance start-up. Founded in 2012, Oscar has raised $320 million in financing and is valued at $1.75 billion. The company currently insures over 40,000 members across New York and New Jersey.^[22] The company has been named to CNBC’s Disruptor 50, Inc. Magazine's Most Innovative Startups and MM&M Top 40 Healthcare Transformers.^[23][24][25]

Cadre

In 2015 Kushner founded a new company called Cadre with his brother Jared Kushner and their friend Ryan Williams, with Williams as Cadre's CEO. Cadre is a technology platform designed to help certain types of clients, such as family offices and endowments, invest in real estate. The company has raised more than $250 million in capital.^[26]

References