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Nine months after he quit as the global CEO of taxi-hailing company Uber, Travis Kalanick is back with a new venture, called 10100 (pronounced ten-one-hundred) that will oversee his for-profit investments and non-profit work.
The investment fund will primarily look at large-scale job creation in India and China, and its non-profit efforts will focus on education and the future of cities.
Kalanick announced the fund’s launch on Twitter, saying: “Over the past few months I’ve started thinking about what’s next. I've begun making investments, joining boards, working with entrepreneurs and non-profits. Today I’m announcing the creation of a fund called 10100, home to my passions, investments, ideas and big-bets.”
He said the fund would focus on massive job creation through investments in real estate, e-commerce, and emerging innovation in China and India. He did not disclose the size and nature of the fund but it is understood that he will use his personal earnings to kickstart it.
Kalanick asked people to email him at travis@10100fund.com to work with him. According to Forbes , Kalanick’s net worth is $4.8 billion. He still serves on Uber’s board and owns a stake in the company.
He was forced to quit as Uber’s CEO following a flood of allegations, including that he indulged in unethical business practices and supported staff accused of harassing female employees at the San Francisco-headquartered company.
Serial entrepreneur
This is Kalanick’s fourth outing as an entrepreneur and investor. His previous ventures, besides Uber, include multimedia search exchange Scour and peer-to-peer file sharing platform RedSwoosh. While Scour filed for bankruptcy in 2000, RedSwoosh was acquired by Akamai Technologies for $19 million in 2007. He was apparently charged with a tax fraud but was never prosecuted.
Kalanick, who has a degree in computer engineering and business economics from UCLA, has been quite an disruptor. He took ride-hailing to several countries, including India, where Uber is competing head on with the home-grown Ola.
Last week, he tweeted about angel investing in medical software company Kareo, which was founded by his college friend and former colleague Dan Rodrigues.
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