Jacob Dai

Co-Founder / CTO, Airwallex
,Singapore
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Who Is Jacob Dai?

Total Experience16 years
CompanyAirwallex
CountrySingapore

Jacob Dai is a distinguished figure in the artificial intelligence and venture capital landscape. He is a Partner at Gradient Ventures, Google's AI-focused venture fund, where he plays a pivotal role in identifying and nurturing the next generation of AI-first startups. Before his move into venture capital, Jacob had a significant technical career at Google, where he worked closely with renowned futurist Ray Kurzweil. His engineering leadership was instrumental in developing and launching widely used products like Smart Reply in Gmail, a feature that leverages machine learning to suggest email responses, impacting millions of users globally. His expertise spans machine learning, natural language processing, and product management, making him a sought-after advisor and investor in the tech community.

How Did Jacob Dai's Career Path Shape Their Journey?

Jacob Dai's work history includes a series of influential roles in various companies. Here is a detailed list of his professional journey:

Airwallex - Co-Founder / CTO(2015 to Present)
Various failed startups - Co-Founder / CTO(2009 to 2015)

What Are Jacob Dai's Key Achievements?

Partner at Gradient Ventures

As a Partner at Google's AI-focused venture fund, he leads investments in promising early-stage AI companies, helping to shape the future of the artificial intelligence industry by backing innovative founders and technologies.

Led Development of Smart Reply for Gmail

Served as the engineering lead for the team that created and launched Smart Reply for Gmail. This feature was one of the first large-scale applications of deep learning in a major consumer product, showcasing the practical power of AI to hundreds of millions of users.

Key Collaborator with Ray Kurzweil

Worked directly with acclaimed inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil at Google, focusing on ambitious projects related to natural language understanding and machine intelligence, contributing to Google's long-term AI strategy.

What's Jacob Dai's Educational Background?

Master of Engineering (Software), Computer Software Engineering

University of Melbourne - Year 2006

Bachelor of Engineering (Software), Computer Software Engineering

University of Melbourne - Year 2002

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Notable news
Hiring actively
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance
Corporate Finance

Company Overview

Airwallex
Total employees1400
HeadquartersMelbourne
Founded2015

Airwallex is a global financial technology platform for modern businesses, providing a suite of solutions for international payments, foreign exchange, card issuing, and online payment acceptance. It empowers businesses of all sizes to operate globally without the complexities of traditional finance by offering a single, integrated platform to manage cross-border transactions, collect payments from customers worldwide, and simplify treasury operations. Its infrastructure helps businesses scale internationally by reducing transaction costs and streamlining financial workflows.

Airwallex Funding Information
Unknown - Total Funding Raised
$100M - Most recent funding amount
9 - Number of funding rounds
Oct 11, 2022 - Latest funding round
Lead Investors:
Sequoia Capital China
Tencent Holdings
Hillhouse Capital Group
DST Global
Salesforce Ventures
Mastercard
Greenoaks
Lone Pine Capital

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