Michael Serbinis

Michael Serbinis
Born (1973-10-28) 28 October 1973
Residence Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Alma mater Queen’s University
University of Toronto
Occupation Founder and CEO, The Everlong Project
Home town Hamilton, Ontario
Board member of Round 13 Capital, Ontario Science Centre, Young Presidents’ Organization, OMERS Ventures, Xtreme Startups

Michael Serbinis (born 28 October 1973) is an entrepreneur, engineer and angel investor based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[1]

While a student, Serbinis worked for Microsoft on advanced routing algorithms.[2] Early in his career he then worked alongside Elon Musk at Zip2.

He later helped found the cloud-based document storage network company DocSpace. DocSpace was sold to Critical Path Inc., for $530 million dollars.[2] In December 2009, Serbinis co-founded Kobo Inc., - a digital reading company.[1] In January 2012, Kobo was bought by Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten for $315 million dollars.[2]

In 2014 Serbinis launched League, a digital health and wellness benefits platform.[3] Along with being a co-founder, he also serves as Chief Executive Officer.[1] In 2018, League raised a $41.7 million USD Series B funding.[4]

Early life

While in high school Serbinis designed a high-temperature superconductor propulsion system that won Gold at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. That achievement would eventually lead him to opportunities to work with NASA, Rockwell Aerospace and Intel.[1]

Serbinis attended Queen’s University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree. While there his research focused around quantum cryptography.[1] He also has a Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Toronto, where he researched neural networks and the use of artificial intelligence to price loans dynamically.[1]

At age 19, Serbinis entered the Ontario Engineering Competition.[2] His entry in the competition was a frictionless motor operated by a new generation of software code that mimicked genetic coding. Because the software constantly evolved, the motor was able to hover effortlessly above a magnetic bearing without crashing.[2] One of the judges, Ken Nickerson, who was an executive at Microsoft at the time decided to give Serbinis a summer job with the company.[2]

Early career

Serbinis worked alongside Elon Musk at Zip2.[2] Zip2 primarily provided and licensed online city guide software to newspapers.[5] It was eventually sold to Altavista for $300 million dollars.[6]

Serbinis then helped found a cloud-based document storage network company called DocSpace. Two years after DocSpace was launched, San Francisco-based Critical Path Inc. agreed to acquire it for $530 million dollars.[2]

In 2001, Serbinis was appointed Chief Technology Officer of Critical Path.[2]

In 2009, Serbinis co-founded Kobo Inc. - a digital reading company.[1] In January 2012, Kobo was bought by Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten for $315 million dollars.[2] By 2014, Kobo had over 18 million users in 193 countries.[7]

Role at League Inc.

In 2014 Serbinis launched League Inc., a digital health and wellness platform.[3] Along with being a co-founder, Serbinis also serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman.[1] In 2016, League raised a $25 million USD Series A.[3] In June 2017, League expanded its platform into the US.[8] In July 2018, League raised a $41.7 million USD Series B.[4]

Angel Investing

Serbinis founded venture capital firm Three Angels Capital in April 2014 and serves as CEO. Some companies Three Angels has invested in include; Financeit, Citizen Hex, Xanadu, Neverfrost, and ChargeSpot.[9]

 

Other Interests

Serbinis is a G7 Fellow at the Creative Destruction Lab at the Rotman School of Management.[1]

Serbinis is also a Charter Member of C100 - a non-profit, member-driven association of Canadian thought leaders in the San Francisco Area.[10]

Serbinis has served as Board Director of the MaRS Discovery District since October 2015. MaRS supports ventures tackling key societal challenges in the health, cleantech and ICT sectors.[11]

Serbinis has been the Director of the Perimeter Institute For Theoretical Physics since June 2014.[1] According to Stephen Hawking, the "Perimeter Institute is now one of the world’s leading centres in theoretical physics, if not the leading centre."[12]

Serbinis sits on the Board of Directors of the Vector Institute, which seeks to "retain Canadian talent to enable and sustain AI-based economic growth in Canada."[8]

Personal life

Serbinis was born in Hamilton, Ontario.  He lives in Toronto with his family.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Michael Serbinis", Wikipedia, 2018-03-19, retrieved 2018-08-17
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Inside the Kobo deal that netted Indigo $165-million". The Globe and Mail. 2012-06-28. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  3. 1 2 3 "Mike Serbinis gives "all-in" lesson for startup founders at #TechTO". BetaKit. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  4. 1 2 "League raises $47.1M Series B to fix corporate health care benefits". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  5. ↑ "Zip2 Plays Up National Network Card – Editor & Publisher". www.editorandpublisher.com. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  6. ↑ Napoli, Lisa. "Compaq Buys Zip2 to Enhance Altavista". Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  7. ↑ "Kobo Corporate Background" (PDF).
  8. 1 2 "Diversity, Balance and Big Dreams: Michael Serbinis is in a League of His Own". Techvibes. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  9. ↑ "Terms of Service Violation". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  10. ↑ "Charter Members". C100. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  11. ↑ "Michael Serbinis - MaRS". MaRS. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  12. ↑ "Perimeter Institute - We Are Waterloo". www.wearewaterloo.ca. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  • "Kobo founder launches health-care start up". Toronto Star. 12 November 2014.
  • "Kobo CEO Mike Serbinis talks tablets, Rakutan and more". Canadian Business. 6 September 2012.
  • "Did Indigo Build Kobo, or Did Entrepreneur Mike Serbinis?". Tech Vibes. 9 November 2011.
  • "Mike Serbinis Introduces Kobo's Fall Lineup". YouTube. 28 August 2013.
  • "Kobo Founder and CEO Mike Serbinis at AccelerateTO!". C100. 18 September 2013. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015.
  • "SPOTLIGHT ON SCIENCE LEARNING: A benchmark of Canadian talent". Let's Talk Science.
  • Michael Serbinis on Twitter
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