Imran Khan is a technology entrepreneur known as the CEO and co-founder of Verishop, an enhanced e-commerce retail website that combines quality, curation, and discovery on its products.
Early life and education
Imran Khan was born on June 16, 1977, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Khan graduated High School from The Government Laboratory High School, Dhaka in 1944. In 1996, Khan passed H.S.C. from Dhaka College and moved to Colorado as a student. In 2000, Khan acquired his B.S.B.A. in Finance and Economics from the University of Denver.
Early career
Khan started his first career at WildBlue, a Denver-based satellite-broadband startup. Shortly after, Khan joined ING Barings in New York then, joined Fulcrum Global Partners where he conducted “sell-side” research on technology companies when its banking business was sold to ABN Amro. In 2004, Khan was hired as a researcher by JPMorgan and eventually became the head of global internet and US entertainment equity research.
While at JPMorgan, Khan was ranked by Institutional Investor’s annual rankings of researchers as the second-best internet analyst. In 2011, six years with JPMorgan, Khan entered Credit Suisse, where he took over the firm’s internet banking franchise and has been acknowledged for establishing the company’s stature in tech banking. As the Credit Suisse’s head internet banker, Khan is recognized for his leading role in the $25 billion Alibaba IPO, the largest ever share sale.
Khan also operated on the IPOs of American companies like GoDaddy, Groupon, and Box, as well as Chinese companies including Jumei, Weibo, and Toudu. While at Credit Suisse, Khan named China as “the future of the Internet business” due to its limited adoption and young demographic of the Internet at the time. When Credit Suisse hired Khan, the company was already in negotiations with Alibaba, a transaction that Khan helped win due to previous relationships he had with the Chinese company.
In 2015, Khan entered as Chief Strategy Officer at Snapchat, where he manages the firm’s corporate strategy, including building up operation, managing ad sales, growing the business partnership, and taking a principal role in directing the company to IPO. Khan helped grow revenue in his first 30 months at Snap Inc., from $0 to $728 million. Khan also helped achieve a $200 million investment in Snapchat from Alibaba in 2015, as well as a further $1.8 billion in funding in 2016.
In 2016, Khan was described by advertising trade magazine Adweek as one of the Most Indispensable Executives in Marketing, Media, and Tech in its annual Adweek 50 List. Adweek remarked that it chose Khan due to his work growing Snapchat, including launching Snapchat Partners, making several executives hire, and opening new offices for Snapchat. With the company attaining a market cap high of $34 billion within two days of its IPO, Snap Inc. went public in March 2017.
Verishop
In 2018, Imran Khan, along with his wife, Cate Khan, who previously worked at Quidsi, launched a new online platform called Verishop, designed to bring “the joy back to shopping.” Verishop, which features curated collections of women’s and men’s apparel, home and beauty products, gives free two-day shipping with no minimum purchase, and as part of its 24/7 customer care, offers free returns. Khan also serves as CEO of Verishop.
Verishop has started with nearly 160 brands onboard and intends to have more than 300 brands by the end of 2019. Operating without third parties allow Verishop to ensure that counterfeit goods will not be marketed on the site. The site also features Tastemakers, a selection of items that are suggested by a variety of social media influencers with knowledge in various areas, and The Responsible Shop, which allows “a collection of clean and known products that make you feel and look good.” Verishop is also running with tastemakers’ seven individual at launch.
Khan announced a slew of new high-level hires, including Jason Bosco, former vice president of engineering at Dollar Shave Club to direct engineering, Matthew Terry, former VP of fulfillment at Thrive Market to lead fulfillment, and Alex Barinka, former deals reporter at Bloomberg to lead communications. Khan desires to hire another 20-25 employees in the next six months. Several of the hires will concentrate on product and engineering.
Funding rounds
In October 2018, Verishop raised an undisclosed amount in a seed funding round from CASSIUS FAMILY, an early-stage venture capital fund dedicated on Commerce, Content, and Consumer. In November 2018, Verishop raised $17.5 million in another seed funding, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners with Khan’s friends and family, also participating.
Personal life
Imran Khan lives in Los Angeles with his wife Cate, who is an Amazon executive, and two children.
Net worth
As of November 2018, Imran Khan has an estimated net worth of at least $183 million. Khan owns more than 200,000 units of Snap stock worth over $121,626,517, and over the last two years, Khan sold SNAP stock worth more than $61,013,208.