Aldo Carrascoso | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 19 July 1978 |
| Education | Ateneo De Manila University Babson College |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder of Jukin Media, Veem |
Aldo Carrascoso (born July 19, 1978) is a Filipino entrepreneur known for founding Veem and Jukin Media. [1] He founded InterVenn Biosciences, an American pharmaceutical and biotechnology company, with Carolyn Bertozzi and served as its chief executive officer for six years. [2] [3]
Carrascoso was born and raised in San Juan in Metro Manila. [1] [4] His father was an engineer and a general manager of Manila International Airport, causing Carrascoso to be exposed to technology from a young age. [5]
He attended primary and secondary education at De La Salle, and completed his undergraduate studies at the Ateneo De Manila University, where he received a BS in Psychology. He then went on to earn an MBA from Babson College. [6]
Carrascoso's mother Lily died of breast cancer in 1993. [7] His frustration with the available diagnostic and treatment options was a major factor which later motivated him to enter the field of cancer treatment research. [4] After another relative was diagnosed with cancer in 2016, Carrascoso participated in a trial to determine why genomic sequencing was unable to detect cancer within his family, where he met future InterVenn co-founder Carolyn Bertozzi. [8]
When Carrascoso learned that analysis of the data from the sample would take 12 months, he became determined to develop a method to analyze samples using machine learning and artificial intelligence, eventually leading to the founding of InterVenn Biosciences. [8] [9]
To date, Carrascoso has participated in founding four companies.
Carrascoso co-founded Verego, a B2B matchmaking platform, in 2009. He developed the concept for the company based on work completed during his MBA. [10] Carrascoso described the platform as "Tinder for companies," comparing strategic business partnerships to long term relationships or marriage, and utilizing a matching algorithm to pair business with each other. [11]
In 2009, Carrascoso also co-founded Jukin Media, a company which licenses, distributes and monetizes viral content, with Jonathan Skogmo and Josh Entman. [12] He served as CTO of the company during its early development. The platform uses a proprietary machine learning algorithm called "Riff" to generate media feeds based on viral keywords. [13]
Jukin raised approximately $6 million in funding from Samsung Ventures, BDMI, Third Wave Digital and Mandalay Entertainment chairman and CEO Peter Guber [14] and was acquired by Trusted Media Brands in 2021. [15]
In 2012, Carrascoso co-founded Veem (originally named Align Commerce), a multi-channel payment platform, with Marwan Forzley. [16] He served as both CTO and COO, overseeing the development of deep learning algorithms which analyzes transactions to determine whether traditional and blockchain payment channels will be more efficient. [17]
The platform was intended mainly to make the cross-border efficiency of blockchain payment rails readily accessible to small and medium businesses. [18] It was initially funded by Silicon Valley Bank, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and later by the National Bank of Australia and Google Ventures. [19]
In 2017, Carrascoso co-founded InterVenn Biosciences along with chemistry professors Carlito Lebrilla and Carolyn Bertozzi [20] The company uses artificial intelligence developed by Carrascoso for glycoproteomic analysis for early diagnosis of certain cancers. [21] InterVenn's first product was "Glori," a liquid biopsy tool for identifying malignant ovarian tumors. [22] Variations of the method have since been used to develop diagnostic tools for 24 other types of cancer, including renal, lung, liver, prostate, pancreatic, nasopharyngeal, and colorectal cancers. [23]
The company raised $45 million USD over two funding rounds in 2018 and 2020, before raising $201 million USD in a series C round led by SoftBank. [24]