Justin Yoshimura | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1990 (age 34–35) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Founder, 500 Friends Chairman, Ice.com Chairman, DirectBuy Founder & CEO, CSC Generation |
| Years active | 2004–present |
Justin Yoshimura (born 1990) [1] is an American technology entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of the holding company CSC Generation.
Yoshimura was raised in Palos Verdes Estates, California. [2] As a student at Palos Verdes High School, he launched CellsWholesale.com, an online marketplace for cell phones. In its first year, the business generated $1 million in revenue, and he dropped out of high school in his junior year to run the business full-time. He sold it in 2008. [1] [2] [3]
In 2010, Yoshimura founded 500friends, a cloud-based platform providing loyalty and other incentive programs for e-commerce companies. It was launched in 2011, and backed by Y Combinator, with Yoshimura as CEO. [4] [5] In March 2012, 500friends raised $4.5 million in Series A financing, led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from Intel Capital, with Yoshimura becoming the youngest entrepreneur Crosslink and Intel had backed at the time. [1] [4] In March 2013, 500friends raised $5 million in Series B financing, led by Intel Capital and Fung Capital, bringing its total funding to $12 million. [6] 500friends was acquired by data marketing firm Merkle Inc. in November 2014, and Yoshimura was named Merkle's senior vice president of loyalty. [7] [8] [9]
In 2014, Yoshimura founded CSC Generation, and purchased the domain name Ice.com, converting it into an online jewelry marketplace. [7] [10] He then acquired several other e-commerce marketplaces, including DirectBuy, in February 2017. [11] In 2017, CSC Generation generated $150 million in sales. [7] CSC is backed by Chinese private equity firm China Science & Merchants Capital Management and Khosla Ventures. [7] [12] In 2018, the Ice.com name was sold. [13] In 2021, CSC Generation purchased Amerimark Holdings which owned three companies: AmeriMark Direct, Dr. Leonard's Healthcare, and LTD Commodities. In early 2023, Amerimark Interactive declared bankruptcy and terminated the employment of over 600 employees. [14] [15] In October 2023, DirectBuy declared bankruptcy and will likely close all 21 remaining stores and layoff 250 people. [16] [17] [18] [19]
Yoshimura also invests in early stage startups, [20] including the media company MACRO, [21] and technology companies Zencoder, [22] Hipmunk, [22] and Bounce Exchange. [23] Hipmunk has since shut down. [24] In 2011, he was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Social/Mobile category. [25]