Becoming a billionaire is a level everybody hopes to reach at some point in their lifetime, doing that in your 20s is a dream.
Alexandr Wang is living that dream. The 25-year-old dropped out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at the age of 19 to co-found the software company Scale AI. In 2018, he appeared on the Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and now he’s signing deals with the US military.
As a young child, Wang was raised by physicist parents. He was a math whizkid, who used to compete in regular competitions across the United States.
According to Forbes, Wang is now worth $1billion. In April last year, a $325 million funding round doubled his company’s valuation to $7.3 billion in just over four months.
Some of his clients include AirBnB, General Motors, LinkedIn, Nvidia, PayPal, Samsung and Toyota.
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In January, his company signed a $249 million deal with the U.S. Army, Air Force and Department of Defense through its Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC).
Scale AI helps businesses deal with the data preparation needed to train AI systems. The company’s usefulness spans multiple industries, from government and self-driving cars, to mapping, robotics, virtual reality and the military.
Right now, they’re currently donating their technology for free in a bid to help analyse satellite images of the impact of Russian attacks and military campaigns in Ukraine.
