Garrett Camp (born October 4, 1978) is a Canadian billionaire entrepreneur. He has helped build a series of companies, including founding StumbleUpon, a search engine; and co-founding Uber; Camp is chairman of Mix, the successor to StumbleUpon, and served on the board of directors of Uber until 2020. He lives in Los Angeles.
What is Garrett Camp’s Net Worth?
Garrett Camp is a Canadian businessman and entrepreneur who has a net worth of $3.5 billion. Garrett Camp earned his first small fortune as the co-founder of the web-discovery tool StumbleUpon. He became a multi-billionaire thanks to his work at the mobility-as-a-service provider Uber. Among his other ventures, Camp founded the startup studio Expa and serves as the chairman of Mix, the successor of StumbleUpon.
At Uber’s peak private valuation, Garret’s net worth topped as much as $6 billion. On the day Uber went public in May 2019, his paper net worth ended the trading day at $3.4 billion.
Net Worth: $3.5 Billion
Date of Birth: Oct 4, 1978 (45 years old)
Place of Birth: Calgary
Gender: Male
Profession: Businessperson, Entrepreneur
Nationality: Canada
Career
In 2002, Camp co-founded StumbleUpon. It was the first personalized search engine platform. In 2007, StumbleUpon was acquired by eBay and in 2009 StumbleUpon was spun-out. Following its spin-off, Camp worked to expand its services and grow the company. In 2012, Camp left StumbleUpon.
In 2014, Camp founded Expa Labs, with the goal of growing new companies. In 2015, Camp reacquired StumbleUpon. It operated until 2018, when it transitioned to Mix, a venture built in part through Expa Labs.
Uber
In 2009, Camp founded Uber as UberCab In 2011, the company continued to expand across the United States and abroad. In 2020, Camp left Uber’s board of directors but remained a board observer.
In 2022, Camp was portrayed by actor Jon Bass in Super Pumped, a drama series based on Uber.
Investments
In the past, Camp has invested in Prism Skylabs; and BlackJet, an on-demand private aviation service.
Awards and honors
In 2007, Camp was named to the List of Top Innovators under the age of 35 at Technology Review’s Emerging Technologies Conference at MIT. In 2008, Camp was named by Bloomberg Businessweek as one of Tech’s Best Young Entrepreneurs. In 2013, Camp was honored at the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards for his accomplishments at both StumbleUpon and Uber.
Wealth
In 2015, Camp was the 283rd-richest person in the world and the third-richest Canadian, with an estimated wealth of US$5.3 billion, according to Forbes. As of November 2022, Camp’s net worth is calculated at US$2.7 billion according to Forbes.
In 2017, Camp joined The Giving Pledge, a commitment to give away half of his wealth to charity.
In June 2019, Camp purchased a mansion in Trousdale Estates of Beverly Hills for $72.5 million; it drew criticism from Uber drivers struggling for higher pay and better working conditions.
StumbleUpon
While he was still in graduate school at the University of Calgary in late 2001, Camp co-founded the web-discovery tool StumbleUpon with Geoff Smith, Justin LaFrance, and Eric Boyd. Credited as the first web-discovery platform and personalized recommendation engine, the service used collaborative filtering to create virtual communities of Web users. In 2006, StumbleUpon relocated to San Francisco, California after receiving funding from Silicon Valley angel investors such as Brad O’Neill, Tim Ferriss, Mitch Kapor, and Ram Shriram. The following year, the platform was purchased by eBay for $75 million; Camp and other investors eventually bought it back in 2009.
Uber
During his tenure as CEO of StumbleUpon in early 2009, Camp co-founded the mobility-as-a-service provider Ubercab with fellow businessman Travis Kalanick. The company was founded with the aim of offering affordable direct transportation services to riders. Soon, Ubercab was rebranded as Uber. The company launched its services in San Francisco in mid-2010 with just a few cars. By the end of that year, it raised over $1 million in venture capital. Uber went on to expand substantially over the subsequent years, both across the United States and overseas. In 2012, the company launched its services UberX, Uber SUV, and UberTAXI. The most significant change to Uber came in early 2013 when CEO Travis Kalanick announced a ride-sharing service that would let people from the public become drivers through the Uber application.
Expa
Building on his decade-long experience with startups, Camp founded the startup studio Expa in 2013. Through the studio, he helps create and launch new companies by providing starting capital, technical advice, and workspaces to fledgling startups. In early 2014, Expa raised $50 million to fund the development and design of such startups. A couple of years later, the company raised $100 million. Expa is responsible for developing and launching such online companies as Mix, Haus, and Cmd.
Eco
In his other endeavors, Camp created a cryptocurrency called Eco. Unlike other forms of cryptocurrency, which create a heavy strain on the environment, Camp intends Eco to be highly energy efficient in its token generation and transaction verification processes.
Controversy
Camp is not without his fair share of controversy, much of it stemming from Uber’s widely documented mistreatment of its labor force. The pushback became even stronger in 2019 when Camp paid $72.5 million for an 11,000-square-foot mansion in the Trousdale Estates neighborhood of Beverly Hills. This purchase was widely decried by both activists and Uber employees, who spoke out in protest while demanding better working conditions for drivers of the company.