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Ray Sharma

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Ray Sharma
Ray Sharma at OneEleven in Toronto.
Born (1973-12-25) December 25, 1973 (age 50)
Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, India
Alma materUniversity of Western Ontario
Richard Ivey School of Business
Occupation(s)Founding Partner and CEO of Extreme Venture Partners

Ray Sharma is the founding partner and CEO of Extreme Venture Partners, the founder of XMG Studio and a super angel investor.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Early life and education

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Sharma was born in Anandpur Sahib, Punjab, India.[3] He obtained his degree in Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario.[1]

Career

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Sharma started his career in the global investment banking industry where he worked as a stock market analyst, focusing on wireless-related technology companies at Credit Suisse First Boston in San Francisco before moving to BMO Nesbitt Burns and GMP Securities in Toronto.[8][9][10][11][12][13] He was ranked the top tech analyst based on both Greenwich and Brendan Woods International surveys of fund managers for five of eight eligible years, and was the lead analyst on BlackBerry, Handspring, and other companies.[14]

In 2007, he co-founded Extreme Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm in Toronto,[15] followed by Xtreme Labs - the largest app developer worldwide at the time of exit to Pivotal Labs in 2016.[14] He later co-founded Extreme Accelerator which offered funding, mentorship, and resources for startups relocating to Canada.[16] In 2009, he founded XMG Studio, a mobile games studio, after being inspired by his children on the convenience of mobile games versus traditional consoles.[17] In 2012, Sharma oversaw the development of the prototype "Matchbox" created in a hackathon within Xtreme Labs, subsequently renamed Tinder.

Other roles

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Sharma has spoken at mobile industry events including Interactive Ontario's iP3 Forum, the 2013 Milken Institute Global Conference, the 2012 Application Developers Conference hosted by Scotia Capital, and the 2010 CTIA Mobile Web and Apps World Forum.[5][18][19] In February 2013, Sharma participated in a discussion panel with Tony Clement and other entrepreneurs and developers over the open data made available by the Canadian government.[20][21] Through XMG Studio, he founded The Great Canadian Appathon in 2011, an app-building competition for Canadian university students.[22][23][24][25][26]

Sharma is also a guest author for Pocket Gamer and The Globe and Mail.[27][28][29][30][31][32][33] He has also served on the Ontario Judicial Council, the Government of Canada's Advisory Panel on Open Government and the Royal Ontario Museum's Board of Trustees.[34][35] He is also the creator of the Canadian Open Data Experience (CODE), which is Canada's largest open data hackathon.[36][37][38] In 2015, Sharma co-founded Hackergal - a not-for-profit organization that aims to introduce young girls to coding.[39] In that same year, he also co-founded Hackworks, a Toronto-based company that specializes in executing hackathons and open innovation events.[40]

In 2019, an Ontario Superior Court ruling found that Chamath Palihapitiya and two former partners at Extreme Venture Partners conspired to hide an interest in dating app Tinder as part of a sale of shares in Xtreme Labs - resulting in the three paying $15.69 million to Extreme Venture Partner's current partners and co-founders.[41][42]

Since 2020, Sharma has sat on the Technical Advisory Committee at the Duality Accelerator at the University of Chicago. In 2024, he was given the Ivey Alumni Achievement Award.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Ray Sharma, Extreme Venture Partners: Profile and Biography". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  2. ^ "RIM signs U.K. deal". Ottawa Business Journal. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  3. ^ a b Kannan, Indira (21 November 2011). "XMG Studio scouts for partner in India". Business Standard India. Business Standard. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Someday, Your Smartphone Will Actually Improve Your Life". U.S. News. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  5. ^ a b "Ray Sharma talks about mobile, apps and games". The Globe and Mail. 14 November 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  6. ^ Montigny, Philippe de (12 August 2014). "A second wind: Extreme Venture Partners looks to 'import' entrepreneurs, invest in IoT, Big Data". Financial Post. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  7. ^ "Extreme Venture Partners Returns with Fund II". Tech Vibes. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  8. ^ "Another perspective on apps". Financial Times. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  9. ^ "Tech stocks hit skids - Apr. 12, 2000". money.cnn.com. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  10. ^ Evans, Peter (4 October 2005). "Research In Motion should split operations, analyst says". National Post. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 18 August 2023 – via PressReader.
  11. ^ "Analyst: New BlackBerries not yet ripe". CNET. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  12. ^ Avery, Simon (30 September 2006). "After stumbling, RIM's back in motion". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  13. ^ Austen, Ian (29 January 2013). "BlackBerry 10 Critical to Research in Motion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  14. ^ a b c "2024 Ivey Alumni Achievement Award Recipient Ray Sharma, HBA '96". Ivey Business School. Retrieved 9 April 2024.
  15. ^ Montigny, Philippe de (12 August 2014). "A second wind: Extreme Venture Partners looks to 'import' entrepreneurs, invest in IoT, Big Data". Financial Post. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  16. ^ Keung, Nicholas (16 June 2017). "Software startup abandons Trump's U.S. for 'welcoming' Toronto". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Another perspective on apps". Financial Times. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Portable Media and the Business and Technology of iDevices". Media Caster. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  19. ^ "Developers speak: BlackBerry is making great progress". CrackBerry. 11 May 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  20. ^ "TBS Prez Tony Clement talks open data at 'first ever' ministerial Google+ hangout". CBC News. Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  21. ^ "Tony Clement discusses open data during Google+ hangout". Global News. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  22. ^ CTV coverage of the Great Canadian Appathon, retrieved 20 October 2021
  23. ^ Hartley, Matt (17 February 2011). "National Post teams up with XMG Studio to launch first ever Great Canadian Appathon". Financial Post. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  24. ^ "Can an Appathon create the next big thing in one weekend?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  25. ^ "Great Canadian Appathon [4] Awards $35,000 To Student Game Makers". 14 February 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  26. ^ Hutchison, Bill (20 March 2011). "WebMania: Students compete at Great Canadian Appathon". Toronto. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  27. ^ "XMG Studio's Ray Sharma points to the creative power of 48 hours hackathons". Pocket Gamer.biz. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  28. ^ Sharma, Ray (18 April 2016). "By sitting on the sidelines in fintech, Canada risks losing golden reputation in banking". The Globe and Mail.
  29. ^ "Can start-ups get what they need from Canada's venture capital ecosystem?". The Globe and Mail. 14 November 2010. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  30. ^ Sharma, Ray (14 May 2015). "Why I got rid of my Apple Watch in less than a week". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  31. ^ Akkad, Omar El (5 October 2011). "Steve Jobs: the man who changed your world". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  32. ^ Author, Guest. "Tiny entertainment cost-per-hour is the secret of apps' success, says XMG's Ray Sharma". www.pocketgamer.com. Retrieved 23 February 2022. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  33. ^ Author, Guest. "Apps are eating the global wireless spectrum, warns XMG's Ray Sharma". www.pocketgamer.com. Retrieved 23 February 2022. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  34. ^ "Archived - Open Government Engagement Team". www.ontario.ca. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  35. ^ "ROM Trustees". Royal Ontario Museum. Archived from the original on 23 June 2013. Retrieved 29 October 2013.
  36. ^ "Minister Clement Celebrates the Launch of CODE". Reuters. 28 February 2014. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  37. ^ "Canada-wide hackathon to create apps using Canadian government data". 20 January 2014. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
  38. ^ "The opportunity of open data and the importance of hackathons | BetaKit". 24 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  39. ^ Andrea Woo (10 December 2018). "Bonding over bots: Hackergal teaches Canadian girls about coding". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  40. ^ "SideDrawer attracts venture industry and technology veteran Ray Sharma to its Board of Directors". blog.sidedrawer.com. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  41. ^ "Ontario judge rules against Xtreme Labs co-founders, Chamath Palihapitiya in Tinder-focused lawsuit | BetaKit". 15 May 2019. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
  42. ^ MacMillan, Douglas (11 March 2015). "Tinder Hook Up Leads to a Lawsuit". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
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