Ben Pasternak

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Ben Pasternak
Ben Pasternak at Heureka Conference in Berlin, June 2016
Born (1999-09-06) 6 September 1999 (age 24)
Sydney, Australia
NationalityAustralian
EducationReddam House, Moriah College
OccupationEntrepreneur
Known forCo-founder & CEO of SIMULATE
Parents
  • Mark Pasternak (father)
  • Anna Pasternak (mother)

Benjamin Pasternak (born September 6, 1999) is an Australian technology entrepreneur. He is the co-founder and CEO of SIMULATE,[1] an American food technology company, that has raised US$57M in investment to date. SIMULATE's signature product, NUGGS, launched in July 2019. It is a plant-based alternative to chicken nuggets.[2] Previously, Pasternak founded Monkey, a social networking app that enabled teenagers to video chat with like-minded people.[3]

Pasternak was named as one of the world's most influential teenagers by Time in 2016.[4] In 2021, Pasternak was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 List.[5]

Early life and education[edit]

Pasternak was born in Sydney, Australia, to Anna Pasternak and Mark Pasternak. He has a younger brother, Jake, and a younger sister, Maya.[6] Pasternak was raised Jewish in Vaucluse, eastern Sydney.[7][8] He was educated at Moriah College and Reddam House.[9]

Pasternak started developing software at the age of 13. He designed his first publicly launched mobile app, Impossible Rush, while bored in science class at school.[10] He showed the idea to his online friend Austin Valleskey, an iOS engineer from Chicago, and the pair created the game in a matter of hours. The game went on to be downloaded millions of times and peaked at No. 16 on the US App Store (iOS) top charts.[11]

In January 2015, Facebook and Google offered Pasternak internship opportunities.[12] A few months after declining the offers, Pasternak dropped out of high school at the age of 15 and moved to New York City to accept venture capital funding for his first company, Flogg.[13] Ben was recognized as one of the youngest people ever to receive a round of venture capital in technology, at the age of 15.[14]

Career[edit]

Monkey[edit]

In April 2015, Pasternak founded Flogg, a social networking app for young people to buy and sell.[15] Pasternak's early success had caught the attention of venture capital firm Binary Capital. Binary agreed to lead a round of venture capital funding in Flogg before the app had launched. Binary were joined by other investors including Greylock Partners, John Maloney and Paul Bricault.[16] Flogg launched in April 2016 and was temporarily the No. 1 trending app on the US App Store (iOS).[17][non-primary source needed]

In late 2016, Pasternak shut down Flogg and pivoted the company's focus towards building Monkey, an app that enabled teenagers to video chat with like-minded people.[18][19]

In early 2017, Monkey raised US$2 million in funding. By January 2020, the app had over 20 million users and had enabled over 20 billion calls. The app peaked at No. 1 on the US App Store (iOS).[20]

In February 2018, social networking company Holla announced that it had acquired Monkey for an undisclosed sum.[21]

SIMULATE[edit]

In early 2018, Pasternak co-founded SIMULATE. SIMULATE's mission is to upgrade the world to a positive food system. Its first product, NUGGS, is a chicken nugget substitute made out of plant inputs.[22][23] In June 2021, Bloomberg reported that SIMULATE had raised over US$50 million in funding from investors including Alexis Ohanian's venture fund Seven Seven Six, Chris Sacca, McCain Foods, and Jay-Z at over a US$250 million valuation.[24]

Personal life[edit]

Pasternak lives in the Soho neighborhood of New York City.[25]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Ben Pasternak Biography | Booking Info for Speaking Engagements". www.allamericanspeakers.com. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
  2. ^ Berenstein, Nadia. "Can This 19-Year-Old Tech Whiz Make Nuggets — And An Animal-Free Lifestyle — Go Viral With NUGGS?". Forbes. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  3. ^ Bethea, Charles (9 January 2017). "Meet Monkey's Teen-Age Founders". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  4. ^ "The 30 Most Influential Teens of 2016". Time. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  5. ^ "Forbes 30 Under 30 2021". Forbes. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  6. ^ Bogle, Ariel (14 April 2016). "What is it like to raise a 16-year-old startup CEO? In a word: stressful". Mashable. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  7. ^ "Mark and Anna Pasternak sell Vaucluse home prior to auction - realestate.com.au". www.realestate.com.au. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
  8. ^ "Dad of tech whiz nabs waterfront". NewsComAu. 4 October 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  9. ^ Francis, Hannah (8 October 2014). "Is this 15-year-old Australian the next Mark Zuckerberg?". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  10. ^ Mosbergen, Dominique (9 October 2014). "This Teen Invented An App That Overtook Tinder, Twitter On The App Charts". HuffPost. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  11. ^ Heber, Alex (9 October 2014). "These Two Teenagers Have Briefly Beaten Tinder And Vine In The App Store With An App They Coded While Bored At School". Business Insider Australia. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  12. ^ Ryall, Jenni (22 January 2015). "Teen whiz kid eyes Google, Facebook after creating addictive game".
  13. ^ "Why this high school dropout is actually the most enviable teen in NYC". 14 April 2016.
  14. ^ Dzikowski, Jennifer (14 April 2016). "Ben Pasternak: The Teen CEO Behind Flogg". Heavy.com. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  15. ^ "This 16-Year-Old Dropped Out of High School to Run a Multi-Million Dollar Company". Teen Vogue. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  16. ^ "How a 16-year-old Ben Pasternak became CEO of his own start-up". Stuff. 17 April 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  17. ^ @NathanSchafer99 (16 April 2016). "@flogg is #1 trending search on the AUS App Store and 22nd in social networking. @benpasternak" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ "Sydney high school dropout sitting on million-dollar empire". news. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  19. ^ "Monkey, tutti in videochat: il nuovo social dei teenager". la Repubblica (in Italian). 22 January 2017. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  20. ^ Bogle, Ariel (19 January 2017). "Forget Facebook, forget Snapchat: Teens are doing it themselves". Mashable. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  21. ^ Johnson, Khari (6 February 2018). "'Holla acquires Monkey to expand video chat for dating and friend discovery". Venture Beat. Retrieved 11 June 2023.
  22. ^ "NUGGS: About | LinkedIn". Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  23. ^ "Nuggs rebrands as Simulate with new cash, a new CTO and an expanded line of faux-meat foods". TechCrunch. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  24. ^ "Forbes 30 Under 30 2021: Consumer Technology". www.forbes.com. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  25. ^ Bethea, Charles (9 January 2017). "Meet Monkey's Teen-Age Founders". The New Yorker. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
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