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In 2013, Chahal was convicted of [[domestic violence]] and [[Battery (crime)|battery]] and was sentenced to [[probation]]. In court he pleaded innocent, but he was terminated from his role as CEO of RadiumOne by the Board of Directors. In 2016, after he was charged with domestic violence against a second woman, his probation was revoked. He resigned as CEO of Gravity4 and served six months in jail.
In 2013, Chahal was convicted of [[domestic violence]] and [[Battery (crime)|battery]] and was sentenced to [[probation]]. In court he pleaded innocent, but he was terminated from his role as CEO of RadiumOne by the Board of Directors. In 2016, after he was charged with domestic violence against a second woman, his probation was revoked. He resigned as CEO of Gravity4 and served six months in jail.


In 2021, a [[San Francisco]] judge dismissed all charges related to this incident and entered a not guilty plea.
In 2021, a [[San Francisco]] judge dismissed all charges related to this incident and entered a not guilty plea.<ref name=":24" />


== Early life ==
== Early life ==
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In 2010, Chahal founded RadiumOne, another online ad company<ref>{{Cite news|last=McMahan|first=Ty|date=October 18, 2010|title=New Ad Network RadiumOne Aims To Tap Social 'Mega Trend'|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/10/18/new-ad-network-radiumone-aims-to-tap-social-mega-trend/}}</ref> of a slightly different genre,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Carson|first1=Mel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2EMaVV1pE8C|title=Pioneers of Digital: Success Stories from Leaders in Advertising, Marketing, Search and Social Media|last2=Springer|first2=Paul|date=October 3, 2012|publisher=Kogan Page Publishers|isbn=978-0-7494-6605-3|pages=44|language=en}}</ref> which started as a loyalty and rewards program<ref name="sfgate4" /> but later, migrated to targeted-advertising domain, having acquired multiple social-media-centered startups.<ref>{{Cite web|title=RadiumOne Buys Mobile Photo Sharing App Developer Focal Labs|url=http://social.techcrunch.com/2011/12/14/radiumone-buys-mobile-photo-sharing-app-developer-focal-labs/|access-date=February 10, 2020|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}</ref> It garnered significant reputation<ref>{{Cite web|title=RadiumOne About To Corner The Market On Social Data Before Competitors Even Know What's Happening|url=http://social.techcrunch.com/2011/05/20/radiumone-about-to-corner-the-market-on-social-data-before-competitors-even-know-whats-happening/|access-date=March 5, 2020|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}</ref> for its patented ad-technology<ref>{{Cite web|last=McMahan|first=Ty|date=October 18, 2010|title=New Ad Network RadiumOne Aims To Tap Social 'Mega Trend'|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/10/18/new-ad-network-radiumone-aims-to-tap-social-mega-trend/|access-date=March 7, 2020|website=WSJ|language=en-US}}</ref> with Chahal being poised to be a billionaire,<ref name=":10" /> and was valued at about US$500 million at its peak. In 2017 it was purchased by [[RhythmOne]], a public company on the London Stock exchange, for US$22 million.<ref name=":15">{{Cite web|last=Ganguly|first=Payal|date=November 12, 2019|title=Post RadiumOne, Gurbaksh Chahal seeks success again with RedLotus; in talks to raise $50 mn|url=https://www.techcircle.in/2019/11/12/post-radiumone-gurbaksh-chahal-seeks-success-again-with-redlotus-in-talks-to-raise-50-mn|access-date=November 13, 2019|website=TechCircle|language=en-US}}</ref>
In 2010, Chahal founded RadiumOne, another online ad company<ref>{{Cite news|last=McMahan|first=Ty|date=October 18, 2010|title=New Ad Network RadiumOne Aims To Tap Social 'Mega Trend'|work=The Wall Street Journal|url=http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/10/18/new-ad-network-radiumone-aims-to-tap-social-mega-trend/}}</ref> of a slightly different genre,<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Carson|first1=Mel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2EMaVV1pE8C|title=Pioneers of Digital: Success Stories from Leaders in Advertising, Marketing, Search and Social Media|last2=Springer|first2=Paul|date=October 3, 2012|publisher=Kogan Page Publishers|isbn=978-0-7494-6605-3|pages=44|language=en}}</ref> which started as a loyalty and rewards program<ref name="sfgate4" /> but later, migrated to targeted-advertising domain, having acquired multiple social-media-centered startups.<ref>{{Cite web|title=RadiumOne Buys Mobile Photo Sharing App Developer Focal Labs|url=http://social.techcrunch.com/2011/12/14/radiumone-buys-mobile-photo-sharing-app-developer-focal-labs/|access-date=February 10, 2020|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}</ref> It garnered significant reputation<ref>{{Cite web|title=RadiumOne About To Corner The Market On Social Data Before Competitors Even Know What's Happening|url=http://social.techcrunch.com/2011/05/20/radiumone-about-to-corner-the-market-on-social-data-before-competitors-even-know-whats-happening/|access-date=March 5, 2020|website=TechCrunch|language=en-US}}</ref> for its patented ad-technology<ref>{{Cite web|last=McMahan|first=Ty|date=October 18, 2010|title=New Ad Network RadiumOne Aims To Tap Social 'Mega Trend'|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2010/10/18/new-ad-network-radiumone-aims-to-tap-social-mega-trend/|access-date=March 7, 2020|website=WSJ|language=en-US}}</ref> with Chahal being poised to be a billionaire,<ref name=":10" /> and was valued at about US$500 million at its peak. In 2017 it was purchased by [[RhythmOne]], a public company on the London Stock exchange, for US$22 million.<ref name=":15">{{Cite web|last=Ganguly|first=Payal|date=November 12, 2019|title=Post RadiumOne, Gurbaksh Chahal seeks success again with RedLotus; in talks to raise $50 mn|url=https://www.techcircle.in/2019/11/12/post-radiumone-gurbaksh-chahal-seeks-success-again-with-redlotus-in-talks-to-raise-50-mn|access-date=November 13, 2019|website=TechCircle|language=en-US}}</ref>


Gurbaksh Chahal accepts E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award for RadiumOne, 2013.<ref name=":18" />
Gurbaksh Chahal was nominated and awarded the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award for RadiumOne in 2013.<ref name=":18" />


=== Gravity4 ===
=== Gravity4 ===
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In August 2013, the [[San Francisco District Attorney's Office]] (SFDA) charged Chahal with committing acts of domestic violence against his girlfriend.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Newton|date=2014|editor-last=Lee|editor-first=Newton|title=Personal Total Information Awareness|journal=Facebook Nation|language=en|publisher=Springer|pages=305–345|doi=10.1007/978-1-4939-1740-2_15|isbn=978-1-4939-1740-2}}</ref> Chahal proclaimed his innocence<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last1=Alexander|first1=Kurtis|last2=Ho|first2=Vivian|date=August 8, 2013|title=Internet mogul pleads not guilty to assault|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Internet-mogul-pleads-not-guilty-to-assault-4719376.php|access-date=January 23, 2020|website=San Francisco Chronicle|language=en-US}}</ref> but nevertheless entered into a [[Nolo contendere|no contest]] plea to one charge of domestic violence battery and one charge of [[Battery (crime)|battery]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=April 18, 2014|title=Internet mogul accused of domestic violence pleads guilty to two misdemeanors|url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/internet-mogul-accused-of-domestic-violence-pleads-guilty-to-two-misdemeanors/|access-date=January 31, 2020|website=The San Francisco Examiner|language=en-US}}</ref> He was sentenced to three years' [[probation]], ordered to pay a fine, and compelled to undergo a 52-week domestic violence training course along with 25 hours of [[community service]].<ref name=":1" /> Subsequently, he was fired from his position as CEO of RadiumOne and the company failed to move on with IPO;<ref name="Fortune2014">{{Cite web|last=Primack|first=Dan|date=April 25, 2014|title=It's time for RadiumOne's abusive CEO to go|url=http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2014/04/25/its-time-for-radiumone-to-fire-its-abusive-ceo/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601064812/http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2014/04/25/its-time-for-radiumone-to-fire-its-abusive-ceo/|archive-date=June 1, 2014|access-date=March 1, 2015|website=Fortune|publisher=CNN Money}}</ref><ref name="Nagle">{{Cite news|last=Elder|first=Jeff|date=September 10, 2015|title=Tech Firm Tried to Save IPO Amid CEO Scandal|work=Wall Street Journal|issn=00999660|id={{ProQuest|1710603396}}}}</ref> Chahal has since alleged that his guilty plea was coerced by the board of RadiumOne.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|date=July 21, 2014|title=Gurbaksh Chahal, former CEO fired after domestic violence plea, settles dispute with RadiumOne|url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/gurbaksh-chahal-former-ceo-fired-after-domestic-violence-plea-settles-dispute-with-radiumone/|access-date=January 23, 2020|website=The San Francisco Examiner|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Weisenthal|first=Joe|title=RADIUMONE CEO: My Board Betrayed Me, Even Though I Made Them A Fortune|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/gurbaksh-chahal-blasts-media-board-2014-4|access-date=January 31, 2020|website=Business Insider}}</ref>
In August 2013, the [[San Francisco District Attorney's Office]] (SFDA) charged Chahal with committing acts of domestic violence against his girlfriend.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Lee|first=Newton|date=2014|editor-last=Lee|editor-first=Newton|title=Personal Total Information Awareness|journal=Facebook Nation|language=en|publisher=Springer|pages=305–345|doi=10.1007/978-1-4939-1740-2_15|isbn=978-1-4939-1740-2}}</ref> Chahal proclaimed his innocence<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last1=Alexander|first1=Kurtis|last2=Ho|first2=Vivian|date=August 8, 2013|title=Internet mogul pleads not guilty to assault|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/crime/article/Internet-mogul-pleads-not-guilty-to-assault-4719376.php|access-date=January 23, 2020|website=San Francisco Chronicle|language=en-US}}</ref> but nevertheless entered into a [[Nolo contendere|no contest]] plea to one charge of domestic violence battery and one charge of [[Battery (crime)|battery]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|date=April 18, 2014|title=Internet mogul accused of domestic violence pleads guilty to two misdemeanors|url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/internet-mogul-accused-of-domestic-violence-pleads-guilty-to-two-misdemeanors/|access-date=January 31, 2020|website=The San Francisco Examiner|language=en-US}}</ref> He was sentenced to three years' [[probation]], ordered to pay a fine, and compelled to undergo a 52-week domestic violence training course along with 25 hours of [[community service]].<ref name=":1" /> Subsequently, he was fired from his position as CEO of RadiumOne and the company failed to move on with IPO;<ref name="Fortune2014">{{Cite web|last=Primack|first=Dan|date=April 25, 2014|title=It's time for RadiumOne's abusive CEO to go|url=http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2014/04/25/its-time-for-radiumone-to-fire-its-abusive-ceo/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601064812/http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2014/04/25/its-time-for-radiumone-to-fire-its-abusive-ceo/|archive-date=June 1, 2014|access-date=March 1, 2015|website=Fortune|publisher=CNN Money}}</ref><ref name="Nagle">{{Cite news|last=Elder|first=Jeff|date=September 10, 2015|title=Tech Firm Tried to Save IPO Amid CEO Scandal|work=Wall Street Journal|issn=00999660|id={{ProQuest|1710603396}}}}</ref> Chahal has since alleged that his guilty plea was coerced by the board of RadiumOne.<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|date=July 21, 2014|title=Gurbaksh Chahal, former CEO fired after domestic violence plea, settles dispute with RadiumOne|url=https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/gurbaksh-chahal-former-ceo-fired-after-domestic-violence-plea-settles-dispute-with-radiumone/|access-date=January 23, 2020|website=The San Francisco Examiner|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Weisenthal|first=Joe|title=RADIUMONE CEO: My Board Betrayed Me, Even Though I Made Them A Fortune|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/gurbaksh-chahal-blasts-media-board-2014-4|access-date=January 31, 2020|website=Business Insider}}</ref>


In 2016, the [[San Francisco County Superior Court]] found Chahal guilty of violating his September 2014 probation, upon another prosecution by SFDA for acts of domestic violence against a second woman with whom he was in a relationship.<ref name="sentencing">{{Cite news|last=Rainey|first=Libby|date=August 12, 2016|title=Tech mogul Gurbaksh Chahal gets 1 year in domestic violence case|work=San Francisco Chroncile|url=http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/SF-judge-to-decide-fate-of-Gurbaksh-Chahal-in-9139376.php|access-date=November 1, 2016}}</ref> He was sentenced to a year in jail and resigned from his position as CEO of Gravity4.<ref name="sentencing" /> The California State Appeals Court upheld the verdict in April 2018<ref name="sfgate.com">{{Cite news|last=Ma|first=Annie|date=April 28, 2018|title=Court upholds ruling against SF tech mogul Chahal in domestic violence case|work=SFGate|url=https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Court-upholds-ruling-against-SF-tech-mogul-Chahal-12870668.php|access-date=January 25, 2020}}</ref> and Chahal served six months in [[San Francisco County Jails|San Francisco County Jail]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Daly|first=Michael|date=September 3, 2018|title=O.J.'s Lawyer and the Woman-Abusing Princeling of Silicon Valley|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/ojs-lawyer-and-the-woman-abusing-princeling-of-silicon-valley|via=www.thedailybeast.com}}</ref>
In 2016, the [[San Francisco County Superior Court]] found Chahal guilty of violating his September 2014 probation, upon another prosecution by SFDA for acts of domestic violence against a second woman with whom he was in a relationship.<ref name="sentencing">{{Cite news|last=Rainey|first=Libby|date=August 12, 2016|title=Tech mogul Gurbaksh Chahal gets 1 year in domestic violence case|work=San Francisco Chroncile|url=http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/SF-judge-to-decide-fate-of-Gurbaksh-Chahal-in-9139376.php|access-date=November 1, 2016}}</ref> He was sentenced to a year in jail and resigned from his position as CEO of Gravity4.<ref name="sentencing" /> The California State Appeals Court upheld the verdict in April 2018<ref name="sfgate.com">{{Cite news|last=Ma|first=Annie|date=April 28, 2018|title=Court upholds ruling against SF tech mogul Chahal in domestic violence case|work=SFGate|url=https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Court-upholds-ruling-against-SF-tech-mogul-Chahal-12870668.php|access-date=January 25, 2020}}</ref> and Chahal served six months in [[San Francisco County Jails|San Francisco County Jail]].<ref name=":24">{{Cite web|last=Daly|first=Michael|date=September 3, 2018|title=O.J.'s Lawyer and the Woman-Abusing Princeling of Silicon Valley|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/ojs-lawyer-and-the-woman-abusing-princeling-of-silicon-valley|via=www.thedailybeast.com}}</ref>


In 2021, a [[San Francisco]] judge dismissed all charges related to this incident and entered a not guilty plea.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Court Order Dismissal|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/527443202/Court-Order-Dismissal|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-26|website=[[Scribd]]|language=en}}</ref>
In 2021, a [[San Francisco]] judge dismissed all charges related to this incident and entered a not guilty plea.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Court Order Dismissal|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/527443202/Court-Order-Dismissal|url-status=live|access-date=2021-09-26|website=[[Scribd]]|language=en}}</ref>

Revision as of 15:54, 26 September 2021

Gurbaksh Singh Chahal
Gurbaksh Chahal
Born (1982-07-17) July 17, 1982 (age 42)
Tarn Taran Sahib, Punjab, India
NationalityAmerican
OccupationEntrepreneur
Years active1998–present
Known forFounder of ClickAgents, BlueLithium, RadiumOne, Gravity4, Taara Labs, RedLotus, and VendorCloud
Political partyDemocratic Party (United States)[1]
PartnerRubina Bajwa
Parents
  • Avtar Singh (father)
  • Arjinder Chahal (mother)
WebsiteGurbakshChahal.com

Gurbaksh Singh Chahal (born July 17, 1982) is an Indian-American internet entrepreneur, speaker, philanthropist, and the author of The Dream.[3] He has founded several internet advertising companies.

Chahal founded his first advertising network at an age of 16 and two years later, became a millionaire after selling it to ValueClick at nearly $40 million.[4] In 2004, he co-founded BlueLithium, which went on to become the fifth largest ad-network in USA, before being sold to Yahoo in a $300 million deal.[5][4] Chahal has since founded other internet-based companies including RadiumOne[6] and Gravity4. He is currently the CEO of VendorCloud and RedLotus.

In 2010, Bloomberg Businessweek named him among the 15 best young entrepreneurs of the year.[7] In 2012, Chahal was enlisted among the 25 richest entrepreneurs under the age of 30 by Complex magazine. In 2013, he was named as one of the entrepreneurs of the year by Ernst and Young.[8] In April 2011, Men's Health reported his net worth to be $150 million.[9]

In 2013, Chahal was convicted of domestic violence and battery and was sentenced to probation. In court he pleaded innocent, but he was terminated from his role as CEO of RadiumOne by the Board of Directors. In 2016, after he was charged with domestic violence against a second woman, his probation was revoked. He resigned as CEO of Gravity4 and served six months in jail.

In 2021, a San Francisco judge dismissed all charges related to this incident and entered a not guilty plea.[10]

Early life

Chahal was born on July 17, 1982 in Tarn Taran Sahib, a city near Amritsar in India’s Punjab state, in a Sikh family. He was the youngest of four children.[11][4] His father, Avtar Singh, was a police officer and mother, Arjinder Chahal, was a nurse in Tarn Taran Sahib, who started as a hospital orderly and later became a registered nurse. In 1985, during the aftermath of the Khalistani insurgency, Chahal's parents emigrated to the United States, his father having won a green card lottery and stayed with friends in San Jose.[12] Chahal was raised by his grandmother for a short time. He emigrated the following year, at age four. The family lived in a one-bedroom apartment in San Jose, California.[13] His father got a job in the Postal Service; his mother worked as an assistant to a nurse.[12] He has two elder sisters — Nirmal and Kamal, and an elder brother Taj Chahal; the latter two had worked with Chahal in his ventures.[14] His family was devout followers of Sikhism and Chahal and his brother used to wear turban, a type of headwear based on cloth winding.[3][12] He has claimed of being subject to intense racial bullying from the age of 5 in the local elementary school. At the age of 10, he was forced to remove his turban, at knife-point.[15][16]

Chahal was an average student during schooling, he brought B and C grades in studies. He bought second hand printers from the local market for $50 and resold printers on eBay for $200 to support his family at the age of 15.[17] Chahal's rebellious nature came out when he bought the Dell.net and HP.net domain names in 1997 and sent a letter to the companies offering to sell the names back to them for ten thousand dollars. He started receiving threatening cease-and-desist letters and had to give the domains back for free. All of his family members had to work in double shifts after his father incurred losses in stock market trading.[3]

Education

At age 16, in the year 1998 Chahal dropped out of Independence High School to pursue a career in Internet advertising; his parents wished him to be a doctor. While still in high school, he took college course on the campus of what is now Evergreen Valley College.[18] In 1998 Chahal launched a digital advertising company with the name ClickAgents, Chahal has since noted this to be the biggest risk-prone decision taken in his career.[14][19][20]

Career

Gurbaksh Chahal accepting the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award for RadiumOne, 2013

Chahal started his career buying and reselling printers on eBay, after being turned away from a job at McDonald's.[21] His initial forays into the business world were to support his family and largely derived from his father's interests in stock trading.[22]

ClickAgents

In 1998, at the age of 16, Chahal founded ClickAgents, which was among first of its kind pay per click network.[23] It started as an advertising network focused on performance-based advertising, on the lines of DoubleClick.[3] By 2000, it had numerous customers and had a staff-strength of 34.[24] It was acquired by ValueClick in November 2000 in an all-stock deal valued at nearly $40 million, which paid his parents' mortgages lifting them out of poverty and made him an overnight millionaire.[25][26][24]

BlueLithium and MingleNow

In 2004, Chahal founded BlueLithium, a company that specialized in behavioral targeting, a technique whereby web users' habits online are tracked in order to show customized ads.[5][21] The ad-tech industry praised it with Business 2.0 noting it to be among the 11 most disruptive innovations of 2006,[27] and by the same year, it had expanded operations to foreign countries, having purchased AdRevolver.[28][29] The same year, the company again received the title of Top Innovator of the Year for 2006.[23] MingleNow, a social network was simultaneously launched, which was accorded a partnership deal by Anheuser-Busch.[30] It was named among the top 100 private companies of America by AlwaysOn for three consecutive years[3] and in 2007, Yahoo! bought it for $300 million in cash; Chahal remained CEO during interim period.[31] It was the fifth largest ad-network in USA and second largest in UK, at time of sale.[32]

GWallet to RadiumOne

In 2009, Chahal launched another venture gWallet that partnered with brand and game developers to bring users virtual currency offers.[33] The startup worked directly with brands instead of using any kind of affiliate model. It used branded video campaigns to engage with consumers. Disney, Best Buy, K-Mart, Nestle, and The History channel used their video campaigns on the social network.[34][35] The startup's research showed that only 2-4% of users chose to pause a video game and opt to explore brand engagement and any offers like earning a virtual currency. This meant that the current method of advertisement and engagement by most games was not very effective and lacked the required engagement from its users. gWallet instead introduced its own concept of a brand bar which was supposed to be an ingame concept. The brand bar would act as a top menu bar on the game play screen which would allow the users to view advertisements while playing a game, or access options to earn virtual currency while playing the game.[35] With this model, in its stark contrast to existing separate menus for such engagements, gWallet eventually raised $10 million in funding.[34]

In 2010, Chahal founded RadiumOne, another online ad company[36] of a slightly different genre,[37] which started as a loyalty and rewards program[6] but later, migrated to targeted-advertising domain, having acquired multiple social-media-centered startups.[38] It garnered significant reputation[39] for its patented ad-technology[40] with Chahal being poised to be a billionaire,[15] and was valued at about US$500 million at its peak. In 2017 it was purchased by RhythmOne, a public company on the London Stock exchange, for US$22 million.[41]

Gurbaksh Chahal was nominated and awarded the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award for RadiumOne in 2013.[8]

Gravity4

In July 2014, Chahal launched Gravity4 (since renamed to DaVinci Marketing Cloud).[42] It made a failed bid to buy back RadiumOne and closed in 2017, being unable to integrate the purchased ad-tech startups.[43][44] Gravity4's main area of business was gathering useful customer data regarding their user experience to allow marketers to improve their ad targets. This company also started working in the AI sector and launched a marketing cloud for blockchain. The company further launched two main applications named MonaChain and MonaBrowse that aimed to target fraud and ad blockers.[42]

TaaraLabs and RedLotus

In 2019, Chahal founded TaaraLabs, an incubator helping build companies that solve problems in the fields of artificial intelligence, IoT, and data sciences. The lab is connected to over 7 billion IoT devices globally.[45] In the same year, he founded RedLotus in Hong Kong, which specializes in AI-based targeted advertising. This service was provided mainly in the form of customer engagement through this AI platform. This company went in for its initial funding of $50 million, intending to use this initial capital for R&D and expansion worldwide.[41][46]

Chahal Foundation

Gurbaksh Chahal has also been Chairman of the Chahal Foundation since August 2012. The Foundation supports the families of hate crime victims, educational scholarship, combat child trafficking in India, and helps in disaster relief efforts in India.[47][48][45]

Honors and philanthropy

Chahal with Donald Trump at the 2009 Leaders in Management Award function, Pace University

In 2010, Bloomberg Businessweek named him among the 15 best young entrepreneurs of the year.[7]

In the same year, Chahal's alma mater Evergreen Valley College awarded him an honorary degree in Business Administration,[49] and Pace University conferred the Leaders in Management Award and a Honorary Doctorate in Commercial Sciences; he had earlier established an endowed entrepreneurial scholarship program at the university.[45][50]

Business Insider included him in their "30 under 30 to watch" list in 2011.[51] In 2012, Complex magazine named him in a list of the 25 richest entrepreneurs under the age of 30.[8] In the same year, he received the Light of India Amrapali Young Achievers award.[52][53] In 2013, he was named as one of the Ernst and Young entrepreneurs of the year[54][46] and was awarded the Technology Entrepreneur of the Decade at Anokhi’s Prestige Awards 2013.[55]

The following year, Complex noted him among the top 10 technology entrepreneurs of the year.[56] He was recognized as an "Entrepreneur Extraordinaire" in January 2014 by Darpan Magazine.[3] In 2019, Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee honored him for contributions made to the field of entrepreneurship.[57]

Chahal has been a guest lecturer at several universities including London School of Economics and UC Berkeley.[58][59][60][61]

In 2012, after the Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting, he committed US$1 million to found BeProud (since renamed to Chahal Foundation), a charitable foundation that supports the families of hate crime victims and combats child trafficking in India.[62][63][46] It had liaisoned with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to provide employment scopes for rural women in Maharashtra, India.[64]

In 2019, Chahal committed to evolving Punjab as the next tech capital of India, and creating over a million jobs for the youth populace by 2030 through suitable investments.[65][66][67]

In 2020, Chahal donated face masks, test kits, personal protective equipment and ventilators to hospitals across several countries (including Hong Kong and India) during the Coronavirus pandemic, and extended procurement networks to help governments in mitigating the supply-chain chaos.[68][69][70][71][72]

Personal life

File:Gurbaksh Baksh in 2020.jpg
Gurbaksh Chahal interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on The Oprah Winfrey Show

Chahal previously resided in San Francisco Bay Area but is currently based in Hong Kong.[41]

Chahal has attracted attention for his physique and extravagant lifestyle, including a fleet of luxurious cars and a penthouse apartment.[14] He has been featured on Fox Business and CNBC's High Net Worth[19] and has been invited as a guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show.[73] He has been also featured on The Secret Millionaire, where he went undercover in San Francisco and gave away $110,000 of his wealth;[74] The Bonnie Hunt Show, where he auctioned off his pen for charity;[75] and on ExtraTV as America's most eligible bachelor.[3][46] In 2011, Men's Health awarded him the seventh spot in the list of the world's fittest and richest men.[76]

Chahal with Obama at a Fundraising Dinner in San Francisco, 2012

Chahal professed to be a devout Sikh, and was largely inspired by his grandmother.[46][11]

He takes a keen interest in Bollywood, admiring Shah Rukh Khan and A. R. Rahman in particular.[3]

Chahal was a regular donor to Democratic Party candidates; he was twice invited to the White House during Barack Obama's presidency.[77][78]

He is also a motivational speaker,[46] advocates one-dollar salary for CEOs,[79] and has written an autobiography called The Dream.[22]

Since 2019, Chahal has been in a relationship with Punjabi film actress Rubina Bajwa.[80][81]

In August 2013, the San Francisco District Attorney's Office (SFDA) charged Chahal with committing acts of domestic violence against his girlfriend.[82] Chahal proclaimed his innocence[83] but nevertheless entered into a no contest plea to one charge of domestic violence battery and one charge of battery.[84] He was sentenced to three years' probation, ordered to pay a fine, and compelled to undergo a 52-week domestic violence training course along with 25 hours of community service.[84] Subsequently, he was fired from his position as CEO of RadiumOne and the company failed to move on with IPO;[85][86] Chahal has since alleged that his guilty plea was coerced by the board of RadiumOne.[87][88]

In 2016, the San Francisco County Superior Court found Chahal guilty of violating his September 2014 probation, upon another prosecution by SFDA for acts of domestic violence against a second woman with whom he was in a relationship.[89] He was sentenced to a year in jail and resigned from his position as CEO of Gravity4.[89] The California State Appeals Court upheld the verdict in April 2018[90] and Chahal served six months in San Francisco County Jail.[10]

In 2021, a San Francisco judge dismissed all charges related to this incident and entered a not guilty plea.[91]

Publications

  • The Dream: How I Learned the Risks and Rewards of Entrepreneurship and Made Millions, Palgrave Macmillan (October 23, 2008) ISBN 0-230-61095-1

References

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