Diego Berdakin

Diego Berdakin is a Los Angeles-based Internet entrepreneur and University of Southern California professor. He founded the social commerce company BeachMint along with Myspace co-founder Josh Berman, which later was acquired by Condé Nast to form The Lucky Group.[1] Berdakin is also a notable investor in several technology companies.

Diego Berdakin at Dublin 2012 Web Summit

Early life and education

Berdakin was born and raised in Los Angeles by his Argentinian parents. At the age of thirteen, he enrolled in a C/C++ programming class at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelors of science in political science.[2]

Career

Berdakin began his post collegiate career at Slingshot Labs, the digital research and development arm of News Corp., as the Executive Vice President. In this role, Diego built standalone companies for Myspace, Fox and The Wall Street Journal.[3]

In 2010, Berdakin and Josh Berman teamed up to create the social commerce company BeachMint.[4] Based in Santa Monica, BeachMint attracted the fashion and design talents of celebrities such as Kate Bosworth,[5] Rachel Bilson, the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Justin Timberlake[6][7] and jeweler Philip Crangi.[8] In 2014, Conde Nast acquired majority ownership of BeachMint and then merged with Lucky magazine to form The Lucky Group.[9] He was a founding partner at FabFitFun,[10] Re/Done,[11] iEscrow,[12] and Weaving Capital.[13]

Berdakin has been an adjunct professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California since 2012.[14] In 2015, Berdakin was a finalist for the school’s Steven J. Sample Teaching Award.[15] Berdakin also teaches classes at Marshall Business school and Virterbri School of Engineering at USC.

In 2016, Berdakin bought two warehouses and combined them to become the first warehouse kitchen for CloudKitchens (at the time called Urban Kitchen). In January 2019, Travis Kalanick (the former CEO of Uber) purchased a controlling interest in Berdakin's company for $150 million USD [16] and subsequently raised $400 million for the company at $5 billion valuation.[17] In January 2021, CloudKitchens raised new funding at a $15 billion USD valuation.[18]

Civic engagement

Berdakin is the main benefactor of USC School of Cinematic Art's Neighborhood Academic initiative supporting inner city students' creative development.[19] Berdakin serves on the board of directors of The LAPD Foundation which provides critical resources and vital support to the Los Angeles Police Department.[20] Berdakin is a founding member of Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles which is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving life for all Angelenos.[21]

Investing activity

Diego Berdakin has been an investor in several notable internet companies.[22]

  • Ring.Com
  • GoEuro
  • DropBox
  • Nest
  • FlipKart
  • HackerOne
  • Postmates

References
  1. Ashley Kohanarieh (2014-11-30). "Factors For Success Inspired by Tech Entrepreneur Jason Reuben". The Skribe.
  2. Nathan Olivarez-Giles (September 4, 2011). "BeachMint co-founder learns to focus on a single start-up". Los Angeles Times.
  3. Jason Kincaid (January 13, 2010). "Slingshot Labs' Demise Overblown As SocialPlan Is Acquired By MySpace". TechCrunch.
  4. Katherine Duncan (May 22, 2012). "BeachMint Carves a Retail Niche with Celebrity Appeal". Entrepreneur.
  5. Stephanie Chan (July 15, 2014). "Kate Bosworth Launches a Fashion App". The Hollywood Reporter.
  6. The Muse (April 25, 2012). "Men Who Start Companies for Women: The Rise of Pink-Collar Businessmen". Forbes.
  7. Courtney Boyd Myers (Apr 17, 2012). "Hollywood Tech: Beachmint's newest vertical launches with Justin Timberlake's HomeMint". The Next Web.
  8. Molly Creeden (March 10, 2014). "7 Techie LA Tastemakers". LA Confidential.
  9. Sarah Buhr (August 11, 2014). "BeachMint Gets Lucky In Joint Venture With Conde Nast". TechCrunch.
  10. Michael Carney (March 13, 2013). "FabFitFun dabbles in content+commerce with quarterly VIP boxes". Pando.
  11. Jackson Howard (2014). "Sean Barron Redoes Your New Favorite Pair of Levi's". Not Mad.
  12. Jim Motavalli (May 16, 2013). "21 Success Mavericks". Success.
  13. "business ventures". berdakin.com. 2017. Archived from the original on 2019-05-19. Retrieved 2019-11-27.
  14. "USC School of Cinematic Arts Directory". USC School of Cinematic Arts. March 25, 2014.
  15. John Hu (March 1, 2017). "USC Alumnus Creates Tesla Commercial". Daily Trojan.
  16. "Amidst COVID-19, CloudKitchens Redefines Restaurants As We Know It". HNGRY. 2020-04-06. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  17. "Saudis Back Travis Kalanick's New Startup". Wall Street Journal.
  18. Morris, Meghan. "Travis Kalanick's food startup CloudKitchens has tripled its valuation to $15 billion and tapped an Amazon veteran as CFO". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-01-08.(subscription required)
  19. Simran Bhari (November 2, 2017). "Gifting a Cinematic Education to South and East L.A. High Schoolers". USC School of Cinematic Arts.
  20. LAPD Foundation (November 2017). "LAPD Foundation Directory". LAPD Foundation.
  21. LA MAYOR'S FUND (November 2017). "LA Mayor's Fund Supporters". LA Mayor's Fund.
  22. AngelList (December 1, 2017). "Angel List Profile". Angel List.
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