One of Austin's hottest new startups is bringing on a new leader who has experience at big Bay Area tech companies.
Jasper AI Inc., which snagged a $125 million series A funding round at a $1.5 billion valuation about a year ago, said Sept. 28 that its founding team selected former Dropbox president Timothy Young to take over as CEO. He takes the helm from co-founder and former CEO Dave Rogenmoser, who will stay with the company as chairman of the board. Young will lead the Austin-based company from its Bay Area offices.
Young joined Dropbox in 2019 as senior VP and GM of products before becoming president in 2020. He left the role in 2023. Before that, he was VP of product and engineering at VMware, in addition to his role as founder of early-stage investment firm Hidden Hand Capital, which remains active. Earlier in his career, he co-founded about.me, which was acquired by AOL in 2010, and Socialcast, which was scooped up by VMware in 2011 for over $100 million.
"With the emergence of generative AI, no one needs to work alone anymore," Young wrote in a LinkedIn post. "Gone are the days when you stare at a blank document with a blinking cursor and weeks of trying to synthesize customer data from multiple sources. With Jasper's marketing AI co-pilot, I'm excited to help elevate marketing teams everywhere by reimagining how they create, personalize, deliver, and measure on-brand content to their customers and partners."
The news comes just a few weeks before Jasper plans to make a few big product announcements and discuss its vision for the future during an Oct. 18 virtual event. The leadership news also follows the company's announcement in July that it was making an undisclosed number of layoffs, which it said were part of a move to develop a "tighter focus and the right resources" for its next chapter.
Jasper, founded in 2021, said it has more than 100,000 customers, including Pfizer, Accenture and Sports Illustrated, and it's developed API partnerships with companies including Google Workspaces, Webflow and Make.com.
"Go-to-market leaders are excited about the possibilities that AI brings, but they're also seeing limitations from existing solutions when it comes to driving real value for the enterprise," Jeff Horing, co-founder and managing director at Insight Partners and Jasper board member, stated. "Jasper's deep comprehension of its audience, robust product roadmap, and impressive track record with major enterprises uniquely position the company to address these needs and elevate the AI experience for companies."
A Jasper spokesperson said the company currently has 160 employees, including 25 in the Austin area.
The news also comes as the company has reportedly reduced the values of internal common shares by 20%, according to a report by The Information. The company recently moved its Austin team into a smaller space. It currently has three job openings for Austin or remote positions listed on its website.
