Cameo has added a new product leader to its executive team with more than a decade of experience at some of Silicon Valley's top tech companies.
The Chicago startup announced Tuesday that it hired Nundu Janakiram as its first VP of product. Janakiram comes to Cameo from Uber, where he spent six years as the ride-hailing firm's director of product. Prior to that, he held product manager roles at YouTube, where he worked on the consumer viewing experience, and at Google, where his work focused on the search experience.
Janakiram will be tasked with improving Cameo's core celebrity shoutout app, as well as launching new features and growing its B2B business, Cameo said.
The hire comes three months after Cameo raised $100 million at a valuation of more than $1 billion. The startup, which offers fans personalized video messages from celebrities, saw its growth skyrocket last year as users and celebrities turned to its marketplace during the coronavirus pandemic. The company sold $100 million worth of Cameos last year.
Cameo also operates a B2B service, called Cameo for Business, that allows companies to use Cameo to hire celebrities to appear in digital ads. It also recently launched a live video chat platform called Cameo Calls that allows fans to book 1 on 1 video calls with celebrities.
Earlier this month, Cameo, which has more than 300 employees, added NBA hall of famer Magic Johnson to its board of directors.
