Alex Algard is an Internet entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Hiya, Ekata and the founder and former CEO of

Whitepages.com Whitepages is a provider of online directory services, fraud screening, background checks and identity verification for consumers and businesses. It has the largest database available of contact information on residents of the United States. W ...

, and

CarDomain CarDomain.com was an online community site for car enthusiasts. Users could create profiles of their cars including pictures and write-ups, view the work of others, talk to the other users and car enthusiasts, and create social network profiles. ...

Biography

His father was Swedish and his mother was Korean.Feldman, Amy (August 23, 2016) Algard has a BA degree in Economics (1996) and a

MS degree A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...

in Engineering (1998) from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

Career

Algard founded Whitepages in 1996 after purchasing the domain name for $900. He began the business by developing an online database of public phone directory information. The website began generating revenue through advertisements, that reached $66 million a year by 2008. Algard also created an Internet community called CarDomain Network with a high school friend in 1999. The site facilitated communication between niche car enthusiasts. In 2010 Whitepages' two biggest clients,

Yellowpages.com Yellowpages.com is a United States–based web site operated by Thryv that provides listings for local businesses. In 2013, it was re-branded as YP.com or simply "YP". It currently offers a broad range of marketing tools including online presenc ...

and Superpages.com, cut their expenditures after Google ventured into local business searches. Subsequently, when profits plummeted, the company's investors became agitated, and Algard bought out Whitepages' investors for $80m. Algard pledged his assets, savings accounts and his family's home to the bank to raise the extra $30m in capital required for the buyout. In the spring of 2016, Algard created a new company to identify mobile phone spammers and

robocall A robocall is a phone call that uses a computerized autodialer to deliver a pre-recorded message, as if from a robot. Robocalls are often associated with political and telemarketing phone campaigns, but can also be used for public service, emerge ...

s and to ensure that important calls were not missed. He named the organization Hiya. Deals with

T-mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

and

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

, as well as a

Balderton Capital Balderton Capital is a venture capital firm based in London, UK, that invests in early-stage, technology and internet Startup company, startup companies in Europe. It is considered to be among the four-biggest venture capital firms in the English ...

-led series A round followed.

Personal life

When he was a teenager, his family moved to

Vancouver, B.C. Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Met ...

References

External links

CarDomain.com Official websiteWhitepages.com Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algard, Alex 1975 births Living people Businesspeople from Seattle Canadian businesspeople Stanford University School of Engineering alumni Swedish businesspeople Businesspeople from Stockholm