Kevin Hartz is an American businessman in the technology industry. He is the co-founder of Xoom and was the CEO from 2001 to 2005.

Biography

Hartz was born in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

, and raised in Orinda, California. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Science in history 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 ...

, as well as a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in British history from

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

Career

Hartz began his career at

Silicon Graphics Silicon Graphics, Inc. (stylized as SiliconGraphics before 1999, later rebranded SGI, historically known as Silicon Graphics Computer Systems or SGCS) was an American high-performance computing manufacturer, producing computer hardware and soft ...

(SGI) as the product manager for the

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

browser, Cosmo Player. In 2001, Hartz co-founded Xoom, an international money

remittance A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a foreign worker, a member of a diaspora community, or a citizen with familial ties abroad, for household income in their home country or homeland. Money sent home by migrants competes ...

business, along with Alan Braverman. He served first as CEO until 2005, and then on the board of directors through its 2012 IPO and subsequent acquisition by

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support E-commerce payment system, online money transfers; it serves as an electronic alter ...

in 2015. The company had a total equity value of $1.1 billion at that time. In 2006, Hartz founded Eventbrite, the global self-service ticketing platform, along with Julia Hartz and Renaud Visage. Hartz joined

Founders Fund Founders Fund is an American venture capital fund formed in 2005 and based in San Francisco. The fund has roughly $17 billion in total assets under management as of 2025. Founders Fund was the first institutional investor in Space Exploration T ...

in September 2016 and served as a partner. He later announced his exit from the company in June 2018. He currently serves on the board of directors for Eventbrite (Chairman) and Lookout.

Personal life

Hartz lives in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

with his wife, Julia Hartz, and they have two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hartz, Kevin American technology executives American business executives Living people People from Orinda, California Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Alumni of University College, Oxford Stanford University alumni