7 South Africans behind some of the biggest startup successes in the US

Nope, we’re not talking about PayPal-Tesla-SpaceX founder Elon Musk, or Thawte and Ubuntu main man, Mark Shuttleworth. The people showcased here are behind some of biggest and most admired startups in the world, and yet they remain relatively unknown beyond the confines of Silicon Valley.

Earlier this year we took a look at some notable US-based startups founded by immigrants. Now, we’re putting the spotlight squarely on founders from South Africa.

An article like this serves as a motivator for aspiring entrepreneurs, but it also brings to mind inevitable questions about South Africa’s leaking talent pool. According to South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, there are were a mere 83 000 South Africans living in the US at the end of 2012 — and yet the successes accomplished by this group are great.