OpenAI, PayPal, and Klarna — list of 20 tech companies co-founded by Poles

Borys Musielak, Founding Partner at SMOK.vc, published a list of top 20 tech companies co-founded by Poles. The collection does not include outsourcing giants. We share the list, providing additional information about global footprint, number of employees, investments raised, and valuation of each company.

More about Polish export-oriented companies or so-called IT outsourcers you can find out in the ranking of the 50 largest IT companies in Poland, which was previously created by AIN.Capital.

20 tech companies with Polish co-founders

1. PayPal by Luke Nosek

• PayPal is a financial service company that provides online payment solutions to its users worldwide. Since its foundation in 1998, the company had undergone 65 investment rounds. PayPal is currently a public company with a total worth of $285.8 billion. The company is globally used by over 426 million users.

2. OpenAI by Wojciech Zaremba

• OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company that conducts research and implements ML. The company is best known for its widely popular AI-based chatbot ChatGPT, which has reached over 100 million users since its launch only in November 2022. OpenAI is backed by such prominent entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla and Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator.

3. Snowflake by Marcin Zukowski

• Snowflake is the company offering the Data Cloud, a global network where thousands of organizations mobilize data. Founded in 2012, the company has over 5,000 employees and more than 3,000 customers, including nearly 30% of the Fortune 500 companies. Snowflake raised over 13 investments and is currently a public company.

4. Klarna by Sebastian Siemiatkowski

• Klarna is an e-commerce payment solutions platform for merchants and shoppers. It is best known for its “buy now, pay later” model that offers shoppers interest-free financing on retail purchases over a period of installments. In 2021, Klarna reported a record of nearly 150 million consumers using the platform. As of late, the company suffered from its biggest annual loss, totaling $1 billion.

5. CD PROJEKT RED by Adam Kiciński, Michał Kiciński & Marcin Iwinski

• CD PROJEKT RED is a game development studio. The studio is best known for its AAA-projects The Witcher and Cyberpunk 2077. In total, the Witcher series has sold over 65 million copies, winning multiple game awards. While Cyberpunk 2077 has sold just over 20 million copies. Since the launch in 2002 as a localization company, CD PROJEKT RED now employs over 1,100 people and is valued at €2.8 billion.

6. ShipBob by George Wojciechowski

• ShipBob is a tech-enabled 3PL offering simple, fast, and affordable fulfillment order platform for direct-to-consumer brands across the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. In 2021, the company was valued at €909 million after closing its latest Series E funding and raising $200 million. The company currently has over 750 employees.

7. InPost by Rafał Brzoska

• InPost is a last-mile delivery company offering a parcel locker that allows to securely collect, return, and send parcels with just a codescan. The company launched its product in 2006, and, after going public, its valuation reached $5.1 billion. To date, InPost employs over 5,250 people.

8. Expensify by Witold Stankiewicz

• Expensify is a payments super app that helps individuals and businesses around the world simplify the way they manage money. The company employs nearly 200 people and has more than 10 million people using its free features. Expensify has raised a total of $138.2 million in funding from over 14 investors. Currently, the company is public, and its worth is $583 million.

9. DocPlanner by Mariusz Gralewski

• DocPlanner is a medical appointment booking platform and management software provider for doctors. The platform has a network of almost 2 million healthcare professionals, serves over 130,000 customers globally and operates in 13 countries. Docplanner was founded in 2012 in Poland and has a team of more than 2,400 based across offices in Warsaw, Barcelona, Istanbul, Rome, Mexico City, Munich, Curitiba, and Bologna. To date, the company has raised a total of approximately €300 million.

10. Wish by Peter Szulczewski

• Wish is a mobile e-commerce platform that connects consumers with the widest selection of products delivered directly to their doors. The company was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in San Francisco, with additional offices in Shanghai, Toronto, Amsterdam, and other cities. After closing its Series H funding round at $300 million, Wish’s total amount of funding reached $1.6 billion.

11. Booksy by Stefan Batory & Konrad Howard

• Booksy is a cloud-based appointment booking software for beauty workers. The platform is available in 6 countries, the US, UK, Spain, and Poland among them. Over 23 million clients around the world use Booksy, booking over 150 million appointments per year. To date, the company raised $118.7 million from 25 investors across 6 funding round.

12. Brainly by Michał Borkowski

• Brainly is a web-based learning platform where kids and parents get homework and study assistance from peers and professionals. Over 300 million students, parents, and educators used the platform from over 35 countries. The company is currently based in Kraków, Poland, with offices in New York City, and Barcelona. Brainly has raised a total of $148.5 million across 6 funding rounds.

13. Allegro by Grzegorz Brochocki

• Allegro provides a safe shopping platform for a computer, tablet, and smartphone. The company owns and operates online auction portals and is based in Poznan, Poland. Since its foundation in 1999, 21 million accounts have been created on the platform. Over 100,000 companies sell on Allegro, including the world’s largest brands, but mostly small and medium-sized trading companies. Its valuation is $8.9 billion.

14. Techland by Pawel Marchewka

• Techland is a renowned independent game developer, distributor, and global publisher for all leading platforms, founded in 1991. The company is best known for the original Dead Island games, the Call of Juarez series, and most recently for Dying Light, which was played by over 18 million unique players. Techland employs over 400 professionals across its three offices in Poland.

15. PlayWay by Krzysztof Kostowski

• PlayWay is a company created in 2011 to build high quality video games for various gaming platforms. Its co-founder Krzysztof Kostowski has been working in the gaming industry since 1991. PlayWay’s most popular games include the Car Mechanic Simulator, House Flipper, Uboat, and Cooking Simulator. The company has 43 employees in its Polish offices, and is valuat at €584 million.

16. eobuwie.pl SA by Marcin Grzymkowski

• eobuwie.pl is the European leader in e-commerce, offering footwear, clothing, and accessories from hundreds of top brands. The marketplace operates internationally under the name Modivo. The company employs over 550 people. Its latest investment deal reached $133 million in value.

17. ICEYE by Rafal Modrzewski

• ICEYE is a fast-growing international New Space company with employees from over 45 countries. The company owns the world’s largest synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, that can deliver unmatched persistent monitoring capabilities for any location on earth. In February 2022, ICEYE closed its latest $136 million Series D funding round. The company is also co-operating with Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, helping the Ukrainian Armed Forces deal with Russia’s military equipment.

18. RTB House by Daniel Surmacz

• RTB House is a global company that provides state-of-the-art marketing technologies for top brands and agencies worldwide. Its proprietary ad buying engine was one of the first in the world to be powered entirely by deep learning algorithms. Founded in 2012, the RTB House team comprises over 1000 specialists in over 30 locations around the globe. Currently, it serves more than 3,000 campaigns for clients across the EMEA, APAC, and Americas regions.

19. LiveChat by Mariusz Cieply

• LiveChat is a provider of web-based, desktop and mobile apps for real-time customer service and online sales. The company serves more than 30,000 businesses in over 150 countries, including large brands like Adobe, Asus, LG, and Acer. LiveChat was founded in 2002, now it is a public company, with a $948 million valuation.

20. GetResponse by Simon Grabowski

• GetResponse is a complete online marketing automation platform that offers over 30 marketing tools, helping users create content, boost sales, and increase traffic to their business online. The company also offers 24/7 customer support available in eight languages. It is a bootstrapped company, launched in 1998.