Why founders fake their degrees

IN FOCUS

In today’s newsletter, we look at:

• F is for fake: investors on why founders cry Ivy League
• Is CP Group scion’s AI startup worth the $60m it raised?
• Is Ola too late for the AI chip battle?

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Hello there,

At the start of the year, I worked on a story with my colleagues about Vizzio founder Jon Lee and how he faked his Ph.D. We frequently discussed in our internal meetings at the time what his motivations could have been.

As we uncovered a few more stories on founders with sham degrees in the last seven months, this question has become more pertinent.

In this week’s Big Story, my colleague Elyssa spoke to investors in the region to understand the reasons behind founders faking their degrees.

While only 16 out of 92 unicorn founders in Southeast Asia attended Ivy League colleges, more than half graduated from an institution outside their home country. And though most investors don’t look at education as a primary criterion for investment, some entrepreneurs believe it enhances their visibility and can help them secure a pitch meeting.

F is for fake: investors on why founders cry Ivy League

Image credit: Made by Tech in Asia using Midjourney

In some deeptech verticals like advanced manufacturing, biotech, and climate tech, we learned that founders who have done scientific research and have a degree on the subject typically have an edge.

In India, one founder who has a degree from a prominent university is making waves in the country’s startup industry by trying to go toe-to-toe with Nvidia.

Bhavish Aggarwal, the founder of ride-hailing firm and EV bike manufacturer Ola, is leading the company’s charge to launch its own AI chips. This is going to be his fourth venture after ride-hailing, electric vehicles, and the creation of a large language model called Krutrim AI.

Last Thursday, I attended an event by Ola, where the company revealed a bit about its plans for AI chips. Its first chip, the Bodhi 1, is expected to launch in 2026 and is designed for LLMs and vision models, though details of this are scarce.

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