Jay Vijayan | |
---|---|
Born | Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
Other names | Jayaprakash Vijayan |
Citizenship | United States |
Education | University of Madras (B.Sc., M.Sc.) |
Occupation(s) | Founder & CEO, Tekion Corp |
Parent(s) | K. Vijayan (Father) V. Umadevi (Mother) |
Jay (Jayaprakash) Vijayan is a US-based entrepreneur, engineer, inventor, and investor. He is the founder and CEO of Tekion Corp, a SaaS company based in the United States of America. Prior to founding Tekion, he served as chief information officer (CIO) at Tesla Motors. He also worked for VMware and Oracle.[1]
Jay was born in Chennai, into a Tamil family, to K. Vijayan and V. Umadevi. His father operated a computer science training and coaching institute in the city.[2][3] Jay completed his education at AVM Matriculation and Avichi Higher Secondary Schools. Subsequently, he pursued his higher studies at the University of Madras in Chennai, where he earned both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree.[4]
Jay started his career at Bahwan CyberTek before moving to Singapore and finally to the US.[2] After a brief stint at Bahwan CyberTek, he joined City Developments Limited, a private company headquartered in Singapore, and also completed Oracle database certification programs.[2] He worked at Oracle in the US from 1999 to 2007 as a programmer and later a senior manager.[2]
In 2007, Jay moved to VMware, Inc., a California-based cloud computing and virtualization technology company, where he served as Senior Director from 2007 to 2012.[5][6] He led the application development of all business applications for VMware.[7][8] In 2012, VMware reported a revenue of $3.77 billion.[9][10]
From 2012 and 2016, Jay served as the CIO at Tesla Motors. In this role, he reported directly to Elon Musk, the CEO of the company. Jay and his team were responsible for managing Tesla's digital and information systems during that time.[2] He is credited with building Warp, Tesla's home-grown ERP system. It integrates e-commerce and back-end management software, designed to support Tesla's approach to selling and servicing cars.[11][12]
In early 2016, Jay left Tesla to found Tekion Corp, a SaaS company that operated in stealth mode up until late 2019. Tekion is a cloud technology company focused on the automobile retail industry.[13][14] In 2020, Tekion Corp raised $150 million as part of its series C funding round led by private equity firm Advent International.[15][16] In the year 2021, Tekion secured $250 million in a Series D financing round from Alkeon Capital and Durable Capital, resulting in a valuation of over $3.5 billion for the company.[17][18]
Car companies such as General Motors,[19] Hyundai Motors, Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi, Exor, the parent company of Stellantis, which owns Citroën, Fiat, Jeep, Maserati, Ram Trucks, as well as Ferrari, and BMWi Ventures have also invested in Tekion.[20][21]
Jay serves on the board of NIC Inc., a digital government service provider for federal and state governments of the United States.[22][23][24][25]
Jay Vijayan also sits on the advisory board at Sibros, an Over-the-Air (OTA) platform connected to vehicle systems.[26]
In 2014, Jay Vijayan received the Tamil American Pioneer – Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Engineering/Science from the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North American.[27][28]
Jay has several patents that have been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).[29][30][31]
In 2023, Jay was recognized as an Automotive News All-Star for Digital Retail by Automotive News.[32]
Vijayan lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children.[33]