Diego Berdakin

Berdakin was born and raised in Los Angeles by his Argentinian parents. At the age of thirteen, he enrolled in a C/C++ programming class at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelors of science in political science.{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/business/la-xpm-2011-sep-04-la-fi-himi-diego-berdakin-20110904-story.html|author=Nathan Olivarez-Giles|title=BeachMint co-founder learns to focus on a single start-up|work=Los Angeles Times|date=September 4, 2011}}

Berdakin began his post collegiate career at Slingshot Labs, the digital research and development arm of News Corp., as the executive vice president. In this role, Diego built standalone companies for Myspace, Fox and The Wall Street Journal.{{cite web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2010/01/13/slingshot-myspace-socialplan/ |publisher=TechCrunch |title=Slingshot Labs' Demise Overblown As SocialPlan Is Acquired By MySpace| date=January 13, 2010 | author=Jason Kincaid}}

In 2010, Berdakin and Josh Berman teamed up to create the social commerce company BeachMint.{{cite web |url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/223610 |title=BeachMint Carves a Retail Niche with Celebrity Appeal | work=Entrepreneur | author=Katherine Duncan | date=May 22, 2012}} Based in Santa Monica, BeachMint attracted the fashion and design talents of celebrities such as Kate Bosworth,{{cite web |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/kate-bosworth-launches-a-fashion-718687 | title=Kate Bosworth Launches a Fashion App | work=The Hollywood Reporter | date=July 15, 2014 | author=Stephanie Chan}} Rachel Bilson, the Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Justin Timberlake{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/dailymuse/2012/04/25/men-who-start-companies-for-women-the-rise-of-pink-collar-businessmen/#5a94cfec283c | title=Men Who Start Companies for Women: The Rise of Pink-Collar Businessmen | work=Forbes | author=The Muse | date=April 25, 2012}}{{cite web |url=https://thenextweb.com/insider/2012/04/17/hollywood-tech-beachmints-newest-vertical-launches-with-justin-timberlakes-homemint |title=Hollywood Tech: Beachmint's newest vertical launches with Justin Timberlake's HomeMint | publisher=The Next Web| author=Courtney Boyd Myers | date=Apr 17, 2012}} and jeweler Philip Crangi.{{cite web |url=https://la-confidential-magazine.com/los-angeles-top-digital-entrepreneurs | work=LA Confidential | title=7 Techie LA Tastemakers | author=Molly Creeden | date=March 10, 2014}} In 2014, Conde Nast acquired majority ownership of BeachMint and then merged with Lucky magazine to form The Lucky Group.{{cite web |url=https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/11/beachmint-gets-lucky-in-joint-venture-with-conde-nast | title=BeachMint Gets Lucky In Joint Venture With Conde Nast | publisher=TechCrunch | date=August 11, 2014 | author=Sarah Buhr}} He was a founding partner at FabFitFun,{{cite web |url=https://pando.com/2013/03/06/fabfitfun-dabbles-in-contentcommerce-with-quarterly-vip-boxes | title=FabFitFun dabbles in content+commerce with quarterly VIP boxes | author=Michael Carney | date=March 13, 2013 |publisher=Pando}} Re/Done,{{cite web| url=http://notmad.us/2014/08/sean-barron-redoes-your-favorite-pair-of-old-levis/# | title=Sean Barron Redoes Your New Favorite Pair of Levi's | publisher=Not Mad | author=Jackson Howard | date=2014}} {{Proper name|iEscrow}},{{cite web |url=http://www.success.com/article/21-success-mavericks |publisher=Success|title=21 Success Mavericks | author=Jim Motavalli | date=May 16, 2013}} and Weaving Capital.{{cite web |url=https://www.berdakin.com |publisher=berdakin.com |title=business ventures |date=2017 |access-date=2019-11-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190519081236/http://www.berdakin.com/ |archive-date=2019-05-19 |url-status=dead }}{{primary source inline|date=March 2017}}

Berdakin currently serves as the Chair of Technology, Media & Ethics at the University of Southern California and is involved in the study of Fake News and its impact on popular and public opinion.{{Cite web|date=April 23, 2023|title=Berdakin Family Foundation Launches Ethics Chair at USC School of Cinematic Arts|url=https://cinema.usc.edu/news/article.cfm?id=65679|publisher=USC School of Cinematic Arts|language=en}} {{Cite web|access-date=2024-09-22|title=Named Chairs and Professorships|url=https://www.provost.usc.edu/the-usc-faculty/faculty-distinctions/university-distinctions/named-chairs-and-professorships/|publisher=USC School of Cinematic Arts|language=en}} He has been an adjunct professor at USC's School of Cinematic Arts since 2012.{{cite web |url=http://cinema.usc.edu/faculty/profile.cfm?id=44111/ | publisher=USC School of Cinematic Arts | title=USC School of Cinematic Arts Directory | date=March 25, 2014}} In 2015, Berdakin was a finalist for the school’s Steven J. Sample Teaching Award.{{cite web |url=http://dailytrojan.com/2014/03/25/usc-alumnus-creates-tesla-commercial/ | publisher=Daily Trojan | title=USC Alumnus Creates Tesla Commercial | author=John Hu | date=March 1, 2017}} Berdakin also teaches classes at Marshall Business school and Virterbri School of Engineering at USC.

In 2016, Berdakin bought two warehouses and combined them to become the first warehouse kitchen for CloudKitchens (at the time called Urban Kitchen). In January 2019, Travis Kalanick (the former CEO of Uber) purchased a controlling interest in Berdakin's company for US$150 million{{Cite web|date=2020-04-06|title=Amidst COVID-19, CloudKitchens Redefines Restaurants As We Know It|url=https://www.hngry.tv/articles/amidst-covid-19-cloudkitchens-redefines-restaurants-as-we-know-it/|access-date=2022-01-08|website=HNGRY|language=en}} and subsequently raised $400 million for the company at $5 billion valuation.{{cite web |title=Saudis Back Travis Kalanick's New Startup |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudis-back-travis-kalanicks-new-startup-11573122604 |publisher=Wall Street Journal}} In January 2021, CloudKitchens raised new funding at a $15 billion valuation.{{Cite web|last=Morris|first=Meghan|title=Travis Kalanick's food startup CloudKitchens has tripled its valuation to $15 billion and tapped an Amazon veteran as CFO|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/travis-kalanick-cloudkitchens-triples-valuation-to-15-billion-2021-11|access-date=2022-01-08|website=Business Insider|language=en-US}}{{subscription required}}

Berdakin is the main benefactor of USC School of Cinematic Art's Neighborhood Academic initiative supporting inner city students' creative development.{{cite web |url=https://cinema.usc.edu/news/article.cfm?id=19289/ | publisher=USC School of Cinematic Arts | title=Gifting a Cinematic Education to South and East L.A. High Schoolers | author=Simran Bhari | date=November 2, 2017}} Berdakin serves on the board of directors of The LAPD Foundation which provides critical resources and vital support to the Los Angeles Police Department.{{cite web |url=https://lapolicefoundation.org/personnel/diego-berdakin/ | publisher=LAPD Foundation |title=LAPD Foundation Directory | author=LAPD Foundation | date=November 2017 }} Berdakin is a founding member of Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles which is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving life for all Angelenos.{{cite web |url=https://mayorsfundla.org/about-us/supporters/ | publisher=LA Mayor's Fund |title=LA Mayor's Fund Supporters | author=LA MAYOR'S FUND | date=November 2017 }}

Diego Berdakin has been an investor in several notable internet companies.{{cite web |url=https://angel.co/diegoberdakin/ | publisher=Angel List | title=Angel List Profile | author=AngelList | date=December 1, 2017}}

• Ring.Com
• GoEuro
• DropBox
• Nest
• FlipKart
• HackerOne
• Postmates

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Category:American technology executives

Category:American business executives

Category:Living people

Category:Businesspeople from Los Angeles

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:American people of Argentine descent

Category:University of California, Los Angeles alumni

Category:Northwestern University alumni