PeopleofSuperintelligence

Builder

Andy Konwinski

Also known as Andrew Konwinski

Andy Konwinski is a computer scientist and AI builder who co-created Apache Mesos and Apache Spark at Berkeley and co-founded Databricks in 2013. He co-authored Learning Spark in 2015 and co-founded AI answer engine Perplexity in 2022. In 2024, he co-founded Laude Ventures, and in 2025 he launched Laude Institute with a $100 million pledge for AI research. His lab collaborated with the Stanford-led Terminal-Bench project in 2025, a benchmark for how well AI agents handle tasks. As of October 2026, he is a co-founder of Laude Ventures and Laude Institute.

Now at
Laude Ventures
Works
39
Citations
20,159
h-index
11

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 14 October 2026.

Photo of Andy Konwinski

Timeline

  1. By 2012

    A Berkeley PhD and open-source systems

    He earns a bachelor’s degree in computer sciences at UW–Madison and completes master’s and doctoral degrees at Berkeley. He co-creates Apache Mesos and Apache Spark during his Berkeley graduate work, and completes his PhD in 2012.

  2. 2013–2015

    Building Databricks and Spark

    He co-founds Databricks with Berkeley researchers in 2013. In 2015, he co-authors Learning Spark with Holden Karau, Patrick Wendell and Matei Zaharia.

  3. 2022

    Co-founding Perplexity

    He co-founds Perplexity in 2022, an AI-powered conversational search engine.

  4. 2024

    Laude Ventures for researchers

    He co-founds Laude Ventures in 2024, a $150 million seed fund backing early-stage technology startups launched by academic researchers.

  5. June 2025

    Launching Laude Institute

    In June 2025, he launches Laude Institute with a $100 million pledge for AI research.

  6. 2025

    Terminal-Bench collaboration

    In 2025, his lab collaborates with the Stanford-led Terminal-Bench project, which measures how well AI agents handle tasks.

  7. As of October 2026

    Co-founder of Laude Ventures

    As of October 2026, he is a co-founder of Laude Ventures and Laude Institute.

Sources and credits

Photo: andykonwinski.com; About Me | Andy Konwinski; creator not stated. License: Not stated by source. Source: andykonwinski.com. Cropped to a square and resized. Ask us to remove or replace this photo.

  1. Andy Konwinski ’07 | Wisconsin Alumni Association uwalumni.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  2. Students celebrate, get inspired by alum speaker at CDSS college graduation | CDSS at UC Berkeley cdss.berkeley.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  3. Trio of gifts, $75 million, accelerates transformation of computing and data science at Berkeley - Berkeley News news.berkeley.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  4. "Learning Spark" book available from O'Reilly | Databricks Blog databricks.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  5. Who’s Done It? | Berkeley Founders’ Pledge founderspledge.berkeley.edu. Checked 14 October 2026.
  6. AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI lands $26M, launches iOS app | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  7. Databricks, Perplexity co-founder pledges $100M on new fund for AI researchers | TechCrunch techcrunch.com. Checked 14 October 2026.
  8. Andy Konwinski // Laude Ventures laude.vc. Checked 14 October 2026.