David Gorodyansky

David Gorodyansky (born February 7, 1982) is an American entrepreneur and angel investor best known as the CEO of AnchorFree, a company he co-founded in 2005 with Eugene Malobrodsky. AnchorFree is the developer of Hotspot Shield, a virtual private network provider. In 2019, Fast Company named AnchorFree the 13th most innovative company in the world and the #1 most innovative security company. AnchorFree's most recent fundraising round brought in $295 million, bringing total funding to $358 million. Gorodyansky has also invested in GlobeIn, an online exotic arts and crafts marketplace, and Venturocket, a job matching website. He is chairman of AnchorFree and GlobeIn.

Gorodyansky is a writer who has contributed to Forbes and Inc. Magazine. He is also a proponent of social entrepreneurship.

Early life Gorodyansky was born in Moscow, Russia and moved to Palo Alto, California with his parents and sister when he was 9 years old. His parents were computer engineers.

While attending a local Palo Alto school, Gorodyansky met Eugene Malobrodsky.

Career In 2002, while still in college, They exited the company in 2005 in order to "invest in something that would have a real impact in the world."

Gorodyansky and his friend launched AnchorFree in 2005. AnchorFree is the creator of Hotspot Shield, a virtual private network provider that is commonly used for Wi-Fi security, Internet privacy and circumventing censorship. In 2012, Gorodyansky received an award from the Academy of Achievement and met with justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Gorodyansky was selected as one of Inc Magazine's 30 CEOs under 30 years old in 2011. Gorodyansky was a member of the city of San Francisco's Technology Expert Council, where he was a technology advisor to former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom.

In 2014, Gorodyansky received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Northern California region. He was named one of the 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs by Goldman Sachs.

Investments Gorodyansky is an investor in GlobeIn, an online exotic arts and crafts marketplace, and job matching site Venturerocket. He has also invested in Modern Meadow, a company that aims to grow leather and meat from primary cells. In 2013, Gorodyansky served as investor and executive producer of #chicagoGirl, a documentary that follows a Syria-born college student that coordinated a social media campaign to help protesters during the Syrian Civil War.

Influence and Internet Philosophy

Businessman Bert Roberts and social entrepreneur Muhammad Yunus have been the two main influences on Gorodyansky's business philosophy.