Leena Rao

Leena Rao

Leena Rao is currently a Senior Writer at Fortune Magazine.

Leena had a brief stint at Google Ventures as an Operating Partner.

Leena’s first role out of journalism school was at TechCrunch which she joined in 2008. She rose through the ranks becoming the Managing Editor for TechCrunch and a voice at TechCrunch Disrupt.

She recently finished graduate school at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where she studied business journalism and videography. From 2004 to 2007, she helped lead Congresswoman Carloyn Maloney’s community outreach and relations efforts in New York City.

She graduated from Columbia University in 2003, where she was the captain of the women’s varsity tennis team. She has also contributed technology content for Oprah.com.

The Latest from Leena Rao

Zuora’s Journey To Managing The Subscription Economy

The idea for subscription billing startup Zuora was born in Marc Benioff's office. In 2006, K.V. Rao, then a WebEx senior engineer, was meeting with Benioff and Salesforce CMO Tien Tzuo. Tzuo made a c

Accompani Wants To Be The Relationship Manager To Rule Them All

Many of us suffer the same problem–as our professional networks grow, we can’t keep track of each person’s details, including jobs, personal interests, kids, news and more. Amy Chang

Sand Hill Road’s Consiglieres: August Capital

There are VCs, and then there are classic VCs. It was 1980, and 30 year old Dave Marquardt was a young, hot shot VC at Technology Venture Investors looking for his next deal. He heard through the g

With Moments, Tinder Decides Photos Shouldn’t Always Last Forever

While Tinder has made quite a few romantic matches, the hot new dating app has long had ambitions of connecting people beyond love and attraction. Tinder wants to be the place you go to make any conne

So Long TC, And Hello GV

I thought hard about this post, but time didn’t make it any easier to write. After five-and-a-half years at TechCrunch, I’ll be joining Google Ventures as an operating partner. I am ready for a ne

WeddingChannel Co-Founder Jenny Lefcourt Joins Freestyle

It was 1998, and Stanford Business School student Jenny Lefcourt and her fellow female co-founder wanted to raise money for an e-commerce-meets-retail idea they had around weddings. They were thrilled

South African E-Commerce Giant Takealot Raises $100M From Tiger Global

Takealot, a South African e-commerce site, has raised a whopping $100 million from Tiger Global Management. The company is still relatively young, launching in 2011, post the acquisition of an exis

Brit + Co. Doubles Down On E-Commerce, Launches Etsy-Like Marketplace For Makers

There's no shortage of e-commerce companies betting on content as a way to engage with consumers and increase transactions. And we're also starting to see content companies turn on e-commerce as well.

Indian E-Commerce Site Snapdeal Raises Another $100M From BlackRock And Others

Snapdeal, one of the larger online e-commerce companies in India, has raised $100 million from Temasek, BlackRock, Myriad, Premji Invest and Tybourne. This follows a $133 million round of funding from

IBM Watson Acquires Artificial Intelligence Startup Cognea

IBM's Watson group has announced a new acquisition today -- artificial intelligence company Cognea. IBM confirmed the acquisition via a blog post. Cognea developed a cognitive computing and convers

For Aspiring Female Engineers, A Square Meal Of Code

“I thought I had to be a guy to be an engineer,” she told me as she was siting in the Square offices nearby her home in the Tenderloin, only days away from taking the AP Computer Science t

Kayak Co-Founder Raises $20M For Design-Focused Incubator, Blade

Kayak co-founder Paul English is revealing more details about his Boston-based startup incubator, <a target="_blank" href="http://blade.net/">Blade</a>. The new company has raised $20 million in new f

Stealthy Timeful Raises $7M From Khosla To Help You Manage Your Time

A few months ago, we reported on the pending launch of Timeful, a new startup that wants to be an intelligent time manager. Although still in stealth, the company is revealing a Series A round of fund

Backed By Google Ventures And Eric Schmidt, Urban Engines Wants To Solve Urban Congestion Using Data Intelligence

It's no secret that as our population grows, buses, trains and other transportation infrastructure in cities are becoming more congested. Public transportation departments use qualitative date from su

OpenDNS Raises $35M From Cisco For Its Cloud-Based Enterprise Network Security As A Service

Cloud-based enterprise network security company OpenDNS has raised $35 million in Series C funding from Greylock Partners, Sequoia Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Glynn Capital, Cisco, Evolution Equity

Early Alibaba Backer GGV Raises $620M For Fifth Fund

<a target="_blank" href="http://www.ggvc.com/">GGV</a> , the backers of US and Chinese tech companies like Alibaba, Pandora, Qunar, Zendesk and Tudou, has raised $620 million for its fifth venture ca

Darby Smart Raises $6.3M For DIY Craft Marketplace

<a target="_blank" href="http://darbysmart.com/">Darby Smart,</a> a do-it-yourself crafting startup, has raised $6.3 million in Series A funding led by Maveron, with participation from Forerunner Vent

Square M&A Lead Rishi Garg Joins Twitter To Head Corp Dev

Twitter is <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/rishigarg/status/465890165861670912">bringing</a> on a new head of corporate development--<a target="_blank" href="http://www.crunchbase.com/per

Ask A VC: Google Ventures’ Rich Miner On Android Growth And More

In this week’s episode of Ask A VC, Google Ventures’ Rich Miner joined us in the studio to talk about Android’s massive growth, and more. Miner, who was the co-founder of Android and

Jawbone’s Newest Investor Is Rizvi Traverse

Back in February, <a target="_blank" href="http://recode.net/2014/02/13/rizvi-traverse-to-lead-250-million-investment-in-jawbone-at-3-3-billion-valuation/">Re/code reported</a> that Jawbone was nearly
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