Qasar Younis

Younis was born on a farm in Pakistan and emigrated to the United States in 1988; his parents were blue-collar workers in Detroit’s auto industry. He originally aimed to become an engineer at an automobile company.⁠[1][2]

He graduated from Sterling Heights High School in 1999 and then attended Kettering University in Flint, Michigan, majoring in mechanical engineering with minors in economics and international relations; he completed his co-op at General MotorsGeneral MotorsGeneral Motors Company is a Detroit-based American automaker selling Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC vehicles; the current company was incorporated in Delaware in 2009.Open the full entry locations across Michigan and graduated in 2004.⁠[2][1]

After graduating he turned down a full-time offer from General Motors and joined Bosch’s rotational program, working in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and was invited to Japan in 2005. He entered Harvard Business School in 2006 and received his MBA in 2008. He then worked full-time at Sears Holdings while running a T-shirt company part-time with Andrew Cronk, formed in 2008.⁠[2][1]

In 2010 he moved to Silicon Valley with two friends and co-founded TalkBin, a digital feedback app for restaurants and other small and medium businesses, which was accepted into Y Combinator’s 2011 class. After a meeting arranged by Y Combinator, Google made a formal offer within days and acquired TalkBin in 2011.⁠[2][1]

He worked at Google for about three and a half years from spring 2011 as product lead for the business-facing side of Google Maps, which helped local businesses get onto Google. From 2013, while still at Google, he mentored startups as a part-time partner at Y Combinator.⁠[2][1]

In 2014 he left Google to become a full-time partner at Y Combinator. In August 2015 Y Combinator named him chief operating officer, overseeing all events, operations, finance and legal functions and advising startups. He described Y Combinator at the time as follows: “It sits between a university and a venture fund.” In 2016 he received Kettering University’s Entrepreneurial Achievement Award.⁠[1][2]

In 2017 he co-founded Applied Intuition with Peter Ludwig, serving as CEO with Ludwig as CTO; Ludwig had previously spent five years at Google working on Google Maps and Android Automotive. The company provides autonomy simulation, data management and vehicle intelligence software to the automotive, defense, trucking, construction, mining and agriculture industries.⁠[3][4][5]

On January 31, 2018, Andreessen HorowitzAndreessen HorowitzAndreessen Horowitz (a16z) is a venture capital firm founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. It invests from the seed stage through the growth stage and provides operational support to its portfolio companies.Open the full entry (a16z) published the podcast episode “a16z Podcast: Self-Driving Cars — Where Are We, Really?” on its website, drawn from a panel at the a16z Summit 2017 led by a16z’s Frank Chen with Lyft head of product Taggart Matthiesen, DeepMap co-founder and CEO James Wu, and Younis, then co-founder and CEO of Applied Intuition. The episode discussed how cars becoming more like smartphones changes data, mapping, interfaces and security, and where self-driving technology and its opportunities actually stand. It was uploaded to the a16z YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel on January 1, 2019.⁠[6][7]

On February 23, 2019, a16z published the podcast episode “a16z Podcast: Capitalizing on an Autonomous Vehicle Future” on its website, hosted by a16z’s Sonal Chokshi with Younis and Applied Intuition CTO Peter Ludwig. The episode took a pulse on the state of autonomy in 2019, discussing the SAE levels of driving automation, the mobile industry as an analogy for how autonomy might develop, whether the economic gains would land in Silicon Valley, Detroit or outside the United States, regulatory and nationalistic concerns, and balancing fast innovation with safety. The video was uploaded to the a16z YouTube channel on February 26, 2019.⁠[8][9]

In 2024 Applied Intuition raised a $250 million Series E at a $6 billion valuation.⁠[5]

On May 6, 2025, a16z published the video “Modernizing Warfare and Beyond” on its YouTube channel, moderated by a16z general partner Erin Price-Wright with Liz McNally, deputy director of commercial operations at the Defense Innovation Unit, and Younis, discussing how to speed up the adoption of dual-use technologies such as autonomous vehicles and energy infrastructure and how to invest in the companies building them.⁠[10]

On June 17, 2025, Applied Intuition announced a $600 million Series F and tender offer at a $15 billion valuation, co-led by BlackRockBlackRockBlackRock is a publicly traded investment management company headquartered in New York, founded in 1988 by Larry Fink and seven others and listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker BLK); its businesses include the iShares family of exchange-traded funds and the Aladdin investment and risk management platform. As of June 30, 2026, its assets under management totaled $15.3 trillion.Open the full entry-managed funds and Kleiner Perkins, with new investors including the Qatar Investment AuthorityQatar Investment AuthorityQatar Investment Authority (QIA) is the wealth manager for the State of Qatar, investing the State’s surpluses with the overarching objective of creating long-term value. It is headquartered in Doha.Open the full entry, Abu Dhabi Investment Council and Franklin TempletonFranklin TempletonFranklin Templeton is a global asset management company headquartered in San Mateo, California, United States. Founded in New York in 1947, its parent company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: BEN), and it had approximately $1.83 trillion in assets under management at the end of August 2026. The company has pursued digital assets since 2018, launched FOBXX (BENJI), a U.S. government money fund that records shares on a blockchain, in 2021, and in 2026 established Franklin Crypto, a dedicated crypto asset management division.Open the full entry and existing investors including General CatalystGeneral CatalystGeneral Catalyst (GC) is an investment firm founded in 2000 and headquartered in San Francisco, United States, created by Joel Cutler, David Fialkow and Bill Fitzgerald, that backs companies from the seed stage through growth.Open the full entry, Lux and BOND. Younis said in the announcement, “Applied Intuition is entering its next era.” The company said 18 of the top 20 global automakers and major U.S. Department of Defense programs use its products.⁠[4][5]

Younis has said the company wants to be the first company businesses think of when they have a software or AI problem: “Like we want to be that first call.” The U.S. Army asked Applied Intuition to bring autonomous technology to some of its vehicles.⁠[5]

Applied Intuition: Official website: https://www.appliedintuition.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]