# George Favvas

> George Favvas is a Canadian technology entrepreneur based in San Francisco, cofounder and CEO of Clara and former cofounder and CEO of Circle Medical. His earlier career includes SmartHippo, acquired by RateZip, and Rewardli, later PerkHub, as well as product-management teaching at General Assembly and mentoring with FounderFuel. He moved from Canada to San Francisco in 2011 and participated in Y Combinator with Circle Medical in 2015 and Clara in 2026.

- **Role:** Cofounder and CEO at Clara
- **Organizations:** Clara, Circle Medical, PerkHub (formerly Rewardli), SmartHippo, General Assembly, FounderFuel, 500 Startups, Y Combinator, TotalNet, Radialpoint
- **From:** Montreal, Canada
- **Nationality:** Canadian
- **Education:** Diploma, Communications, Vanier College, 500 Startups, Y Combinator
- **Known for:** Founded SmartHippo, which was acquired by RateZip., Cofounded PerkHub, whose published customer list included Google, American Airlines and TriNet., Led Circle Medical for a decade; reported growth from $2 million to $114 million in annualised revenue run rate over five years, profitability and $12 million in primary capital upon leaving the CEO role.

## Career timeline

- **1993-1996** — Studied communications at Vanier College, including design/media, computer science and mathematics.
- **Before 2006** — Early career included TotalNet and Radialpoint.
- **2006-2011** — Founder and CEO of SmartHippo, subsequently acquired by RateZip.
- **2008** — Demonstrated SmartHippo at Finovate in October.
- **2011** — Moved from Canada to San Francisco; cofounded Rewardli with Jean-Sebastien Boulanger and joined the first 500 Startups cohort.
- **2011-2015** — Cofounded Rewardli, later PerkHub, a software platform for perks and group buying.
- **2014-2015** — Taught product management at General Assembly.
- **2015** — Cofounded Circle Medical with Jean-Sebastien Boulanger and Brent LaRue; participated in Y Combinator Summer 2015.
- **2025** — Announced transition out of Circle Medical CEO role in October after a decade.
- **2026** — Cofounder and CEO of Clara; launch announcement on May 14 reported a $12 million pre-seed round and YC Spring 2026 participation.

## Achievements

- Founded SmartHippo, which was acquired by RateZip.
- Cofounded PerkHub, whose published customer list included Google, American Airlines and TriNet.
- Led Circle Medical for a decade; reported growth from $2 million to $114 million in annualised revenue run rate over five years, profitability and $12 million in primary capital upon leaving the CEO role.
- Cofounded Clara, which announced a $12 million pre-seed round in May 2026 led by Y Combinator and A.Capital.
- Participated in Y Combinator with two companies: Circle Medical (S15) and Clara (P26).

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Appeared in a CB Insights CEO interview about Clara, published September 28.
- **2026-05** — Published Clara’s launch announcement on May 14, including its $12 million pre-seed round and participation in YC’s Spring 2026 batch.
- **2025-10** — Announced transition out of the Circle Medical CEO role after a decade.

## Links

- Website: https://www.favvas.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgefavvas/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/georgefavvas

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/george-favvas
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-27