# Guillermo Rauch

> Guillermo Rauch is the founder and CEO of Vercel, the frontend cloud platform that powers millions of developers and some of the world's most visited websites. A self-taught engineer from Lanús, Argentina who never finished high school, Rauch built two of JavaScript's most widely used open-source libraries (Socket.IO and Mongoose), co-created Next.js — the world's most popular React framework — and turned Vercel into a $9.3 billion company with $340 million ARR. He is also one of the most prolific angel investors in tech, with over 700 known investments, and recently launched v0, an AI-powered coding tool with over 3.5 million users.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at Vercel
- **Organizations:** Vercel, Rauch Capital, Automattic (former), Cloudup (founder, acquired)
- **From:** Lanús, Argentina
- **Nationality:** Argentine
- **Education:** Primary education, Jose Manuel School, Did not complete - left at 17 to join startup in Lausanne, Switzerland, Carlos Pellegrini High School
- **Known for:** Created Socket.IO - the de facto real-time WebSocket library for Node.js, powering millions of apps, Created Mongoose - the most popular MongoDB ODM for Node.js, Co-created Next.js in 2016 - now the world's most popular React framework

## Career timeline

- **2003** — Began coding at age 10-13, building websites for international clients from Argentina
- **2006** — Joined MooTools core team; became recognized in JavaScript open-source community
- **2007** — Left Carlos Pellegrini High School at 17 to join a startup in Lausanne, Switzerland
- **2008** — Got first full-time job as frontend engineer at age 18; relocated to San Francisco, CA
- **2010** — Created Socket.IO, the real-time event communication library that became the de facto WebSocket standard for Node.js
- **2011** — Created Mongoose, the MongoDB object modeling library for Node.js
- **2013** — Founded Cloudup, a file-sharing and media platform, in San Francisco
- **2013** — Cloudup acquired by Automattic (WordPress); Rauch joined as CTO
- **2015** — Founded ZEIT (later renamed Vercel), a cloud deployment platform for frontend developers
- **2016** — Co-created and launched Next.js at ViennaJS and React Conf on October 25
- **2020** — Rebranded ZEIT to Vercel; raised $21M Series A led by Accel during COVID-19 pandemic
- **2021** — Vercel reached unicorn status with $150M Series D at $2.5B valuation
- **2022** — Released Next.js 13 with app directory and React Server Components
- **2024** — Vercel raised $250M; ARR hit $100M; launched v0 AI coding tool
- **2025** — Named EY World Entrepreneur of the Year finalist (Argentina); Vercel raised $300M Series F at $9.3B valuation
- **2026** — Signaled IPO readiness; Vercel ARR reached $340M run rate; agents account for 30% of apps deployed

## Achievements

- Created Socket.IO - the de facto real-time WebSocket library for Node.js, powering millions of apps
- Created Mongoose - the most popular MongoDB ODM for Node.js
- Co-created Next.js in 2016 - now the world's most popular React framework
- Founded Vercel (formerly ZEIT), now valued at $9.3 billion with $340M ARR
- Launched v0, an AI-powered coding tool with 3.5+ million users
- Built Vercel's AI SDK to 3+ million downloads per week
- One of the most prolific angel investors in tech with 700+ known investments
- EY World Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 finalist representing Argentina
- Grew Vercel from $100M ARR to $340M ARR in roughly two years
- Clients include Netflix, TikTok, ChatGPT, Uber, Notion, Nike, and the Washington Post
- Self-taught developer who never completed high school - built a multi-billion dollar company

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Signaled Vercel IPO readiness in TechCrunch interview; ARR at $340M run rate
- **2025-09** — Vercel raised $300M Series F led by Accel at $9.3B valuation
- **2025-06** — Named EY World Entrepreneur of the Year finalist representing Argentina
- **2025-01** — v0 AI coding tool surpassed 3.5 million users; AI SDK hitting 3M+ weekly downloads
- **2024-05** — Vercel raised $250M at $3.25B valuation; ARR hit $100M milestone

## Links

- Website: https://rauchg.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rauchg/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/rauchg
- GitHub: https://github.com/rauchg

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/guillermo-rauch
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-04-21