# Jonathan Cornelissen

> Jonathan Cornelissen is a Belgian entrepreneur, PhD in financial econometrics, and the co-founder and founding CEO of DataCamp, the online data science education platform he started in 2013. Frustrated while teaching himself R during his doctorate, he built DataCamp to make data skills accessible through interactive, browser-based courses. Over six years as CEO he grew it to more than 10 million learners, 200,000 paying subscribers, 2,500 enterprise customers and over $50 million in annual recurring revenue. He authored an introductory R course completed by over a million learners. Since stepping back from the CEO role he has focused on angel investing across education, AI and crypto, and writes about company building, hiring and startup equity.

- **Role:** Co-founder of DataCamp; angel investor
- **Organizations:** DataCamp, Sagio.be, Free University of Brussels (VUB), KU Leuven
- **From:** Antwerp, Belgium
- **Nationality:** Belgian
- **Education:** PhD in Financial Econometrics, KU Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven), Commercial Engineering degree, KU Leuven (Catholic University of Leuven), Greek-Mathematics (secondary), Sint-Albertuscollege
- **Known for:** Co-founded and led DataCamp to 10+ million learners worldwide, Scaled DataCamp to over $50M in annual recurring revenue, Grew DataCamp to 200,000 paying subscribers and 2,500 enterprise clients

## Career timeline

- **2009-2013** — Co-founder and board member of Sagio.be while pursuing his PhD
- **2013** — Co-founded DataCamp and became founding CEO
- **2013-2014** — Lecturer at the Free University of Brussels (VUB)
- **2018** — DataCamp raises $25M Series B (led by Accomplice); begins angel investing
- **2019** — Stepped back from the DataCamp CEO role after six years
- **2018-present** — Active angel investor across education, AI and crypto

## Achievements

- Co-founded and led DataCamp to 10+ million learners worldwide
- Scaled DataCamp to over $50M in annual recurring revenue
- Grew DataCamp to 200,000 paying subscribers and 2,500 enterprise clients
- Authored an introductory R programming course completed by more than one million learners
- Raised early venture funding from investors including Accomplice
- Earned a PhD in financial econometrics from KU Leuven

## Latest updates

- **2019** — Transitioned out of the DataCamp CEO role after six years leading the company.
- **2018** — Shifted focus to early-stage angel investing across education, AI and cryptocurrency.

## Links

- Website: https://www.jonathancornelissen.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-cornelissen/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/cornelissenjo
- GitHub: https://github.com/jonathancornelissen
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jonathancornelissen/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/jonathan-cornelissen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-16