# May Habib

> May Habib is the co-founder and CEO of Writer, a full-stack enterprise generative AI platform valued at $1.9 billion. Born in rural Lebanon and raised in Canada after her family immigrated when she was eight, she studied Economics and Near Eastern Languages at Harvard before stints at Lehman Brothers and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. She co-founded Writer in 2020 with Waseem AlShikh - making a contrarian bet to build proprietary LLMs (the Palmyra family) 18 months before ChatGPT - and has grown it into a platform serving 250+ enterprise clients including Uber, Salesforce, L'Oreal, and Intuit, raising $326M in total funding.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Writer
- **Organizations:** Writer, Qordoba, World Economic Forum, Aspen Institute
- **From:** Lebanon
- **Nationality:** Lebanese-Canadian
- **Education:** BA in Economics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Writer, reaching $1.9B valuation in Series C (November 2024), Raised $326M in total funding for Writer, Built proprietary Palmyra LLM family - contrarian bet made 18 months before ChatGPT

## Career timeline

- **1990s** — Family flees rural Lebanon during civil war; immigrates to Canada when May is approximately 8 years old
- **2007** — Graduates from Harvard University with highest honors; Associate Managing Editor of The Harvard Crimson
- **2007-2008** — Investment banking analyst at Lehman Brothers, New York; witnesses 2008 financial crisis firsthand; transitions to Barclays Capital
- **2009-2011** — M&A Director at Mubadala Development Company (Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund); builds tech portfolio worth $16B+
- **2015** — Co-founds Qordoba, an AI-powered multilingual content localization platform; clients include Visa, Marriott, NBA
- **2019** — Discovers transformer technology with co-founder Waseem AlShikh; begins planning enterprise AI pivot
- **2020** — Co-founds Writer with Waseem AlShikh; pivots from Qordoba; makes contrarian bet to build proprietary foundation LLMs
- **2022** — Builds and releases Palmyra LLM family - 18 months before ChatGPT's mainstream breakthrough
- **2023** — Closes Series B led by Balderton Capital; named to Inc. Female Founders 100 and Forbes AI 50
- **2024-11** — Raises $200M Series C at $1.9B valuation co-led by Premji Invest, Radical Ventures, and ICONIQ Growth; achieves unicorn status
- **2024** — Named 2024 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader; named to CNBC Disruptor 50
- **2025** — Writer reaches 250+ enterprise clients; named to Forbes AI 50 2025; speaks at TEDAI San Francisco

## Achievements

- Co-founded Writer, reaching $1.9B valuation in Series C (November 2024)
- Raised $326M in total funding for Writer
- Built proprietary Palmyra LLM family - contrarian bet made 18 months before ChatGPT
- Achieved 209% net revenue retention at Writer
- Named 2024 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader
- Named to Forbes AI 50 (2023 and 2025)
- Named to Inc.'s Female Founders 100 (2023)
- Named to CNBC Disruptor 50 (2025)
- MELI Fellow at the Aspen Institute
- Writer serves 250+ enterprise clients including Uber, Salesforce, L'Oreal, Accenture, Intuit, Vanguard
- Scaled Qordoba to process 2+ billion words daily with 650+ linguists across 30 countries
- Worth's Groundbreaking Women honoree (2025)

## Latest updates

- **2025-05** — Speaking at TEDAI San Francisco 2025
- **2025-06** — Speaking at London Tech Week 2026 on 'AI for Global Impact'
- **2025-01** — Named to Forbes AI 50 2025 and CNBC Disruptor 50
- **2024-11** — Writer raises $200M Series C at $1.9B valuation, co-led by Premji Invest, Radical Ventures, and ICONIQ Growth
- **2024-01** — Named 2024 World Economic Forum Young Global Leader

## Links

- Website: https://writer.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/may-habib
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/may_habib

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/may-habib
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-25