# Michael Manapat

> Michael Manapat is the co-founder and CEO of Rowspace, an AI platform that turns a finance firm's proprietary data into compounding decision-making edge. He built the machine learning behind Stripe Radar, the fraud engine that scans every card payment across the Stripe network, then spent three and a half years as CTO of Notion driving its push into AI. A mathematics PhD from MIT and former Google engineer, he launched Rowspace in February 2026 with $50M backed by Sequoia and Emergence Capital, already serving roughly ten top private equity and credit firms managing hundreds of billions in assets.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Rowspace
- **Organizations:** Rowspace, Notion, Stripe, Google, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Ph.D. in Mathematics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Postdoctoral Fellow, Applied Mathematics, Harvard University
- **Known for:** Built the machine learning systems behind Stripe Radar, which scans every card payment across 100,000+ businesses and had prevented roughly $4B in fraud by 2018, Helped businesses cut fraud rates by up to 25% while preserving payment acceptance with updated Stripe fraud models, Served as CTO of Notion for about 3.5 years, helping drive its expansion into AI

## Career timeline

- **pre-2010s** — Graduate student in mathematics at MIT, where he earned a Ph.D. and met future co-founder Yibo Ling
- **post-PhD** — Postdoctoral fellow in applied mathematics at Harvard
- **early career** — Software Engineer at Google
- **2016-2018** — Engineering manager for Stripe Radar and machine learning; built the ML systems behind Stripe's fraud detection and led the Conversion Products group
- **2021-2024** — CTO (and chief product officer) at Notion, driving the company's expansion into AI over roughly 3.5 years
- **2024** — Left Notion, took time off, and began building a new company
- **2026-02** — Launched Rowspace out of stealth with $50M from Sequoia and Emergence Capital

## Achievements

- Built the machine learning systems behind Stripe Radar, which scans every card payment across 100,000+ businesses and had prevented roughly $4B in fraud by 2018
- Helped businesses cut fraud rates by up to 25% while preserving payment acceptance with updated Stripe fraud models
- Served as CTO of Notion for about 3.5 years, helping drive its expansion into AI
- Co-founded Rowspace and raised $50M total (seed led by Sequoia; Series A co-led by Sequoia and Emergence Capital)
- Signed roughly ten top private equity and credit firms on seven-figure annual contracts before public launch
- Earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics from MIT and completed an applied-math postdoc at Harvard

## Latest updates

- **2026-02** — Rowspace launched out of stealth with $50M in total funding, backed by Sequoia, Emergence Capital, Stripe, Conviction, Basis Set Ventures and Twine, with about ten top finance firms already on board.

## Links

- Website: https://mlmanapat.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mlmanapat/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/mlmanapat
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mlmanapat/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-manapat
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-10