# Nikhil Rao

> Nikhil Rao is the cofounder and CEO of Reflex (formerly Pynecone), an open-source framework that lets developers build full-stack web apps in pure Python without touching JavaScript or React. A UC Berkeley EECS graduate who worked at VMware, Drive.ai, and Apple, he founded Reflex in 2022 with college roommate Alek Petuskey after watching brilliant ML engineers struggle to ship simple user interfaces. Reflex went through Y Combinator's W23 batch, raised a $5M seed led by Lux Capital, and has grown into an enterprise platform used for internal tools across roughly 30% of the Fortune 500.

- **Role:** Cofounder & CEO at Reflex
- **Organizations:** Reflex, Apple, Drive.ai, VMware, Y Combinator
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS), University of California, Berkeley
- **Known for:** Cofounded and leads Reflex, an open-source Python web framework with 28,000+ GitHub stars, Raised a $5M seed round led by Lux Capital, Y Combinator W23 alum

## Career timeline

- **2017** — Software Engineering Intern at VMware
- **2018-2019** — Software Engineer at Drive.ai, a self-driving car startup
- **2019-2022** — Software Engineer at Apple, building internal AI applications alongside Python ML engineers
- **2022** — Co-founded Reflex (originally Pynecone) with Alek Petuskey
- **2022-12** — First open-source release of the framework
- **2023-01** — Launched on Hacker News
- **2023** — Y Combinator Winter 2023 (W23) batch
- **2023-08** — Announced $5M seed round led by Lux Capital
- **2025-03** — Previewed Reflex Build, an AI app builder
- **2025-12** — Launched Reflex Build On-Prem for enterprise air-gapped environments

## Achievements

- Cofounded and leads Reflex, an open-source Python web framework with 28,000+ GitHub stars
- Raised a $5M seed round led by Lux Capital
- Y Combinator W23 alum
- Reflex used for internal tools across roughly 30% of the Fortune 500
- Over 1 million apps reported built on Reflex
- GitHub achievements include Galaxy Brain, Pull Shark, Pair Extraordinaire and Arctic Code Vault Contributor

## Latest updates

- **2023-08** — Announced $5M seed round led by Lux Capital with participation from Y Combinator, BoxGroup, Abstract Ventures, Picus Capital and Outset Capital.
- **2025-03** — Previewed Reflex Build, an AI-powered prompt-to-app builder.
- **2025-12** — Launched Reflex Build On-Prem for air-gapped and on-premises enterprise environments.

## Links

- Website: https://nikhilrao.me/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nrao95/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/nikhi1rao
- GitHub: https://github.com/picklelo
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Mkq5gWx_gA

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nikhil-rao
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21