# Russ d'Sa

> Russ d'Sa is the San Francisco-based co-founder and CEO of LiveKit, an open-source framework and cloud platform for real-time voice, video and AI agents. A UC Davis computer science graduate and Y Combinator summer 2007 founder, he worked at Twitter, co-founded Evie Labs and led product at Medium before building LiveKit with longtime collaborator David Zhao. LiveKit powers ChatGPT Voice Mode and announced a $100 million Series C at a $1 billion company valuation in January 2026.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at LiveKit
- **Organizations:** LiveKit, Evie Labs, Medium, Twitter, 23andMe, Meetyu, Y Combinator
- **Education:** BS, Computer Science, University of California, Davis, MS, Computer Science, University of California, Davis
- **Known for:** Created the Twitter Cards platform., Co-founded Evie Labs, acquired by Medium in 2019., Co-founded LiveKit, whose infrastructure powers ChatGPT Voice Mode.

## Career timeline

- **2007** — Founded Meetyu; participated in Y Combinator summer 2007.
- **2008-2009** — Worked as a software engineer at 23andMe.
- **2009-2012** — Worked as a Twitter engineer and created the Twitter Cards platform.
- **2012** — Left Twitter and began the venture that evolved through several ideas into Evie Labs.
- **2019** — Medium acquired Evie Labs; became head of consumer product at Medium.
- **2020** — Built Watercooler, a side project for casual audio conversations at companies.
- **2021** — Co-founded LiveKit with David Zhao and publicly launched its open-source communications infrastructure.
- **2023** — LiveKit helped launch ChatGPT Voice Mode with OpenAI and released LiveKit Agents.
- **2025** — Announced a $45 million LiveKit Series B led by Altimeter.
- **2026** — Announced a $100 million Series C led by Index Ventures at a $1 billion company valuation.

## Achievements

- Created the Twitter Cards platform.
- Co-founded Evie Labs, acquired by Medium in 2019.
- Co-founded LiveKit, whose infrastructure powers ChatGPT Voice Mode.
- Led LiveKit through its January 2026 $100 million Series C.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Appeared in the season 15 opening episode of The Room Podcast, discussing LiveKit and voice-agent infrastructure.
- **2026-08** — Published LiveKit’s stance on privacy and data on August 13, committing not to sell customer data or train on it without explicit permission.
- **2026-01** — Announced a $100 million Series C led by Index Ventures, valuing LiveKit at $1 billion.
- **2025-04** — Announced a $45 million Series B and LiveKit Agents 1.0.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russelldsa/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/dsa
- GitHub: https://github.com/dsa

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/russ-dsa
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14