# Vinayak Ramesh

> Vinayak Ramesh is an MIT-trained engineer and co-founder of Ikigai Labs, which develops AI for structured and time-series business data. Previously co-founder and CTO of Wellframe, he returned to MIT for graduate research before launching Ikigai with professor Devavrat Shah in 2019. He has served as Ikigai CEO/co-CEO and chief customer officer. In May 2026, Ikigai announced his incoming Field CTO role at Celonis alongside its acquisition agreement.

- **Role:** Co-founder of Ikigai Labs; announced incoming Field CTO at Celonis (May 2026)
- **Organizations:** Ikigai Labs, Celonis (announced incoming role), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Wellframe
- **Education:** S.B., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, M.Eng., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- **Known for:** Co-founded Ikigai Labs in 2019., Co-inventor with Devavrat Shah on MIT-assigned patent US11055157B2, granted July 6, 2021., Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in 2017.

## Career timeline

- **2004** — Participated in the Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, as recorded by Society for Science.
- **2006-2008** — Intel International Science and Engineering Fair finalist.
- **2008** — Intel Science Talent Search semifinalist.
- **2011-2016** — Co-founder and CTO of Wellframe; dates listed by Crunchbase and The Org.
- **2016-2018** — Returned to MIT for graduate research in distributed systems and machine learning, working with Devavrat Shah.
- **2017** — Named to Forbes 30 Under 30, as confirmed by Society for Science.
- **2019** — Co-founded Ikigai Labs with Devavrat Shah.
- **2021** — Named as co-inventor on granted MIT patent US11055157B2, Method and apparatus for graph-based computing.
- **2022** — Hosted the inaugural Data, Operations, AI, and People podcast episode with investor Ashu Garg.
- **2023** — Signed an SEC filing as Ikigai CEO; Ikigai announced $25 million in Series A funding on August 24.
- **2024** — Identified as co-founder and chief customer officer in an April MIT Startup Exchange feature.
- **2026** — Celonis announced an agreement to acquire Ikigai on May 12; a co-founder announcement said Ramesh would join as Field CTO. Foundation Capital described the company as acquired on May 13.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Ikigai Labs in 2019.
- Co-inventor with Devavrat Shah on MIT-assigned patent US11055157B2, granted July 6, 2021.
- Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in 2017.
- Co-founded Wellframe and served as its CTO.
- Helped build Ikigai through its $25 million Series A and its 2026 announced acquisition by Celonis.

## Latest updates

- **2026-05** — May 12: Celonis announced a definitive agreement to acquire Ikigai. The co-founder announcement named Ramesh as incoming Field CTO.
- **2026-05** — May 13: Foundation Capital published an acquisition retrospective describing Ikigai as acquired; Premji Invest also now marks its portfolio status as acquired.

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinayak-ramesh-615abb19/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/vinayak-ramesh
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25