# Vinicius Vacanti

> Vinicius "Vin" Vacanti is the Brazilian-born co-founder and CEO of YipitData, a New York market-intelligence company that grew out of Yipit, an early daily-deal aggregator. After leaving private equity in 2007, Vacanti taught himself Python and Django, tested a series of products, and found traction with a three-day prototype whose hardest work was initially done by hand. The same habit of turning messy public signals into structured information led from coupon emails to alternative-data research for investors and corporations, and to a company valued above $1 billion in 2021.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at YipitData
- **Organizations:** YipitData, Yipit, The Blackstone Group, Quadrangle Group, Techstars
- **From:** São Paulo, Brazil
- **Nationality:** Brazilian
- **Education:** A.B. in Applied Mathematics, Harvard College, Miami Killian Senior High School
- **Known for:** Co-founded Yipit and developed it into a profitable daily-deal aggregator with more than one million monthly active users by 2014., Co-founded YipitData and led its evolution into an alternative-data and market-intelligence company serving investors, brands, and retailers., Led YipitData through a 2021 Carlyle-backed financing of up to $475 million at a valuation above $1 billion.

## Career timeline

- **2003-2005** — Worked as an analyst at The Blackstone Group after graduating from Harvard.
- **2005-2007** — Worked as an associate at the media-, telecom-, and technology-focused private-equity firm Quadrangle Group.
- **2007** — Left finance with co-founder Jim Moran to build internet products.
- **2008** — Taught himself Python and Django after an outsourced prototype took six months and failed to provide the iteration speed the founders needed.
- **2010** — Relaunched Yipit as a personalized daily-deal aggregator built as a three-day, manual-first experiment; raised $1.3 million three months later.
- **2011** — Raised a further $6 million and spoke at the Harvard Innovation Lab about taking a startup from idea to funding.
- **2013-2014** — Expanded YipitData, applying the company's web-data collection and analysis capabilities to company and market research.
- **2021** — YipitData received a Carlyle-led investment of up to $475 million at a valuation above $1 billion.
- **2024** — YipitData secured a senior syndicated debt commitment led by CIBC Innovation Banking.
- **2025** — Discussed data-business durability, corporate adoption, hedge funds, and AI on the World of DaaS podcast.
- **2026** — Appeared on The Alternative Data Podcast to discuss YipitData's evolution, consumer data, and pricing.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Yipit and developed it into a profitable daily-deal aggregator with more than one million monthly active users by 2014.
- Co-founded YipitData and led its evolution into an alternative-data and market-intelligence company serving investors, brands, and retailers.
- Led YipitData through a 2021 Carlyle-backed financing of up to $475 million at a valuation above $1 billion.
- Turned a manual-first three-day product test into a scalable business and publicly documented the operating lessons for other founders.
- Taught himself Python and Django to remove a critical product-development bottleneck.
- Served as a Techstars mentor and taught a startup workshop at the Harvard Innovation Lab.

## Latest updates

- **2026-08** — Reuters reported that YipitData was exploring a possible sale that could value the company above $2.5 billion; the discussions were described as early and no transaction was certain.
- **2026-04** — Vacanti appeared on The Alternative Data Podcast to discuss YipitData's evolution from deal aggregation to alternative-data research, consumer data, and pricing.
- **2025-12** — Vacanti joined World of DaaS for a conversation about why hedge funds use more external data than corporations, how AI changes processing costs, and how to manage a data business.
- **2024-06** — CIBC Innovation Banking led a senior syndicated debt commitment for YipitData; the amount was not disclosed.

## Links

- Website: https://viniciusvacanti.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/viniciusvacanti
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/vacanti

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/vinicius-vacanti
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-26