# Viren Tellis

> Viren Tellis is the Co-Founder and CEO of Uthana, a generative AI platform for 3D character animation backed by A16Z Speedrun and IA Ventures. A serial entrepreneur who started with a Quiznos franchise in his early 20s, pivoted through ad-tech at AppNexus (now Xandr), built the philanthropy platform Hedado, and now scouts early-stage startups for Andreessen Horowitz's speedrun accelerator while building the AI infrastructure for lifelike human motion in games and animation.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Uthana; Scout at a16z speedrun
- **Organizations:** Uthana, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z speedrun), Hedado, On Deck
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BS in Business, University of Southern California, JD-MBA, Northwestern University - Pritzker School of Law & Kellogg School of Management
- **Known for:** Co-founded Uthana and raised $4.3M seed round from IA Ventures and A16Z Speedrun, Built Hedado, a philanthropy management platform serving middle-tier ($100K-$500K/yr) donors, Rose to Vice President at AppNexus overseeing a $2 billion digital ad marketplace

## Career timeline

- **Early 2000s** — Started career as a consultant at Cornerstone Research, providing economic advisory services for litigation
- **~2005** — Opened a Quiznos franchise as a side venture at around age 20
- **2008** — Dissolved Quiznos franchise amid the financial crisis
- **2010s** — Joined AppNexus as a product manager; rose to Vice President overseeing the $2B ad marketplace
- **2018** — AppNexus acquired by AT&T; became part of Xandr division
- **2021** — Founded Hedado, a charity tech platform helping middle-tier donors manage and measure philanthropic giving
- **2022** — Participated in On Deck Founder Fellowship
- **2023** — Joined a16z speedrun as Scout (SR001 Cohort)
- **2024** — Co-founded Uthana with Kethan Tellis - a generative AI platform for 3D character animation
- **2025-03** — Uthana raised $4.3M led by IA Ventures with participation from A16Z Speedrun, Acequia Capital, Cursor Capital, HustleFund, MetaVision, and JonesTrauber
- **2025-03** — Uthana launched Open Beta with Text-to-Motion and Video-to-Motion technology

## Achievements

- Co-founded Uthana and raised $4.3M seed round from IA Ventures and A16Z Speedrun
- Built Hedado, a philanthropy management platform serving middle-tier ($100K-$500K/yr) donors
- Rose to Vice President at AppNexus overseeing a $2 billion digital ad marketplace
- Selected as Scout for a16z speedrun's inaugural SR001 Cohort in 2023
- Launched Uthana Open Beta with 10,000+ motion library supporting Unreal Engine, Unity, Maya, and Blender
- Ran global business operations at AppNexus before the $1.6B AT&T acquisition

## Latest updates

- **2025-03** — Uthana raised $4.3M in seed funding led by IA Ventures, with A16Z Speedrun among investors
- **2025-03** — Uthana launched Open Beta with Text-to-Motion (TTM) and Video-to-Motion (VTM) capabilities
- **2026-04** — Listed as active Scout at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)

## Links

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vtellis
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/vtellis

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/viren-tellis
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-07