# Zahid Shaikh

> Zahid Shaikh is the Co-Founder and Head of Risk Products at Sardine, an AI-powered fraud and compliance platform that has raised $145.6M in total funding. Previously a top inventor at PayPal where his device intelligence product saved the company $40M+ annually in fraud losses, Zahid then led risk and security product teams at Uber and Revolut before co-founding Sardine in April 2020 alongside Soups Ranjan and Aditya Goel. Sardine now profiles 2.2+ billion devices and achieved 130% YoY ARR growth in 2024.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and Head of Risk Products at Sardine
- **Organizations:** Sardine, PayPal, Uber, Revolut, Chase, Verizon, Hitachi
- **From:** Mumbai, India
- **Nationality:** Indian-American
- **Education:** Bachelor's in Electronics Engineering, University of Mumbai, PGDST - Post Graduate Diploma in Software Technology, NCST (National Centre for Software Technology), Certificate in Leadership and Strategy, Harvard Business School, Certified Product Manager (CPM), Stanford University
- **Known for:** Named PayPal's Top Inventor in 2016, 5 patents approved at PayPal related to device intelligence and fraud detection, Built PayPal Device Intelligence product saving $40M+ annually in fraud losses

## Career timeline

- **~1990s-2000s** — Early engineering roles at Hitachi, Verizon, and Chase
- **~2010s** — Joined PayPal as Senior Product Leader; built Device Intelligence product saving $40M+ annually in fraud losses; named Top Inventor in 2016 with 5 patents
- **~2017-2018** — Joined Uber to lead the Trusted Identity team, developing device intelligence and login security systems
- **2019-2020** — Joined Revolut as Product Leader; oversaw U.S. launch of Crypto Buy/Sell product
- **2020 (April)** — Co-founded Sardine with Soups Ranjan and Aditya Goel
- **2021** — Sardine raised Series A funding
- **2022** — Sardine raised $51.5M Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz
- **2024** — Sardine achieved 130% YoY ARR growth, profiled 2.2+ billion devices, nearly doubled customer base
- **2025 (February)** — Sardine raised $70M Series C led by Activant Capital, bringing total funding to $145.6M

## Achievements

- Named PayPal's Top Inventor in 2016
- 5 patents approved at PayPal related to device intelligence and fraud detection
- Built PayPal Device Intelligence product saving $40M+ annually in fraud losses
- Co-founded Sardine which achieved 130% YoY ARR growth in 2024
- Sardine now profiles 2.2+ billion devices
- Raised $145.6M in total funding including $70M Series C from backers including a16z, Google Ventures, Visa, and Experian Ventures
- Led crypto product launch at Revolut for U.S. market

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Sardine raised $70M Series C led by Activant Capital, with participation from a16z, Google Ventures, Visa, Moody's Analytics, and Experian Ventures. Total funding now $145.6M.
- **2024-12** — Sardine reported 130% YoY ARR growth, nearly doubled customer base, and profiled 2.2+ billion devices.
- **2024** — Sardine launched AI Copilot for investigations and expanded agentic AI capabilities for compliance automation.

## Links

- Website: https://sardine.ai
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/zahidshaikh
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/zahidshaikh

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/zahid-shaikh
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-20