Alexis Kerry Ohanian (born April 24, 1983) is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is best known as the co-founder and former executive chairman of the social media site Reddit, alongside Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz. He also co-founded the early-stage venture capital firm Initialized Capital, helped launch the travel search website Hipmunk, and started the social enterprise Breadpig. Ohanian has been an active investor in technology, including Artificial intelligence startups, and has held roles at Y Combinator.
Ohanian is based in Florida, where he lives with his wife, tennis player Serena Williams, and their daughters. As of 2024, his net worth is estimated at $150 million.
Early life and education
Ohanian's paternal grandparents fled from Bitlis and Kharput during the Armenian genocide and eventually moved to the United States as refugees, settling in Binghamton, New York. His father Chris, a travel agent, was born in San Francisco, while his mother Anke, a pharmacy technician, was originally from Hamburg, Germany. Through his mother, Ohanian spoke German as a second language in childhood, and while he identifies strongly with his Armenian heritage, he has stated he has little proficiency in Armenian. He is an only child.
Born in Brooklyn, New York City, Ohanian's family moved to a Maryland suburb during his youth. Finding themselves the only Armenians in the neighborhood, his parents sent him to an AGBU-sponsored summer camp to maintain cultural ties. He attended Howard High School in Columbia, Maryland, and delivered a commencement address in 2001 at Merriweather Post Pavilion.
Initially considering computer programming, Ohanian took the only computer science class offered in high school but lost confidence in the major once he arrived at the University of Virginia. He went on to double major in history and business commerce, with a minor in German, and has said in retrospect that he should have stayed with computer science given his work in technology.
Reddit and early career
Ohanian's obsession with technology started in middle school when he got a 33.6k dialup modem. With parental support, he took computer programming classes at community college and spent time on message boards learning to code and build websites. His parents bought him his first computer, a 486 SX, which he took apart and reassembled. He eventually made websites for nonprofit organizations for free, disguising his age behind email.
At one point, Ohanian planned to become an attorney but walked out of an LSAT and went to a local Waffle House in Charlottesville, Virginia, where he realized he wanted to start a company. After graduating from the University of Virginia in 2005, he and his friend and college roommate Steve Huffman pitched MyMobileMenu, a food ordering application, to Y Combinator. The company passed but encouraged them to come up with another idea. They later created reddit.com, an online bulletin board, with the goal of becoming the "front page of the Internet."
Reddit joined Y Combinator's first batch of startups in summer 2005 and was acquired by Condé Nast in 2006 for an undisclosed amount between $10 million and $20 million. Ohanian continued as a board member and returned full-time with Huffman in July 2015 to lead the now-independent company. He stepped back in February 2018 to focus on investing. On June 5, 2020, he resigned from Reddit's board, asking to be replaced by a Black candidate in response to the murder of George Floyd; days later, Michael Seibel was named a board member.
Other ventures and investing
In 2007, Ohanian launched Breadpig, an "uncorporation" producing geeky merchandise with proceeds to charity; by 2012 he was no longer involved in day-to-day operations. After leaving Reddit in 2010, he spent three months as a Kiva fellow in Yerevan, Armenia, working in microfinance. That year he also helped launch Hipmunk and founded Das Kapital Capital, focusing on startup investing and advising.
Ohanian was given the title "Ambassador to the East" by Y Combinator, meeting with East Coast applicants and mentoring New York founders. He held roles as part-time and full-time partner before leaving in 2016 to co-launch the third Initialized Capital fund with Garry Tan. In June 2020, he ended his role as Managing Partner at Initialized, and in June 2021 he announced a new venture capital firm, 776.
In July 2020, Ohanian became founding control owner of a primarily female group awarded a new franchise in the National Women's Soccer League. The team, later unveiled as Angel City FC, began playing in 2022. The ownership group includes women holding a majority interest, 14 former U.S. women's national team members, Oscar-winning actor Natalie Portman, and many other prominent figures, including Serena Williams. In 2024, he launched Athlos, a women's-only track and field event.
In March 2025, Ohanian co-purchased Digg with original founder Kevin Rose and relaunched it as a news aggregator with digging and burying features restored, with the tagline "The front page of the internet, now with superpowers." Its open beta launched to the public on January 14, 2026. On May 14, 2025, he bought a 10 percent stake in Chelsea Women FC for £20 million and took a board seat.
AI investments and advocacy
Ohanian has been an active investor in Artificial intelligence and Machine learning startups through his firms, including Initialized Capital and 776. He has backed companies working on Generative AI, Large language models, and related technologies, though specific portfolio details are not always public. His investments reflect a broader interest in technology innovation, including areas like Neural network research and Deep learning applications. He has spoken publicly about the importance of ethical AI development and the need for diverse voices in the field, aligning with his advocacy for social causes.
Ohanian's early-stage investing has included seed investments in startups like Instacart, Zenefits, Opendoor, and Cruise. In 2014, CB Insights ranked him number one for network centrality among tech investors, reflecting the breadth and depth of his connections. In July 2015, he invested $6 million into a company, though details are limited. His continued involvement in AI-related ventures positions him as a notable figure in the tech investment landscape.