Brendan Trexler Iribe (born August 12, 1979) is an American game programmer, entrepreneur, and racing driver. He is best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Oculus VR, the company behind the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, and as co-founder of Scaleform, a user interface technology provider for video games. As of 2025, Iribe serves as managing partner at BIG Ventures, an early-stage venture fund, and co-founded Sesame, a product and research team focused on AI glasses.
Early life and education
Iribe was born and grew up in Maryland. He graduated from Atholton High School in Howard County, Maryland, and then attended the University of Maryland, College Park, majoring in computer science within the College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences. He left after two semesters to work as a freelance programmer, a decision that preceded his later entrepreneurial ventures.
Career in gaming and virtual reality
Iribe began his career as a game programmer, contributing to the user interface of Civilization IV. He co-founded Scaleform, a company that provided user interface technology for PC games, and served as its chief executive officer. After Scaleform was acquired by Autodesk, Iribe worked as a product team lead at Gaikai, a cloud gaming service. In August 2012, he departed Gaikai to become the new CEO of Oculus VR, shortly after the company's Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift raised $2.4 million. Under his leadership, Oculus VR grew into a major player in the virtual reality industry, attracting attention from technology giants.
In December 2016, Iribe stepped down from the CEO role at Oculus VR to lead its newly created PC VR group. In October 2018, he announced via a Facebook post that he would depart Oculus and its parent company, Facebook, without specifying future plans. That same year, he invested in Sketchfab, an online platform for 3D and virtual reality content. In June 2023, Iribe co-founded Sesame, a team dedicated to developing AI-powered glasses, signaling his continued interest in immersive and generative technologies.
Philanthropy
In 2014, Iribe announced a $31 million donation to his alma mater, the University of Maryland, College Park. Of this amount, $30 million funded the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering, a new building featuring laboratories for virtual reality, augmented reality, robotics, and artificial intelligence. The remaining $1 million established a scholarship fund. His mother, Elizabeth Iribe, contributed an additional $3 million to create two endowed chairs in the computer science department: the Elizabeth Stevinson Iribe Chair and the Paul Chrisman Iribe Chair, named after her brother.
Racing career
Since departing Oculus in 2018, Iribe has focused on racing exotic cars manufactured by companies such as McLaren and Ferrari. He has competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with results documented in motorsport records. His racing activities reflect a parallel career in high-performance motorsport alongside his technology ventures.
Later ventures
As managing partner at BIG Ventures, Iribe invests in early-stage technology startups, particularly those in the machine learning and deep learning space. His involvement with Sesame, which explores AI glasses, aligns with broader industry trends toward wearable neural network devices and large language model integration. Iribe's career spans game development, virtual reality, and AI, making him a notable figure in the intersection of these fields.