Networth: $15 billion Andre Hakkak was born in 1974 in Los Angeles to immigrant parents from Lebanon. He developed an interest in business and technology from a young age. Hakkak started his first company, a software development firm, while still in college at UCLA. The bootstrapped startup achieved early success developing email marketing solutions.
After graduating cum laude with a degree in Computer Science in 1996, Hakkak focused on growing his fledgling company. Within a few years, it had become a leading email service provider (ESP) used by many large enterprises. In 2001, he sold the firm for $30 million and decided to focus on investing. Hakkak remains single and dedicates most of his time to running his investment office, AHL Enterprises.
Hakkak has made groundbreaking investments in real estate, acquiring and developing commercial and residential properties across the sunbelt region of the United States. He also led the early stage funding rounds of numerous tech startups through AHL Ventures. Some of his notable investments include SpaceX, Anthropic, and Calm. Hakkak was an angel investor in Snapchat before its IPO and remains one of its largest individual shareholders. Through strategic acquisitions and development, Hakkak’s real estate portfolio is now worth over $5 billion. He owns and operates several million square feet of office and retail space. On the technology side, Hakkak’s startup investments have yielded multiple unicorns within his portfolio. His feel for disruptive potential at the forefront of industries like aerospace and AI has proven highly lucrative.