Suranga Chandratillake (born October 1977 in Kandy, Sri Lanka) is the founder and former CEO of blinkx, the San Francisco-based video search and advertising company which later became

RhythmOne RhythmOne , previously known as Blinkx, and also known as RhythmOne Group, is an American digital advertising technology company that owns and operates the web properties AllMusic, AllMovie, and SideReel. Blinkx was founded in 2004, went publi ...

. After eight years as CEO and taking blinkx public, Chandratillake became the company's Chief Strategy Officer and, in 2014, returned to Europe to join the UK-based venture capital firm,

Balderton Capital Balderton Capital is a venture capital firm based in London, UK, that invests in early-stage, technology and internet startup companies in Europe. It is considered to be among the four-biggest venture capital firms in the English capital. Foun ...

, as a General Partner.

Career

Prior to founding blinkx, Chandratillake held a variety of roles in technology, sales and marketing at

Morgan Stanley Morgan Stanley is an American multinational investment management and financial services company headquartered at 1585 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. With offices in more than 41 countries and more than 75,000 employees, the fir ...

, netdecisions and anondesign. Chandratillake holds an MA in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to Applied science, practical discipli ...

from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

; specializing in distributed processing architectures, he received a

double first The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

. While at Cambridge, he was the first web editor of the University's student newspaper, Varsity. Soon after graduating, Chandratillake joined

Autonomy Corporation HP Autonomy, previously Autonomy Corporation PLC, was an enterprise software company which was merged with Micro Focus in 2017. It was founded in Cambridge, United Kingdom in 1996. Autonomy was acquired by Hewlett-Packard (HP) in October 201 ...

as lead R&D engineer on the company's core data analysis engine. Chandratillake moved to California as Autonomy's Chief Technology Officer to set up an office in Silicon Valley, where he was responsible for growing the company's research and development division in the United States. Autonomy set up blinkx as a standalone business in 2005, with Chandratillake as CEO. The spinout followed an internal project that Chandratillake set up to develop software that would index and find information at a desktop level. Chandratillake took blinkx public on the London Stock Exchange on May 22, 2007. Chandratillake has spoken at industry events including the

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

' Digital Media Conference,

Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

and the Monaco Media Forum. Named a Young Global Leader Honoree in 2009 by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, Chandratillake has also been recognized as a leader in Science and Innovation by The Observer's Future 500 list, and one of Digital Media Wire's "25 Executives to Watch in Digital Entertainment". Chandratillake holds patents in the area of video discovery and online video advertising, is a Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

and was a 2012 recipient of the Academy's Silver Medal. In 2017, he was appointed a member of the Council of Science and Technology, a body that advises the UK Prime Minister on strategic science and technology policy issues. In the

2018 New Year Honours The 2018 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...

, Chandratillake was awarded an OBE for services to engineering and technology."New Year's Honours list 2018"
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandratillake, Suranga Sri Lankan emigrants to the United Kingdom Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Officers of the Order of the British Empire Living people Sinhalese businesspeople People from Kandy 1977 births