Dhiraj Mukherjee is the Co-founder of Shazam Entertainment, the world’s first mobile phone-based music recognition service. Shazam was acquired by Apple in 2017 for a reported $400 million. Dhiraj was recognised by the Financial Times as one of Europe’s Top 50 technology entrepreneurs and elected as a member of The Digital Banking Club’s “Power 50”.
He was previously Head of Banking Innovation at Virgin Money, where he was responsible for developing new digital banking services, including one aimed at serving 2.2 million students in the UK. Dhiraj has also worked in strategy and innovation roles within disruptive and high-growth companies, including Bauer Media, Infosys Limited, Reuters, Save the Children, and What If!
Dhiraj is now an active angel investor focused on emerging technologies and “Tech for Good” and was selected for Smith & Williamson’s “Power 100” for supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in the UK.
He is a Non-Executive Director of MeVitae (helping companies avoid unconscious bias in recruitment) and an investor in Beam (helping the homeless), Erase All Kittens (coding skills for girls), Jamma (supporting immigrants), Coursematch (EdTech) and several others.
He has invested alongside Bill Gates in Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management. His research and investment focus are centred around Generation Z and minority-led start-ups. He strongly believes in the power of young entrepreneurs working to create a better society for the future.
Dhiraj is a globally recognised keynote speaker on innovation and sustainable business and has spoken to senior executives and entrepreneurs across the globe. Clients include Google, Airbus, Real Madrid FC, O2, Santander, The Economist, and many more.
Dhiraj has a degree in Mathematical Economics from Dartmouth College, USA, and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He regularly speaks at conferences on innovation, entrepreneurship, and emerging technology.
In this technology-centric world, tech-ethics has a vital role in our sustainability and security. From sustainability concerns to personal data and metadata issues, this keynote explores how to move from information asymmetry and vulnerability to information symmetry and safety. Technology can be a force for good. But we need more people with the right mindset for using it. Guidelines do not address the root causes of issues that are the results of AI. We have several ways to make AI ethics practical. There is an easy way, and there is the right way. The government and policy route seems more comfortable, but it is lengthy, less potent, and less practical. Businesses taking ownership seems more plausible, but ultimately, creators and teams will have to drive the change.
