Amjad Masad

Amjad Masad is a Jordanian-American entrepreneur and software engineer who co-founded and leads Replit, an AI-powered development platform valued at $9 billion as of March 2026.^[1] The company serves over 50 million users and has raised $922 million in total funding.^[7] Masad previously worked as a founding engineer at Codecademy and led JavaScript infrastructure at Facebook, where he built open-source tools that influenced major projects including Babel, Jest, and React Native.^[4]

Born in Amman, Jordan, Masad learned programming on borrowed computers and at internet cafes before moving to the United States for technology opportunities.^[2] He founded Replit in 2016 with the mission to democratize software development and enable anyone to build applications through natural language prompts.^[4] The platform has evolved from serving primarily developers and students to targeting non-technical users and knowledge workers.^[1]

Masad was born in 1987 in Amman, Jordan, to a Palestinian father who worked as a civil engineer and an Algerian mother.^[2] His father, coming from a refugee background, emphasized the importance of education.^[4] Masad began programming at age six when his father brought home an IBM PC in 1993.^[4] His first program was a math learning tool designed to help his younger brother.^[5]

Growing up with limited computer access, Masad learned programming on borrowed machines and at internet cafes.^[4] As a teenager, he built client-server management software for internet cafes using Visual Basic.^[3] He attended Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Jordan, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science in 2010.^[10]

Codecademy (2011–2013)

After moving to the United States, Masad joined Codecademy as a founding engineer in 2011.^[4] The online platform offered free coding classes in various programming languages, helping democratize programming education.^[4] His experience at Codecademy reinforced his belief that programming should be accessible to everyone, not just technical experts.^[4]

Facebook (2013–2016)

Masad joined Facebook in 2013 as a software engineer on the JavaScript Infrastructure Team.^[4] He led the development of open-source tools that became foundational to the JavaScript ecosystem, influencing projects like Babel, Jest, and React Native.^[4] His work at Facebook exposed him to the challenges of building developer tools at scale and the potential for improving the software development experience.^[4]

Replit (2016–present)

Masad co-founded Replit in 2016 with his wife Haya Odeh and brother Faris Masad.^[7] The company initially focused on providing an online integrated development environment for education and professional developers.^[1] After being rejected by Y Combinator in their first application, the company was later recruited by Paul Graham, who called it an idea he had been looking for years.^[9]

In 2024, Replit pivoted to target non-technical users with AI-powered tools that enable application building through natural language prompts.^[1] The platform reached a $3 billion valuation in September 2024 and $9 billion by March 2026.^[1] The company has raised $922 million in total funding and serves over 50 million users globally.^[7]

Masad received the WTF Innovators Award in 2023 for his contributions to accelerating software development and enabling AI-assisted coding.^[11] Princess Sumaya University for Technology honored him as a distinguished graduate in 2023.^[10] He has appeared on major podcasts including The Joe Rogan Experience and Sequoia Capital's Training Data series to discuss the future of software development and artificial intelligence.^[5][4]