Who is Jagdeep Singh? Indian CEO becomes the world’s highest-paid employee

Jagdeep Singh is the CEO and founder of QuantumScape. He earns a salary of Rs 17, 500 crores annually and earns 48 crores daily. This amount is more than the annual revenue of several large companies. This has made him a source of pride for India.

QuantumScape is an American company that develops solid-state rechargeable lithium metal batteries for electric cars. This company is headquartered in San Jose, California. It employs almost around 850 people. The company’s investors include Bill Gates and Volkswagen.

QuantumScape was founded in 2010 by Jagdeep Singh, Tim Holme and Professor Fritz Prinz. In 2012, the company began to work with German automaker Volkswagen.

In 2018, Volkswagen invested 100 million dollars in the company and became the largest shareholder. Following this, Volkswagen and QuantumScape announced the establishment of a joint production project to prepare for mass production of solid-state batteries. In June 2020, Volkswagen invested an additional 200 million dollars.

Who is Jagdeep Singh?

Jagdeep Singh holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland. Following this, he has completed his M. Tech from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of California. He has gained over 10 years of experience in multiple key roles in several companies and this has allowed him to understand emerging technologies deeply.

He founded Lightera Networks in 1998, following this, he founded Infinera in 2001. In 2010, Jagdeep founded QuantumScape with the intention of creating better batteries for electric vehicles. In 2024, he became the CEO of Stealth Startup.

The about us page of the company reads, “QuantumScape is on a mission to transform energy storage with solid-state lithium-metal battery technology. The company’s next-generation batteries are designed to enable greater energy density, faster charging and enhanced safety to support the transition away from legacy energy sources toward a lower carbon future.”

Describing about the technology, the company stated, “QuantumScape has developed the industry’s first anode-less cell design, which delivers high energy density while lowering material costs and simplifying manufacturing. This innovative battery cell technology can store energy more efficiently and reliably than today’s lithium-ion batteries.”