Rishi Srihari
| Rishi Srihari | |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur, software engineer |
|---|---|
| Known for | Co-founder and CEO of Opennote |
Rishi Srihari is an American entrepreneur and software engineer. He is the co-founder and CEO of Opennote, an AI-powered notebook and learning platform described as "the notebook that thinks with you."[1] The company was part of Y Combinator's Summer 2025 batch and is backed by Y Combinator, Acrew Capital, and Paul Graham, among other investors.[2]
Career
Srihari studied computer science at the University of California, Irvine, from which he is currently on leave.[3] While at UC Irvine, he and co-founder Abhigyan (Abhi) Arya, a computer science and engineering student, began developing Opennote. The pair first gained attention after winning LA Hacks, a collegiate hackathon, which led to further development of the product.
Before founding Opennote, Srihari briefly worked on Director, a product at Browserbase, a web automation company. He describes himself as a full-stack engineer.
Srihari co-founded Opennote in 2025 alongside Abhi Arya and Vedant Vyas. The platform integrates an AI assistant—branded "Galileo" (later developed into a system called "Feynman")—directly into a notebook interface. The AI reads what the user is working on and provides contextual assistance, including explanations, practice problems, visual breakdowns, and suggestions, without requiring the user to re-explain their context. Opennote is designed primarily for students and self-learners, allowing them to consolidate lecture materials, notes, and readings in one place while receiving AI-driven support. The system can search across the web, user journals, and connected sources such as Google Drive, Notion, and Box.
In July 2025, Opennote raised $850,000 in funding. Within four months of launch, the platform had attracted over 50,000 users. The company is based in San Francisco, California, and operates in the AI-enhanced learning, education, SaaS, consumer, and productivity sectors.
Srihari has lived in New York, Texas, Singapore, and San Francisco. He and Arya returned to UC Irvine as sponsors of IrvineHacks, the same hackathon series where they had first competed as participants.
References
- ↑ "Opennote". 'Opennote}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Opennote: The notebook that thinks with you". 'Huge Magazine}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.
- ↑ "Opennote". 'Opennote}'. Retrieved 2026-03-19.