Rafael Garcia

Rafael Garcia is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Kernel, an artificial intelligence infrastructure startup based in Cincinnati, Ohio. At Kernel, he leads the development of open-source browser infrastructure designed specifically for AI agents, recently securing a $22 million funding round backed by Accel and Y Combinator. The dual-headquartered platform currently provides enterprise infrastructure for over 1,000 organizations, including prominent technology companies such as Cash App and Rye. Prior to his current venture, Garcia served as the co-founder and CTO of Clever, an education technology identity platform focused on single sign-on interoperability. He helped scale Clever through the Y Combinator S12 cohort before the company achieved a $500 million acquisition exit in 2021. His professional background centers on engineering secure identity systems and building scalable cloud infrastructure to support emerging technology applications.