Herman Narula

Narula was born in April 1988, in Delhi, India, before his family moved to the UK when he was three years old.[1][2][3] He is the son of Harpinder Singh Narula, who runs DSC Ltd, the family construction business,[2] and Surina Narula, a prominent philanthropist devoted to children's rights and other social and environmental causes.[4] He has two older brothers, Anhad and Manhad, who work for DSC.[5]

He was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Elstree, and Girton College, Cambridge, where he studied computer science.[2][5]

He first became interested in video games at the age of seven, beginning with the game Magic Carpet; he began coding at the age of 12, in C++. Narula has said that his parents did not limit his screen time in childhood.

Narula met his Improbable co-founder Rob Whitehead while studying computer science at Girton College Cambridge. Both shared an interest in gaming and a belief that video games held an unrecognised importance in the wider world; both were averse to a career in finance.[6]  

Narula and Whitehead started Improbable with backing from the Narula family and a group of American and European investors. In May 2017 the company attracted a further $502 million of investment from Softbank, valuing the company  $1 billion. In 2020 The Telegraph Tech 100 estimated Narula's net worth at £450 million.[7][3]

Narula has criticised efforts made by traditional technology platforms to control the metaverse.[8] In 2019 Narula gave a speech at TED Global titled "The Transformative Power of Video Games", arguing that games are an egalitarian medium through which millions of people may co-inhabit the same space, develop life skills and make human connections. In an interview with Games Industry Biz, Narula said "Hypothetically, one day, if 100m, or 1 billion, people entered simultaneously into a virtual world, that would cease to be a game - that would be a country."  In 2019 he gave Girton College's Founders Enterprise Lecture, titled “Virtual Worlds: The Next Great Wilderness”.

Narula believes that earning a living in the metaverse will become a routine activity,[9] and that computer simulation could be "steel for the 21st century", with every major infrastructure project requiring some form of digital twin.

Narula lives in the Narula family home in Barnet, North London.  

He supports Plan International, which advocates for children’s rights and equality for girls.[10]

In interview Narula named Ronald Ayme's The Roman Revolution as his favourite book and Gladiator his favourite film. He follows Arsenal football team and attends matches at the Emirates Stadium. He speaks English and Hindi, and is friends with Demis Hassabis, the DeepMind founder.[10]

Narula meditates daily.

In 2017 he was nominated for The Sunday Times' Business Person of the Year.  In 2018 he was named to the Maserati 100 list of notable entrepreneurs; he does not own a car, preferring Uber.[10]