Meet Brian Acton, the brain behind popular messaging apps Signal and Whatsapp Acton, who is also the executive chairman of the Signal Foundation, co-founded Signal with MoxieMarlinspike in 2018. Share Updated: Jan 13, 2021, 03:23 PM IST Popular messaging app Signal co-founder Brian Acton was born in February 1972 in Michigan, US. In 1994 he graduated in computer science from Standford University. Acton, who is also the executive chairman of the Signal Foundation, co-founded Signal with MoxieMarlinspike in 2018. Notably, Acton had co-founded Whatsapp with Jan Koum before selling it to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg for USD 19 billion in 2014. In September 2017, Acton left WhatsApp to start the Signal Foundation.