FinTech Magazine January 2024 | Page 22

LIFETIME OF ACHIEVEMENT
In it , he called for the organisation to focus on its core business , rather than spreading itself too thin – like peanut butter .
Garlinghouse opted for a change of scenery in 2009 , moving to one of Yahoo !’ s biggest competitors in the form of AOL , where he was President of Applications and Commerce .
He then served as CEO at the filesharing site , YouSendIt , but departed in the autumn of 2014 after a disagreement with the board . Were it not for this falling out , Garlinghouse may never have made Ripple the fintech pioneer it is today .
The Ripple effect Itching to try something new , Garlinghouse joined Ripple to become the startup ’ s President and COO , despite having minimal experience in the payments sector .
Appearing on the Jay Kim Show , he later recounted that Co-founder and then-CEO Chris Larsen had wanted somebody from “ outside the system ” to look at things differently .
Garlinghouse ’ s outsider ’ s perspective proved invaluable and he was officially promoted to the top job at the beginning of 2017 , replacing Larsen .
By 2019 , the natural-born leader had taken Ripple to new heights , in large part thanks to a US $ 200m Series C funding round which included investment from Tetragon , SBI Ventures and Route 66 Ventures .
Today , Garlinghouse is , in his own words , leading Ripple towards realising its vision of the “ internet of value ”, unleashing “ possibilities for digital assets ”.
He is one of the fintech sector ’ s most outspoken advocates for crypto and blockchain , and , spearheaded by its native XRP cryptocurrency , Ripple continues to develop innovative financial products and solutions .
Customers are using these solutions to source crypto , facilitate instant payments , empower their treasury , engage new audiences , lower capital requirements and drive new revenue .
22 January 2024