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Ripple
Ripple was founded in 2012 by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb to build a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange, and remittance network on a...
Ripple
Ripple was founded in 2012 by Chris Larsen and Jed McCaleb to build a real-time gross settlement system, currency exchange, and remittance network on a distributed ledger. Brad Garlinghouse, a former Yahoo and AOL executive, joined as COO in 2015 and became CEO in 2017. The firm's commercial revenue from payment network fees and XRP sales funds its investment arm rather than external LP commitments, giving it permanent capital with no redemption pressure. The firm invests across the digital asset ecosystem with a focus on infrastructure, custody, tokenization, and DeFi primitives. Ripple has backed companies including Bitso, a Latin American crypto exchange, and Tranglo, an Asian cross-border payments hub, to extend the reach of its payment protocol. Investment stages range from seed to growth equity, and the firm participates in both direct equity rounds and fund-of-fund commitments. Geographic emphasis spans North America, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific. Ripple's investment team operates from San Francisco, with commercial offices across 15 global locations. The firm has no disclosed external AUM because it allocates directly from its balance sheet. In addition to its venture activity, Ripple operates RippleX, an open-source developer platform that funds projects building on the XRP Ledger, and Ripple Impact, a philanthropic initiative. The firm promotes David Schwartz as CTO and Monica Long as President, signaling a succession bench beyond founders Larsen and Garlinghouse. Ripple's structural differentiator is its balance-sheet-funded venture model, a rarity among corporate VCs. By using treasury reserves rather than a closed fund structure with predefined vintage years, the firm avoids capital-return timelines that force premature exits. This architecture allows it to hold equity in infrastructure bets through multiple market cycles without LP liquidity demands.
General information
Firm type
Venture Capital
Year founded
2012
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
San Francisco, CA, United States
Principals
Brad Garlinghouse
CEO
Chris Larsen
Executive Chairman
David Schwartz
CTO
Monica Long
President
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Ripple?
CEO Brad Garlinghouse holds ultimate authority over Ripple's venture investments, in coordination with the executive team. The firm does not publicly designate a single investment committee or CIO for its venture arm, though its leadership page displays a flat bench of cross-functional executives including President Monica Long and CTO David Schwartz. Investment sourcing historically funnels through Ripple's business development and partnership teams given the firm's strategic mandate.
How does Ripple source proprietary deal flow?
Ripple sources deals through its commercial partnerships with over 100 financial institutions and payment providers that use RippleNet. Because the firm invests strategically in companies that broaden the XRP Ledger ecosystem, its payments and custody clients frequently become co-investors or acquisition targets. The firm also leverages its open-source developer community, RippleX, to identify early-stage protocol layer startups.
Is Ripple a single family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
Ripple operates as a corporate venture arm, not a family office. It invests off its balance sheet funded by revenue from commercial products and periodic XRP sales, giving it permanent flexible capital. The venture activity is integrated with the company's strategic objective of expanding the XRP Ledger ecosystem rather than optimizing purely for financial returns.
Does Ripple participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Ripple disclosed deploying over $600 million across more than 70 direct equity investments and over 10 limited partner commitments since 2015. Its fund-of-funds activity targets emerging managers building at the intersection of decentralized finance, custody, and tokenization, primarily in North America and Asia-Pacific.
What investment stages does Ripple typically target?
Ripple invests from seed through growth equity, with a concentration in Series A and B rounds where its network of financial institutions can accelerate a portfolio company's commercial distribution. The firm also writes early-stage checks into developer infrastructure and custody protocols through its RippleX open-source arm.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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