Brokerage firm DriveWealth LLC on Monday (April 18) appointed Gayathri Rajan as chief product officer (CPO) and Harshal Deo as chief technology officer (CTO) to lead the company’s product and engineering teams, according to a company press release.
The new hires will help DriveWealth “further its mission to democratize investing globally and empower anyone in the world with a phone to control their financial future from the palm of their hand,” the press release said.
“Expanding access to investing is about so much more than money – it’s really about empowering people to have more control over their lives,” said Bob Cortright, founder and CEO of DriveWealth, in the press release. “With such a bold goal, we need bold leadership.”
Rajan joins DriveWealth after 16 years at Google, where she founded its payments platform and built out the high-growth enterprise business for Google Maps.
“There is a tremendous opportunity to allow consumers around the world to participate in markets that were previously inaccessible, and to help them become owners of their financial futures,” Rajan said.
Deo comes to DriveWealth after 16 years at eBay and PayPal, where he pioneered the use of artificial intelligence for fraud detection.
“I am passionate about leveraging technology to solve large-scale global problems, hence DriveWealth’s mission to democratize investing really appeals to me,” he said.
In February, DriveWealth, which is backed by Japanese holding company SoftBank, announced plans to launch two subsidiaries to carry out cryptocurrency trades, while also acquiring crypto firm Crypto-Systems. Last year, the company was valued at $2.85 billion after a $450 million Series D funding round.
The Crypto-Systems deal will let DriveWealth begin offering Bitcoin and Ethereum trading to partners this spring, a move Cortright told CNBC will bring greater transparency to the digital asset space.
