DriveWealth announces Gayathri Rajan (CPO) and Harshal Deo (CTO)
“Expanding access to investing is about so much more than money – it’s really about empowering people to have more control over their lives. With such a bold goal, we need bold leadership.”
DriveWealth has appointed Gayathri Rajan as Chief Product Officer (CPO) and Harshal Deo as Chief Technology Officer (CTO) as the pioneer in fractional investing and embedded finance enters a new phase of growth.
Gayathri Rajan and Harshal Deo will lead DriveWealth’s product and engineering teams as competition within the embedded investing space grows fierce with the entry of challengers to DriveWealth’s lead.
For years, the company has been bringing worldwide access to the US markets in partnership with local brokers by providing a plug and play platform that boasts zero commission trading and fractional shares: two features that have become a must-have among brokers.
Experience from Google, eBay and PayPal
Gayathri Rajan joins DriveWealth following a 16-year stint at Google where she garnered a reputation for building world-class platforms and products in close collaboration with global partners.
At Google, Gayathri founded Google’s payments platform, which manages the entirety of Google’s payments and disbursements, and more recently built out the high-growth enterprise business for Google Maps.
Harshal Deo worked at eBay and PayPal, where he pioneered the use of AI for fraud detection, for a combined 16 years. At PayPal, he ran a global engineering and product organization that enabled PayPal’s entry into shopping and delivered PayPal Commerce Platform for Businesses, enabling seamless commerce for over 20 million businesses worldwide.
Bob Cortright, Founder and CEO, DriveWealth, 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. With such a bold goal, we need bold leadership. That’s why I’m thrilled Gayathri and Harshal have joined the DriveWealth team. I’m confident in the experience and vision they both bring to their new roles, and I know they’ll be the type of leaders we need at this inflection point for our company.”
Gayathri Rajan, Chief Product Officer at DriveWealth, commented: “I was drawn to DriveWealth for a number of reasons, but mostly because I believe in its mission to democratize investing. DriveWealth pioneered fractional trading and their API-first approach is a game changer in the industry. 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. Since my first meeting with Bob, it was clear to me that built into the foundation of the company is deep domain knowledge of the brokerage industry and a mindset that supports partners in building innovative experiences for their users – a foundation of readiness that will drive the company into its next stage of growth.
“We are at the cusp of redefining investing with an ecosystem that is ready to embrace what’s coming. I simply couldn’t miss the opportunity of being part of a generation-defining change and company.”
Harshal Deo, Chief Technology Officer at DriveWealth, said: “I am passionate about leveraging technology to solve large-scale global problems, hence DriveWealth’s mission to democratize investing really appeals to me. I am impressed by the engineering team that Bob has already built at DriveWealth to deliver an industry-leading, ultra low latency trading platform. I am looking forward to augmenting that with top talent from Silicon Valley and leveraging recent advances in technologies like blockchain and AI to further accelerate innovation for DriveWealth’s partners.”
DriveWealth is an embedded finance giant that currently empowers more than 100 partners around the world. The firm offers branded investing experiences to drive customer acquisition, loyalty, retention, and revenue growth.
