Our Story
The origins of Rippleworks’ story are rooted in entrepreneurship. Chris Larsen and Doug Galen first met when they built their first company together in 1997: E-Loan, one of the first ever online lending startups that increased access to affordable mortgages.
In 2015, Chris and Doug co-founded Rippleworks to harness the power of entrepreneurship and innovation to tackle the world’s toughest challenges. We started with a blank slate and an open mandate: to freely understand and meet the needs of high-impact, scaling social ventures.
Our journey has taken us from late-night sessions in Doug’s backyard to crowded co-working spaces to our current office in Redwood City, California. Our team keeps growing, our programs keep expanding, but our mission stays the same: we are relentlessly focused on the needs of social ventures, providing the practical support entrepreneurs and their teams need to scale and improve more lives in the U.S. and around the world.
A History of Rippleworks
2014
- Over a catch-up lunch in San Francisco, Doug and Chris dream up the idea of a nonprofit foundation that takes a venture-centric approach to providing unique support
- Doug leads a series of 50+ user interviews with entrepreneurs, impact funders, on-the-ground teams to inform the design of Rippleworks
2015
- Officially launch in April 2015, and initial founding team brought on by year’s end
- Rippleworks Foundation forms as one of the first-ever cryptocurrency-endowed foundations, through generous backing from Chris Larsen and Ripple
- Launch our first 5 projects, with support from Omidyar Network
2016
- Led global research initiative with McKinsey, Omidyar Network to publish the report How Social Enterprises Can Find The Talent to Scale
2017
Milestone of 50 projects delivered to social ventures
2018
- Launch Investments to bring financial support to ventures
- Pilot Leaders Studio program to deliver Experts-led workshops to social ventures
2019
- Milestone of 100+ projects delivered to social ventures
- Investments funds 10+ ventures with catalytic capital
- Leaders Studio workshops launched across Brazil, Mexico City, Ghana, Nigeria, US
2020
- COVID-19 rapid response helps social ventures navigate COVID-19 pandemic. New emergency programs launched, including quick-hitting 1:1 Expert Sessions to support COVID-19 related business changes, and Surge Capacity program to bring hands-on volunteer support to healthcare ventures on the frontlines of COVID-19.
Our Vision
We envision a world where all people have equitable access to the resources and opportunities to live their lives to the fullest potential.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide the practical support entrepreneurs and their teams need to scale faster and improve more lives.
