Andreessen Horowitz Targets FinTech With New General Partner

Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced today the addition of a new general partner who is said to have the expertise the company is looking for to continue expanding its FinTech investing, The New York Times reported yesterday (Aug. 19).

Alex Rampell will bring extensive knowledge and experience in the startup world to Andreessen Horowitz.

Most recently, Rampell held titles of co-founder and CEO of TrialPay, a transactional advertising and payments company that named eCommerce giants such as Facebook and Zynga among its clientele. TrialPay was recently acquired by Visa and since inception reportedly made $300 million in revenue.

TrialPay will be integrated into Visa’s existing merchant solutions to provide its customer base with a better method to increase customer loyalty through targeted promotions.

Prior to TrialPay, Rampell co-founded consumer anti-phishing company FraudEliminator, which later merged with SiteAdvisor, and was eventually acquired by McAfee in 2006.

“On top of his own entrepreneurial endeavors, Alex has actively invested in and advised dozens of startups, including Pinterest, Bloomreach, SiftScience, Wooga, Hunch, Truaxis, OrderAhead, Twice, and CardSpring,” Andreessen Horowitz co-founder and General Partner Marc Andreessen said in a company blog post announcing Rampell’s appointment.

“His deep experience starting, running, and advising such a wide range of tech startups makes him ideally suited to coach and mentor the next generation of founders as a venture capitalist,” Andreessen added.

While Andreessen Horowitz has already made investments in a variety of FinTech firms, including Dwolla and TransferWise, there is still plenty of opportunity in FinTech, which has continued to attract investors.

Last year saw $13.7 billion invested in FinTech startups, up 46 percent than the previous year, according to CB Insights, NYT reported.

Rampell explained to the NYT that legacy technology and the need to operate more conservatively under tight regulations has left the banking and insurance sector vulnerable, but “ripe for disruption.”

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