RB

Ryan Baird

Silicon Valley Cross Border Investment Banker and Capital Strategist Driving Business Growth and Funding Success for Entrepreneurs

Los Gatos, California

Overview

Work Experience

  • Chief Executive Officer

    2023 - Current

    Cross Border Neo-Investment Bank CRD#: 7691877 Securities offered through Umergence LLC https://www.umergence.com/ Member FINRA/SIPC https://brokercheck.finra.org/firm/summary/284368

  • GP

    2013

    Building Category Leaders: We invest strategically in both public and private companies positioned for long-term dominance. Beyond Traditional Investing: Our expertise empowers multigenerational family offices. We guide them on utilizing hedging and derivative strategies across equities, currencies, and commodities to manage risk and unlock opportunities. Unlocking Investment Potential: We also help family offices navigate the complexities of allocation, ensuring they have access to the most valuable opportunities. We are sector, stage, & geographically agnostic however this year we have invested in Hardware, EV's, Ad tech, Consumer, AI, E-commerce, Insurance, Media, FinTech, SAAS, Cyber Security, Blockchain, Social Media, Defense, Wellness, Climate Tech, and Enterprise.

  • Founder

    2009

    X @Focus_On_Risk FB: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FocusOnRisk We help multi-generational Silicon Valley & Cross Border Family Offices and Institutional Investors find Alternative Asset allocations. We host events globally: -Focus On Founders and Funders Since 2009: Exclusive invite-only events for Investors to talk their book, close deals, and learn from elite founders. -Focus On Stocks: We bring in institutional investors together to talk about risk management and monopolistic stocks. -URBANOLOGY Silicon Valley - We combine Technology and Culture to bring together the next generation of entrepreneurs. Featured NVIDIA in 2003. -Cross Border Venture Summit - LP's and GP's investing globally. Invite-only event.

  • Chief Executive Officer

    2023

  • Senior Business Advisor

    2017

    eVTOL is the future. If you’re looking for a live flight demo, please contact me. Raised $2.8M Seed

  • Advisory Board Member

    2015

    Multiple fashion brands interweaving design and technology

  • CEO

    2019 - 2024

    Acquired in 2024. Raised $35M from family offices and institutional investors to build technology for content creators monetizing their data. Grew community members to over 11M and onboarded over 500 celebrities and influencers Grew digital wallet to >$80M in GM transactions in 2021 with 1.2M transactions a month which was a 150x growth year over year Led executive team and partnered with over 28,000 merchants including Rolls Royce, FORD, Maserati, Mini Cooper, BOSE, Vans, Guess, Tim Hortons, and Outback Steakhouse which was an 11x growth year over year Became the number 1 free app in the Philippines on all major platforms. Continuous data-driven improvement of the processes, programs, and brand recognition We help people create authentic communities they’re passionate about and help them monetize their online presence. Only in the Philippines.

  • Venture Partner - GWC Innovator Fund

    2016 - 2019

    Early-stage VC Fund and Ecosystem Builder. Sector-agnostic investing in Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, Beijing, Bangalore, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Jakarta, Seoul, Riyadh, and other emerging markets. Primary LPs: Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), Cheetah Mobile (NYSE: CMCM), Sequoia Capital China (Neil Shen), CVCs & UHNW from China. Portfolio Highlights- - Xiaopeng Motors 小鹏汽车: Connected EVs (China) - IPO’d (NYSE: XPEV) - FriendlyData - Natural Language Search for Enterprises - Acquired by Service Now (NYSE: NOW) - Tapzo: All in one mobile app (India) - Acquired by Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) -Goqii: Wearable Health Coach (India) - Raised $40m - GrubMarket: Organic food delivery (US) - Raised $60m - Edwin.ai: AI English Learning (US) - Google Assistant Investment Recipient Portfolio Co-Investors: Lightspeed, Matrix, Shunwei, GGV Capital, NFX, StartX, Mark Cuban, YC, NEA, Kalaari, Gree Ventures, General Catalyst, Bloomberg Beta, Neeraj Aurora, IDG, 500, Sequoia, American Express Ventures, Walt Disney, Fidelity Investments, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Venrock, Boost, Alibaba, IDG, Morningside, Shea Ventures, Dorm Room Fund (First Round), Foxconn, AME Cloud Ventures, Fosun, and founders of Tata, Paytm and Wework. I also led the global organization of G-Startup Worldwide and Cross-Boarder Venture Summit which connected global innovation to institutional capital. As the global director of G-Startup Worldwide, served as a catalyst for tech ecosystem connections and relationships around the world, growing the program to the highest quality startup competition Partnered and received press from dozens of media outlets including Bloomberg, TechCrunch, WSJ, Forbes, Entrepreneur, VC Circle, TechInAsia, e27, Inc, etc. Took Facebook page from zero to >100,000 likes in one year Lead partnerships with dozens of startup service providers including Google Launchpad, IBM, Facebook’s FB Start, Microsoft Accelerator, Baidu, Amazon, Qualcomm, TechStars, Tencent’s WeStart, & Founders Institute

  • Director Corporate Development

    2014 - 2016

    Cashplay is an eSports monetization platform for developers to implement cash tournaments into their skill based games. Raised $7.5M seed

  • Corporate Business Development

    2013 - 2014

    PlayHaven was a leading mobile games monetization platform. PlayHaven was based in San Francisco, CA and a portfolio company of Charles River Ventures, Lightspeed Partners, Tandem Capital, e.ventures and GGV Capital. Merged with Kontagent, Inc. in December 2013 to form Upsight, Inc. Upsight is the most comprehensive SaaS analytics and marketing automation platform for mobile apps. Upsight is based in San Francisco, CA and a portfolio company of Altos Ventures, Battery Ventures, e.ventures, GGV Capital, Maverick Capital, Morgan Creek Capital and Tandem Capital. Advertising Network assets divested to Science, Inc. in August 2014 for $34M.

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