Brad Garlinghouse
About Brad Garlinghouse
Brad Garlinghouse is the CEO of Ripple and sits on its board. Before Ripple he was CEO of the file collaboration company Hightail. He was President of Consumer Applications at AOL from 2009 to 2012. He held several roles at Yahoo from 2003 to 2009, including Senior Vice President.
Earlier in his career he was CEO of Dialpad Communications and held management positions at SBC Communications and @Home Network. He was also an advisor to Silver Lake Partners.
Garlinghouse invests personally alongside his operating role. Public databases count his deals differently. CB Insights lists 10 investments, and its most recent entry is an angel round in Palm Tree Crew in June 2023. PitchBook lists 36 investments. A newsletter that tracks angel deals describes him as an active angel in over 50 companies, so no single count is authoritative.
CB Insights also records a 2023 seed round in Zamp and a 2016 seed round in Chameleon. Many co-investors took part in the Chameleon round.
His AI deal on the Lounge deals desk is Certifyde's $2M seed round, listed in June 2026. Dealroom reports that K5 Global and Flamingo Capital led the round. Honey co-founder George Ruan and Garlinghouse also took part.
Certifyde is based in Miami Beach. It sells a browser extension called Productivity Companion, which gives role-specific AI guidance inside tools such as Salesforce, Slack and Microsoft Teams. It also runs Academy, a platform for custom training and certifications. The funding is meant to support sales expansion and product development.
We found no other AI rounds with his name attached in public sources.
The public record shows seed and angel rounds. Third-party profiles tie him to fintech, blockchain and digital assets, but his deals also include software and consumer companies, and Certifyde is enterprise AI training and adoption software. We found no public statement from him about check size or about what he looks for in pitches, so neither is stated here.
- Certifyde: AI adoption and training software for employees. Seed, $2M, 2026.
- Palm Tree Crew: angel round, June 2023, per CB Insights.
- Zamp: seed round, May 2023, per CB Insights.
- Chameleon: seed round, April 2016, per CB Insights.
Investing activity
Brad Garlinghouse appears in 1 AI deal tracked by the Lounge deals desk. The rounds are mostly Seed, with a median round size of $2M. The most recent is Certifyde (Seed, $2M, Jun 2026).
Brad Garlinghouse most often invests alongside Flamingo Capital, Kygo, K5 Global and Taylor Fritz, and the companies they back on Lounge are mostly in AI.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Brad Garlinghouse
Has Brad Garlinghouse invested in AI startups?
Yes. He took part in Certifyde's $2M seed round, which K5 Global and Flamingo Capital led. Certifyde builds tools that help employees adopt AI at work.
What stage does Brad Garlinghouse invest in?
His documented deals are angel and seed rounds, such as Certifyde (2026), Zamp (2023) and Chameleon (2016).
What is Brad Garlinghouse's check size?
He has not made his check size public. Certifyde's $2M seed round was led by other investors, so his own amount is not known.
Who is Brad Garlinghouse?
He is CEO of Ripple. He was previously CEO of Hightail, President of Consumer Applications at AOL, and a Senior Vice President at Yahoo.
How can founders reach Brad Garlinghouse about an investment?
He is active on X as @bgarlinghouse. We did not find a public pitch process or investment email for him, and warm introductions from his network are the usual route for angels.
Is Brad Garlinghouse an angel investor?
Yes. Brad Garlinghouse invests personally as an angel.
What AI companies has Brad Garlinghouse invested in?
Brad Garlinghouse's AI investments include Certifyde. The 1 round on Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
What stage does Brad Garlinghouse invest at?
In the rounds tracked on Lounge, Brad Garlinghouse has invested at Seed, with a median round of $2M.
Who does Brad Garlinghouse co-invest with?
Brad Garlinghouse's most frequent co-investors on Lounge are Flamingo Capital (1 deal), Kygo (1 deal), K5 Global (1 deal), Taylor Fritz (1 deal) and Roland Peralta (1 deal).
How can founders reach Brad Garlinghouse?
Founders on Lounge can see Brad Garlinghouse's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with them under Warm Paths, and add Brad Garlinghouse to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.