CHICAGO, IL — (Marketwire) — 10/19/11 — Braintree, an online payments provider that powers commerce for many of the fastest-growing and most discerning online businesses in the world, announced that payments industry leader Bill Ready has joined the company as CEO.
Ready comes to Braintree from Accel Partners, a leading Silicon Valley venture capital and growth equity firm, where he was an executive in residence focusing on payments and financial technology. Ready previously was president of iPay Technologies, a payments software provider to the U.S. banking market, where he guided the company through a period of rapid growth in revenue and product capabilities, culminating in 40 percent share of the U.S. banking market for bill payment.
“Bill is the right person for the job and now is the right time for him to join Braintree. He-s an experienced CEO, he understands payments, and he cares deeply about our culture, product and service,” said Bryan Johnson, founder and chairman of Braintree. “I-m excited to be working with him and trust his leadership.”
“Braintree is truly unique. It is extremely rare to find so many passionate and appreciative customers and such a talented group of people who care so much about what they do. Braintree-s story is impressive and inspirational,” said Ready. “Braintree is disrupting payments with partners and clients that touch every part of the developer ecosystem. Source code hosts, application hosting providers, shopping carts — wherever developers are looking for tools — Braintree is there, providing solid infrastructure and simple integration points to make payments painless.”
Braintree-s client list reads like a Who-s Who of influential technology companies, including LivingSocial, 37signals, OpenTable, GitHub, Airbnb, Heroku, Engine Yard, Animoto, Shopify and HotelTonight. Braintree-s explosive growth landed it on the 2011 Inc. 500 list as the nation-s 47th fastest-growing private company, with a three-year growth rate of 4,200 percent. Braintree ranked first in the online payments industry. The company recently announced that it is processing more than $8 million in online credit card payments daily, and is on track to process more than $3 billion in 2011.
Braintree attracted a $34 million Series A investment from Accel Partners in June 2011 after Johnson profitably bootstrapped the company for four years. Accel is one of the most respected venture firms in the world and is behind companies such as Facebook, Groupon, Etsy and Rovio, the creator of Angry Birds.
“The combination of Bryan and Bill is a powerhouse leadership team,” said Ryan Sweeney, a partner with Accel who serves on Braintree-s board of directors. “As consumers increasingly make purchases online, via the social web, and through mobile devices, innovators such as Braintree will be increasingly relied upon to provide frictionless payment software solutions. Bryan and Bill share the vision to make Braintree the continued leader as this shift in purchasing behavior occurs.”
Ready earned his MBA with honors from Harvard Business School and his bachelor-s degree in business administration, information systems, and finance from the University of Louisville, where he was valedictorian.
Braintree helps online businesses process credit card payments by providing a merchant account, payment gateway, recurring billing and credit card storage. The company is disrupting the payments industry by providing elegant tools for developers coupled with white-glove support. Founded in 2007, Braintree works with the world-s most discerning online merchants, including LivingSocial, 37signals, OpenTable and GitHub. The company is on track to process more than $3 billion in credit card volume in 2011 from more than 2,000 merchants. Braintree was profitably bootstrapped for four years before accepting a $34 million investment from Accel Partners in 2011. Braintree ranked 47th in the 2011 Inc. 500. Visit us at and on Twitter @braintree.
For information contact:
Linda Muskin
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Mara Conklin
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