On the heels of a successful $25 million Series A fundraise that closed in September, SIMBA Chain has announced Bryan Ritchie has been selected to lead the company into a high-growth, transformational blockchain platform company. Ritchie, who has spent 30 years in the technology and software innovation industries, replaces former CEO and co-founder Joel Neidig, who will continue to lead the company’s highly successful government contracting business unit.
Ritchie comes to SIMBA Chain from the IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame, where he served as CEO and head of the Investment Committee for the Pit Road Fund. Prior to that, he ran commercialization and startups at the University of Utah and Michigan State University, helping launch more than 600 startups. He is a serial entrepreneur and startup venture de-risking expert.
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“Closing our series A as well as the people we’re attracting to our team validates our readiness to scale and market readiness”
Prior to being named CEO, Ritchie served as chairman of the SIMBA Chain board as well as a key adviser on the Series A fundraise, which generated tremendous excitement among Silicon Valley investors, including lead investor, Valley Capital Partners. Phil Koen has replaced Ritchie as chair of the SIMBA Chain board.
Commenting on his new role, Ritchie believes blockchain will revolutionize how the world interacts with the internet. “SIMBA Chain has created a simple, dynamic API development platform to create trustless, decentralized web 3.0 applications to interface with smart contracts on a large number of different blockchains. We have succeeded in making what is a very complex task simple, portable and sustainable. We’re poised to lead the charge in what promises to be a massive digital transformation.”
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He adds, “SIMBA Chain is an anomaly among blockchain startups in that it has real traction and is not just hype and flash. We have real customers using our platform to develop NFT marketplaces; manage inventories and supply chains; support sports and event ticketing; secure title and property management systems; provide educational programming; and many other applications. Unlike many competitors, we’ve moved beyond the hype and are getting real work done.”
Moving forward, Ritchie is focused on continuing to secure elite blockchain talent and putting SIMBA Chain on a high-growth trajectory that will position the company for a Series B fundraise. “Closing our series A as well as the people we’re attracting to our team validates our readiness to scale and market readiness,” he says.
SIMBA Chain will soon announce a number of high-profile hires as it builds out its executive team, including individuals who have been at the forefront of groundbreaking digital technologies that are now foundational to business, government and the world at large. Says Ritchie, “Our focus is to create the go-to development platform for the blockchain revolution.”
Ritchie earned an MBA in International Business from the Marriott School at Brigham Young University and a PhD in Political Economy from Emory University.