Fast Company has named Rippleworks, a non-profit organization supporting social ventures, one of the top ten most innovative companies of the year.
Rippleworks was launched in 2015 by billionaire Chris Larsen, the co-founder and executive chairman of San Francisco-based fintech Ripple.
Rippleworks was established to offer practical support for entrepreneurs by pinpointing and tackling operational challenges, testing solutions and building 6-month action plans. The goal is to solve immediate and critical scaling challenges.
Reports Fast Company,
“This year, it’s worked with more than 30 companies, helping scale everything from clean electricity in Africa to building new toilets for the developing world.”
Ripple has come under fire for using Rippleworks as a tax shelter. A report published by Messari in November of 2019 states,
“According to the Foundation’s (public) Form 990, during its fiscal year 2018 (year ended April 30, 2018), the Ripple Foundation for Financial Innovation (nee RippleWorks), the entity affiliated with Ripple and its co-founder Chris Larsen, granted exactly $0 to other charities out of a staggering $1.2 billion AUM.”
Larsen says the report is full of inaccuracies, citing Rippleworks’ donation of more than $25 million to good causes focused on alleviating poverty in Kenya, Senegal and Myanmar.
Rippleworks has helped 100 projects since launch. The company reports that its portfolio has reached 216 million people operating in 59 countries.
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