Circle has continued to grow significantly across many fronts and with that growth has come greater levels of financial, operational and risk complexity. To help us address this growing complexity and opportunity, we are fortunate and pleased to welcome Naeem Ishaq as Circle’s new Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and EVP of Risk.
Naeem joins us from Boxed, the New York-based e-commerce platform company where he was CFO and held responsibility for leading several divisions of the company. Prior to Boxed, Naeem was the Head of Finance, Strategy & Risk for Square, a fintech company noteworthy for their exceptional finance and risk management execution. Previously, he served as Sr. Director of Finance & Strategy at Salesforce.com, where he led the company’s long range planning, supported all M&A activity, and led Finance & Strategy activities for Salesforce.com’s acquired standalone businesses.
While Naeem’s professional background is noteworthy and highly relevant for Circle, we are especially excited for his values, energy, intelligence, passion and mission-driven focus that is aligned with Circle’s goal of building a long-term technology company with global impact. Naeem’s thoughtfulness and moral compass resonate with the kind of culture we are seeking to foster here at Circle.
Naeem joining Circle comes at a transformative time for our company considering the recent acquisition of Poloniex, our recently introduced app Circle Invest, and continued global expansion and growth for Circle Pay and Circle Trade. Some highlights from this growth include:
- From this past December through February, Circle facilitated more than $75 billion in transactions, making Circle one of the largest crypto finance companies in the world.
- Circle hosts more than 7 million customers in more than 200 countries and has grown usage 450% in the past year.
- Global expansion sees Circle with offices and personnel now in Boston, New York, San Francisco, Dublin, London, Paris, Madrid, Milan, Beijing and Hong Kong.
- The team is growing from just over 150 people at the start of 2018, to likely around 400 people at the end of 2018. We’re hiring talented people in all disciplines around the world.
- The company achieved material profitability for all of 2017, and expects continued significant revenue growth and profits for 2018.
At this pivotal stage, we are growing from a startup to leading global company, just as crypto goes from early adopter novelty into being foundational to the future of society and the economy. Welcome Naeem, we’ve got a lot of work to do!
Sean & Jeremy
Circle Co-Founders