UK fintech Ripe has announced the appointment of Jamie Richards as Head of Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A).
Tasked with leading Ripe’s Acquisitions strategy, his appointment is to help the company to further expand the business through targeted acquisitions across commercial and specialist personal lines.
This is in addition to Ripe’s continued focus on delivering strong organic growth.
“Following our first acquisition of Craftinsure last year, this appointment reflects the importance of M&A in our future expansion plans. The investment of Aquiline Capital Partners in 2022 gives Ripe the firepower for our next growth phase, which will now be supercharged by our new Head of M&A,” commented Paul Williams, Chief Executive of Ripe.
He added: “With his experience and profile, Jamie will enable us to unlock new opportunities. We have a clear strategy – to identify quality businesses with existing specialisms which could benefit from our unique technology and digital marketing expertise to turbo-charge growth. We will be targeted and highly selective, so where we find the right fit, we can bring flexible deal structures and a strong valuation for potential vendors. Our door is open.”
Richards joins Ripe after a 10-year career at Deloitte, as a senior member of the Financial Institutions Group M&A team.
His appointment adds strong credentials to the Ripe team, with expertise across the insurance value chain. The executive has significant deal experience across a range of clients including founder led businesses, private equity, global insurers and intermediaries.
Commenting on his appointment, Richards said: “Ripe has an exceptionally unique and exciting proposition, which attracted me to this new role after 10 years at Deloitte. I’m thrilled to join the business at this time and be a part of its ambitious growth plans.
“I’ll be hitting the ground running, working on M&A opportunities where Ripe can add significant value to acquired businesses, especially through its marketing capabilities and proprietary technology platform.”
