# Hugo Finkelstein

> Hugo Finkelstein is the co-founder and CEO of Rise, a global payroll and compliance company that lets businesses pay contractors and employees across 190+ countries in local currency, stablecoins, or crypto. What started at Babson College as a campus buy-and-sell app turned into a career in crypto community-building and, eventually, a payroll platform that has processed more than $1 billion in payments. Rise raised a $6.3M Series A in November 2024 led by Draper Associates and Polymorphic Capital, and Finkelstein has become one of the clearest voices arguing that the real stablecoin use case is not trading, it is payroll.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Rise
- **Organizations:** Rise (Rise Works), LGO
- **Nationality:** French-American
- **Education:** French Baccalaureate, Lycee Francais de New York, Bachelor's degree, Babson College
- **Known for:** Co-founded and leads Rise, a global payroll and compliance platform operating across 190+ countries., Grew Rise past $1 billion in total payroll volume (November 2025), with half of that added in nine months., Raised a $6.3M Series A in November 2024 led by Draper Associates and Polymorphic Capital.

## Career timeline

- **Babson years** — Launched his first venture, an app for students to buy, sell, and exchange goods on campus; introduced to Bitcoin and Ether by his roommate.
- **Pre-Rise** — Reconnected with an angel investor launching a crypto exchange (LGO); applied marketing and community-building skills across blockchain projects.
- **2022** — Rise launched, originally as a smart-contract-based alternative to Fiverr and Upwork for independent contractors.
- **2023** — Rise won CoinDesk's pitch competition at Consensus; pivoted toward global payroll and compliance infrastructure.
- **2024-11** — Rise raised $6.3M Series A led by Draper Associates and Polymorphic Capital, bringing total funding to about $10M.
- **2025** — Partnered with Circle to expand USDC for payroll; grew from $500M to $1B in total payroll volume in nine months.
- **2025-11** — Rise surpassed $1 billion in total payroll volume; announced Rise 2.0 and EOR expansion from 10 to 70 countries.
- **2026** — Appeared at Consensus Miami 2026 with CoinDesk to discuss stablecoin payroll adoption after $1.5B processed.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and leads Rise, a global payroll and compliance platform operating across 190+ countries.
- Grew Rise past $1 billion in total payroll volume (November 2025), with half of that added in nine months.
- Raised a $6.3M Series A in November 2024 led by Draper Associates and Polymorphic Capital.
- Oversaw 100,000+ contractors on the platform and 100,000+ RiseIDs minted.
- Won CoinDesk's pitch competition at Consensus.
- Established a partnership with Circle to bring USDC into mainstream global payroll.

## Latest updates

- **2025-11** — Rise surpassed $1 billion in total payroll volume and announced Rise 2.0 with direct payroll, daily pay, and multi-chain automation, plus EOR expansion to 70 countries.
- **2026-05** — Joined CoinDesk at Consensus Miami 2026 to discuss what $1.5B in processed payroll reveals about stablecoin adoption.

## Links

- Website: https://riseworks.io
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hugo-finkelstein
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiTy5yzibGg

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/hugo-finkelstein
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-17