# Nicholas “Nicky” Hinrichsen

> Nicholas “Nicky” Hinrichsen is the co-founder and CEO of Clutch, which builds digital loan and deposit origination software for US credit unions. Born in Germany, he played on the German national golf team, earned his MBA at Stanford and co-founded Carlypso with Chris Coleman in 2013. Carvana acquired Carlypso in 2017; Hinrichsen worked on its consumer vehicle-acquisition business before reuniting with Coleman to launch Clutch in 2020.

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Clutch
- **Organizations:** Clutch, Carlypso, Carvana, ecolutions, Bain & Company, Merrill Lynch, Volanty, German national golf team
- **From:** Munich, Germany
- **Nationality:** German
- **Education:** Master of Business Administration, Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Studies in business informatics, finance and supply chain management, European Business School, Studies in mergers and acquisitions, University of Sydney, Studies in corporate finance, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez
- **Known for:** Co-founded Carlypso, which joined Y Combinator Summer 2014 and was acquired by Carvana in 2017., Helped build Carvana’s consumer vehicle-acquisition business., Co-founded Clutch; its January 2025 Series B raised $65 million.

## Career timeline

- **2002** — Publicly profiled as a German national golf squad member and Hamburger Golf Club player.
- **2008-2010** — Worked in project finance and controlling at renewable-energy investment company ecolutions.
- **2011** — Moved to the United States to attend Stanford Business School.
- **2013** — Graduated from Stanford and co-founded Carlypso with Chris Coleman.
- **2014** — Carlypso participated in Y Combinator’s summer batch.
- **2017** — Carvana acquired Carlypso; its August announcement identified Hinrichsen as running wholesale and trade technology.
- **2017-2020** — Worked at Carvana, building the Sell to Carvana business.
- **2020** — Left Carvana with Coleman and started Clutch.
- **2025** — Clutch announced a $65 million Series B led by Alkeon Capital Management.
- **2026** — Discussed AI-assisted collections in a CUbroadcast interview; featured in an automation-first lending webinar announcement.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Carlypso, which joined Y Combinator Summer 2014 and was acquired by Carvana in 2017.
- Helped build Carvana’s consumer vehicle-acquisition business.
- Co-founded Clutch; its January 2025 Series B raised $65 million.
- Clutch won the MD|DC Credit Union Association’s 2022 FinTank Competition.
- Represented Germany in national-team golf.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — The MD|DC Credit Union Association announced a July 15 Clutch webinar featuring Hinrichsen on automation-first lending.
- **2026-02** — Discussed Clutch’s AI collections agent Emma and human involvement in complex scenarios on CUbroadcast.
- **2025-01** — Clutch announced $65 million in Series B financing, led by Alkeon with Andreessen Horowitz, TruStage Ventures and Peterson Partners participating.

## Links

- Website: https://withclutch.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-hinrichsen/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nicky-hinrichsen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-12