# Rich Waldron

> Rich Waldron is the Co-founder and CEO of Tray.ai, a San Francisco-based enterprise AI automation and integration platform. He co-founded the company in 2012 out of the UK alongside Alistair Russell and Dominic Lewis, famously surviving 3.5 years without salary by running a web agency, publishing a magazine, and selling shoes on eBay. Under his leadership, Tray.ai has raised $149.1M in funding (most recently a $40M Series C extension in 2022), earned Gartner Visionary recognition in 2024 and 2025, and evolved from an iPaaS provider into an AI-ready enterprise orchestration platform championing the concept of the 'Autonomous Enterprise.'

- **Role:** Co-founder & CEO at Tray.ai
- **Organizations:** Tray.ai, Plan.nr, iFind Media
- **From:** Southampton, United Kingdom
- **Nationality:** British
- **Education:** BSc Business IT, Bournemouth University
- **Known for:** Co-founded Tray.ai, raising $149.1M total funding and reaching ~$600M valuation, Named Gartner Visionary in iPaaS Magic Quadrant 2024 and 2025, Achieved highest score for AI Implementation Support in Gartner's 2025 Critical Capabilities report

## Career timeline

- **2006** — Graduated from Bournemouth University with BSc in Business IT; met future co-founders
- **2006-2010** — COO at iFind Media
- **2010-2012** — Co-founded Plan.nr; ran a web agency with future Tray.ai co-founders
- **2012** — Co-founded Tray.io in the UK with Alistair Russell (CTO) and Dominic Lewis (CRO)
- **2012-2015** — Bootstrap phase: ran web agency, published a 50,000-copy print magazine, sold shoes on eBay to survive without salary
- **2015** — Secured venture capital after hundreds of investor meetings; moved to San Francisco on 3 days notice
- **2019** — Raised $50M Series C led by True Ventures, GGV Capital, Spark Capital, Meritech Capital
- **2021** — Awarded Comparably 'Best CEO' based on 98/100 employee approval rating
- **2022** — Raised $40M Series C Extension from CPP Investments; total funding reaches $149.1M
- **2023** — Launched Merlin AI - one of first iPaaS providers to introduce GenAI as a platform service
- **2024** — Rebranded from Tray.io to Tray.ai; Named Gartner Visionary in iPaaS Magic Quadrant
- **2025** — Named Gartner Visionary for second consecutive year; highest score for AI Implementation Support in Gartner Critical Capabilities

## Achievements

- Co-founded Tray.ai, raising $149.1M total funding and reaching ~$600M valuation
- Named Gartner Visionary in iPaaS Magic Quadrant 2024 and 2025
- Achieved highest score for AI Implementation Support in Gartner's 2025 Critical Capabilities report
- Named Forbes Next Billion Dollar Startup and CB Insights Future Unicorn
- Awarded Comparably 'Best CEO' in 2021 with 98/100 employee approval rating
- Built 700+ connector ecosystem for enterprise automation
- Led company pivot to AI agent orchestration with Merlin Agent Builder and Agent Gateway
- Maintained 100% execution uptime SLA for enterprise customers
- Grew company to 150 employees and $16M annual revenue

## Latest updates

- **2025-02** — Featured in SiliconANGLE's Tech Innovation CUBEd Awards 2025 alongside co-founder Alistair Russell
- **2025-03** — Featured on Humans of Martech podcast discussing how to build and manage AI agents
- **2025-01** — Tray.ai named Gartner Visionary in iPaaS Magic Quadrant for second consecutive year; highest score for AI Implementation Support
- **2024-12** — Company fully rebranded from Tray.io to Tray.ai, reflecting strategic pivot to AI-powered orchestration
- **2024-10** — Tray.ai named Gartner Visionary in 2024 iPaaS Magic Quadrant
- **2022-09** — Closed $40M Series C Extension led by CPP Investments, bringing total funding to $149.1M

## Links

- Website: https://tray.ai
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richwaldron
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/richwaldron
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Tray.io/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rich-waldron
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-05-23