# Rory O'Reilly

> Rory O'Reilly is the New York-based co-founder and CEO of Knot, which connects financial apps with merchant accounts. He builds with his brother Kieran, following ventures including gifs.com, Gems/Expand and Millions. The experience of Millions customers resisting saved-card updates led to the pivot into Knot. He is a Thiel Fellow, Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree and Harvard Innovation Fellow.

- **Role:** Co-Founder & CEO at Knot
- **Organizations:** Knot, Millions, gifs.com, Gems / Expand, Harvard University, Thiel Fellowship
- **Education:** Harvard University, Sewanhaka High School
- **Known for:** Thiel Fellowship, 2015., Forbes 30 Under 30, Consumer Technology, 2016., Harvard Innovation Fellow.

## Career timeline

- **2012** — Begins studies at Harvard University.
- **2014** — Leaves Harvard and moves to San Francisco with Kieran to build GifYoutube, later gifs.com.
- **2015** — Named a Thiel Fellow alongside Kieran.
- **2016** — Recognized in Forbes 30 Under 30, Consumer Technology.
- **2017** — Co-founds Gems, later Expand, focused on microtask infrastructure.
- **2020** — Co-founds Millions, a debit-card venture.
- **2022** — Co-founds Knot following the pivot from Millions; Kieran’s timeline dates this to August.
- **2023** — Knot announces a $10 million Series A led by Nava Ventures.
- **2024** — American Express and Knot announce card-on-file functionality.
- **2026** — Knot announces Canadian expansion with RBC and a Venmo collaboration.

## Achievements

- Thiel Fellowship, 2015.
- Forbes 30 Under 30, Consumer Technology, 2016.
- Harvard Innovation Fellow.
- Co-founded gifs.com and led the pivot from Millions into Knot.
- An early angel investor in Baselayer with Kieran, according to co-founder Jonathan Awad.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Knot-powered card linking is available in the KOHO app; KOHO’s help page is dated October 2, 2026.
- **2026-08** — Knot announces its Venmo partnership on August 13, extending to Pay with Venmo at participating merchants.
- **2026-07** — Knot announces its first expansion outside the US through an RBC partnership.
- **2026-05** — Appears on Jason Mikula’s Fintech Business Podcast to discuss Knot’s pivot and merchant connectivity.
- **2026-04** — Contributes a merchant connectivity essay to Fintech Business Weekly.

## Links

- Website: https://www.knotapi.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rory-oreilly
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/RoryOReilly

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/rory-oreilly
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-14