Richard Tao is a Chinese businessman and entrepreneur who is best known for his role as the chief executive officer of the Crypto financial company Tenkan Group. He’s been making the news recently because of the tremendous success that the company is experiencing in its fundraising and its growth. He stands as a solid example of how to become successful in an emerging market at an early age. He is widely recognized for his accomplishments and is an inspiration to young entrepreneurs with good ideas. Here are 10 things you probably didn’t know about Richard Tao that you might find intriguing.
1. He has an interesting early education
Richard Tao attended the Suzhou Middle School from 2005 through 2007 where he graduated from high school in 2007. Immediately after his graduation, he was accepted at the Mahindra United World College of India. This is an international school that has a cap of 200 students that are accepted from 87 different countries throughout the world. It is an exclusive school that is not easy to get into because of its stringent admissions requirements and strictly limited number of students enrolled per year. Tao graduated with his international baccalaureate degree in 2009.
2. Richard Tao attended the best colleges
After earning his bachelor’s degree, Richard was accepted to the prestigious Dartmouth College. He completed his bachelor of arts in the field of economics. He attended from 2009 to 2013, at which time he graduated Magna cum laude. He also attended Oxford University. He started classes in 2012 and continued for one year in the study of economics and political science.
3. He was involved in extracurricular activities
While Mr. Tao attended Dartmouth he was involved in a variety of clubs and extracurricular groups. He was a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon, the Dartmouth Economics Reading Group, the Project Preservation 2010 Group in Poland, the International Business Council, the Dominican Republic ASB, and he was an Intramural basketball champ.
4. He interned at Goldman Sachs
Richard Tao completed an internship with the Goldman Sachs financial company. He served as a summer quant analyst from June of 2011 through August of 2011, spending a total of 3 months with the company. He served at the New York City location in the metropolitan area. This was his first real work experience in the financial sector of business. It was there that he met the founder of Coinbase Fred Ehrsam. This was a valuable connection that created a relationship that has extended into his current company’s investments and holdings.
5. He worked for Morgan Stanley as a trader
Richard Tao was hired to work at the Morgan Stanley company in June of 2013. His title was FX & Rates Trader in the company’s Hong Kong location. He was a greater China FX and rates market maker and gained global macro prop trade experience in the position. He spent a total of 3 years and 9 months in the position, leaving in February of 2017.
6. He worked his way up in the business world
Mr. Tao didn’t start at the top of his career niche. He began as an intern and then he worked his way up with progressively responsible positions. In March of 2017, he was hired t a company called Arete Capital Partners at its Hong Kong offices. He was a portfolio manager for the company. He spent a total of 10 months in the position leaving in December of 2017 to pursue his dreams of being an entrepreneur and launching his own financial company.
7. Richard Tao is the founder of Tenkan Finance
Richard Tao is not only the leader of Tenkan Finance he is also the founder and the owner of the business. He launched the startup immediately after leaving his job at Arete Capital Partners. The official launch of the crypto-financial firm was in December of 2017 and it has been growing and prospering through the present
8. Richard has raised millions from investors
Mr. Tao has made some successful pitches to secure funding for the growth and expansion of his company. It isn’t always easy to convince large investors of the merits of a new startup, particularly one in an emerging market such as crypto finance. Tao has gained the attention of several large venture capital investors and recently raised $100 million in a round of Series B funding.
9. He’s the owner of a unicorn
Richard Tao’s company Tenkan Finance has recently reached a milestone after its latest round of venture capital funding. The pre-money valuation of Tenkan Group is estimated at $1 billion. This is an astronomical figure considering the business has only been in existence since 2017. It has grown and thrived and it reached the required $1 billion valuation to join the exclusive group of elite companies to reach this pinnacle of success. The company is backed by investors such as Gobi Partners, Tiger Global Management, Arena Holdings, Tiger Brokers, Tru Arrow Partners, DCM Ventures, Sky9 Capital, and China Renaissance.
10. Richard Tao is just getting started
Mr. Tao is a young business owner who has made a billion-dollar success out of his very first attempt to launch a company of his own. He is a remarkably talented leader who took a new startup from the ground upwards and turned it into a unicorn status enterprise within under four years from the official date that it became a legal company. He has secured backing from large financial companies above $100 million and this is just the beginning for Tenkan Group. It is also just the beginning for him as a businessman and entrepreneur. We expect to hear more about Richard Tao in the months and years to come.
