Andreessen Horowitz Looks To Fintech With New Investment Partner Alex Rampell

Alex Rampell, the cofounder and CEO of TrialPay, an e-commerce payment and advertising startup acquired by Visa this year, is joining Andreessen Horowitz as an investment partner.

Rampell is a serial entrepreneur who began writing "shareware" software when he was 10 and has invested in scores of technology startups, including many in the fintech area.

"He’s incredibly networked," said Marc Andreessen, the cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz. "He’s in the flow of all the new startups already." Andreessen said that Rampell's purview will not be limited to fintech, but that in the area of payments and lending, "he brings more depth than we've had."

Rampell said that he decided to become a venture capitalist because "starting, advising and investing in young companies" is what he enjoys.

During his tenure at TrialPay, Rampell also served as CEO of Yub, an online affiliate network spun out of TrialPay and acquired by Coupons.com in 2013. Previously, he cofounded FraudEliminator, an anti-phishing company, which merged with SiteAdvisor, a company started by Chris Dixon, an Andreessen Horowitz investment partner, and was later acquired by McAfee in 2006.

Recently, Rampell also co-founded Affirm, a lending startup run by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, and Point.com, which lets investors buy fractional shares in homes.

"I worry about being labeled the payments and fintech guy," Rampell said. "But the more I spend on it, the more I like it." The sector, he added, "is ripe for disruption."

Rampell's addition brings the number of investment partners at the high-profile firm to 8, Andreessen said.