Messina, a Silicon Valley veteran of two decades, joins Republic to further the investment platform’s mission to democratize investing and bring profit to the people

Republic, the leading investment platform giving people the power to invest in the future they believe in, announced today the hiring of Chris Messina as Head of West Coast Business Development. Based in the Bay Area, Messina will lead Republic’s business development to connect entrepreneurs to the Republic ecosystem. Messina brings to Republic more than two decades of experience founding companies, designing products and working at the cutting edge of Silicon Valley, along with the network and know-how to accelerate growth of the Republic platform.

“Chris is a one-in-a-million addition to Republic,” said Republic founder Kendrick Nguyen. “His years of experience building startups, advising companies and advocating for the future of technology are unmatched. He will deliver world class guidance to our startup founders as they take advantage of Republic’s equity crowdfunding offerings.”

A well-known figure in the Silicon Valley community, Messina famously introduced the now-ubiquitous hashtag to Twitter, which has now been widely adopted and used across many social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Tumblr, etc. He’s also the top ranked product hunter on Product Hunt, a website to share and discover new products that is affiliated with Republic through AngelList. In addition to creating the world’s first coworking space, galvanizing Mozilla Firefox to its first 100 million downloads and co-organizing the first BarCamp unconference event model, Chris served at Uber and Google in various capacities. He is a highly sought speaker, with previous appearances at several leading conferences including TEDx, SXSW, Google I/O and Microsoft’s Future Decoded, among others.

“I’ve been committed to openness and transparency in technology throughout my career, and the vision for Republic is perfectly aligned with these values,” said Messina. “Republic has made financing tomorrow’s great companies simple, straightforward and accessible to millions of people who previously had little to no access to the success of these compelling investment opportunities. I’m looking forward to being a part of the Republic story.”

Republic provides users access to vetted investment opportunities in startups, crypto currency tokens, video games, real estate, and more. The Republic ecosystem has facilitated more than $300 million in total funding since it launched in 2016 through its regulation crowdfunding, investment advisory, broker dealer, crypto-advisory, video game publishing and real estate development operations.

To see an image of Chris, click here.

About Republic

Republic gives people power to invest in the future they believe in by providing access to startup, real estate, crypto, and video game investments. Focused on creating a diverse, sustainable, connected world, Republic has facilitated over $300 million in investments from over one million global community members. With a global team in six countries, Republic is backed by Galaxy Digital, The Motley Fool, Binance, AngelList and more. For more information, visit republic.co.

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