CPTO at BUX (ABN AMRO) · Amsterdam

Scale-up CTO. FinTech APIs. From 5 to 250 FTE.

  1. Wise
  2. Upvest
  3. Alpaca
  4. BUX

Fifteen years in executive leadership, twenty-six years shipping software. Built the B2B API infrastructure that powers banks, neobanks and brokers across Europe and the US. Now CPTO at BUX, ABN AMRO's Amsterdam neobroker, turning that same regulated-platform engineering into a customer-facing wealth platform.

Juha Ristolainen
NowCPTO at BUX (ABN AMRO)Amsterdam · since 2026
BasedHelsinki, FinlandAmsterdam for BUX
FocusConsumer wealth at scaleRetail investing · Savings migration
01 · The arc

Four roles, one through-line: from B2B rails to consumer wealth.

2018 – 2020

Wise

CTO TransferWise for BusinessFCA-regulated · $11B public

Drove the strategic shift from app-first to API-first across the entire B2B division. £1B moved per week. 80 FTE across 6 global sites.

2020 – 2025

Upvest

CTO & Co-founderBaFin-licensed · €640M

Built Europe's investment-infrastructure API from zero. Scaled 5 to 120+, raised €180M, €50M ARR. Powers Revolut, N26, Bunq and Raisin.

2025 – 2026

Alpaca

CTO$1.15B Series D · 400+ partners

Scaled a broker-dealer API for the AI era. 80 to 130 engineers. Shipped one of the first external MCP servers for a regulated brokerage API.

2026 – nowCurrent

BUX

CPTOABN AMRO · Amsterdam

The same regulated-platform engineering, pointed at end customers: turning ABN AMRO's neobroker into a wealth-building platform. The mandate is to migrate a second acquisition's savings book onto it, targeting 4× end users and 10× AuM.

02 · Playbook

Four capabilities I bring to every mandate.

Scale-up org design

Team Topologies, OKRs, empowered and autonomous distributed teams. Proven from 5 to 250 FTE across three FinTech platforms.

Regulated FinTech architecture

BaFin and FCA platforms, event-driven microservices, CQRS, cloud-native infrastructure, DevSecOps. Compliance-by-design baked into the SDLC.

AI-native engineering

First-mover MCP server deployment, agentic operations, agentic SDLC and software factories. Compounding velocity rather than swapping headcount for tools.

API-first platform strategy

Turning consumer FinTechs into platforms — partner integrations, embedded finance, developer experience as a first-class product surface.

03 · Track record

Twenty-six years shipping. Fifteen in executive leadership.

2026 – nowEuropean neobroker, wholly owned by ABN AMRO · Amsterdam · consumer wealth platform
BUX (ABN AMRO)Chief Product & Technology OfficerCurrent

From B2B rails to a customer-facing wealth platform.

First product-and-technology mandate combining both functions. The through-line from Wise, Upvest, and Alpaca is the same regulated-platform engineering, pointed at end customers rather than at other companies' APIs: turning a neobroker into a wealth-building platform, and absorbing the savings book of another ABN AMRO acquisition onto it.

4×End users (migration target)
10×AuM (migration target)
B2B → B2CInfrastructure to consumer wealth
Mandate targets, not delivered results.
2025 – 2026$1.15B valuation (Series D, $150M) · $10B AUC · $130M run-rate revenue · 400+ partners
AlpacaChief Technology Officer

Scaled brokerage infrastructure for the AI era.

Scaled engineering for Alpaca's broker-dealer and investment-infrastructure API at global scale, growing the organisation from 80 to 130 engineers against the company's 2.5× AUC growth target.

$10BAssets under custody
$130MRun-rate revenue
80 → 130Eng FTE (roadmap 250)
2020 – 2025Regulated B2B investment-infrastructure API · €180M raised (Series A–C) · €640M most recent valuation
UpvestCTO & Co-founder

From crypto custody to Europe's investment-infrastructure API.

Built Upvest from zero to a market-leading European investment-infrastructure platform powering Revolut, N26, Bunq, and Raisin. Scaled through two distinct phases — zero-to-one foundation building, then scaling to market leadership.

€180MRaised across Series A–C
50M+End-users on platform
5 → 120+Engineers scaled
2018 – 2020B2B division (Wise for Business + Wise Platform) · £1B moved/week · 80 FTE across 6 global sites · B2B grew ~75% YoY
Wise (formerly TransferWise)CTO TransferWise for Business

API-first transformation of Wise's entire B2B division.

Led engineering for Wise's entire B2B division — Wise for Business and Wise Platform. Drove the strategic shift to API-first across the org while the division grew ~75% YoY, twice the rate of the consumer business.

£1BMoved per week
75%YoY B2B growth
80FTE / 6 sites / 3 continents
2008 – 2015
FuturiceTechnology Director

Fifteen years compounding technical leadership.

Instrumental in scaling the company from a Tampere startup to an international consultancy of several hundred people, including establishing the Berlin and London offices. Led delivery for global enterprise clients including Microsoft, Nokia, and Samsung across a wide range of technologies and problem domains. Notable deliveries include the Windows 8 HERE Maps application, the Samsung Goal+ World Cup app across mobile and Smart TV platforms, and the Nokia N-series music player that shipped on hundreds of millions of devices worldwide.

5 → 500Grew with Futurice
6thEmployee at join
3Countries (FI · DE · UK)
04 · Proof

The numbers behind the title.

5 → 250Engineers scaledAcross Wise, Upvest, Alpaca
$25BAssets under custodyAcross BUX, Alpaca, Upvest
£1BMoved per weekWise Platform B2B
75%YoY B2B growthWise Platform under my watch
~$500MCapital raised across mandatesEarlybird · Notion · HV · Bessemer · BlackRock · Sapphire · Drive · Citadel
$100M+Run-rate revenue
50M+End-users served
20M+Trades / year at UpvestPeak 1M+/wk · 100K+ in a day
10+Regulators across 10 jurisdictionsGermany · Netherlands · Belgium · US · Canada · Japan · Singapore · India · Saudi Arabia · UAE
6Global sites at WiseLondon · Budapest · Tallinn · NYC · Tampa · Singapore
4FinTech platforms ledBUX · Alpaca · Upvest · Wise
2BaFin licenses securedCrypto custody bank + investment infra
05 · Selected ships

Things put into production that mattered.

  1. 01

    One of the first external MCP servers for a regulated brokerage API — LLM-driven algotrading on real markets.

    Alpaca2025
  2. 02

    Strategic pivot at Upvest — from crypto custody to a comprehensive investment-infrastructure API.

    Upvest2021
  3. 03

    API-first transformation of Wise's entire B2B division — division grew ~75% YoY, twice the rate of consumer.

    Wise2018–20
  4. 04

    Two BaFin licenses: one of Germany's first crypto custody bank licenses, plus investment-infrastructure license.

    Upvest2021–24
  5. 05

    Opened US, Canada, Australia, Portugal through bank partnerships at Wise.

    Stanford CU · Novo · Eq · Up · Activo2018–20
  6. 06

    First Symbian GPU driver — OpenVG / OpenGL ES at kernel level. Shipped on hundreds of millions of Nokia devices.

    Broadcom IVE3 · Nokia N8Earlier
06 · Beyond the day job

Board work, angel investing and operating principles.

Board · Advisory

Sustashift

Non-executive director · 2025 – now

AI-automated CSRD reporting for regulated companies.

Earlier advisory

Sanako · Blockchain & Climate Institute · Track (acq. Transporeon) · Vaana

Board, NED and advisor roles, 2009 – 2025.

Angel · Network

FIBAN (Finnish Business Angel Network)

Active angel

Active angel investor — member of FIBAN.

Greencode Ventures

Advisor

Part of Greencode Ventures advisor network for deal sourcing and technical due diligence.

Operating principles
Builder firstI started as an engineer and stay close to the work. I lead organisations I would want to work in.
Compounding velocityEvery quarter the team should be faster than the last — through better people, better tooling, better architecture, and now AI.
Regulated by designIn FinTech, compliance is part of the platform, not a checkpoint at the end.
Distributed by defaultI have run engineering across six time zones and three continents. Talent does not cluster geographically anymore — neither should the work.
07 · Get in touch

Building consumer wealth at BUX. Always up for comparing notes.

I'm not looking for a new executive mandate. I keep time for board and advisory conversations, for founders building on regulated rails, and for anyone wrestling with the same migration and platform problems. A candid call, no deck, no agenda.

Now
CPTO at BUX (ABN AMRO) · Amsterdam
Open to
Board · Advisory · Angel
Sectors
FinTech · B2B SaaS · Regulated platforms · Embedded finance · Investment infrastructure
Not seeking
Not looking for a new executive mandate.
Response
1-2 days