Image via CoinDesk Policy
Ripple: Geographic Expansion
Ripple obtained preliminary MiCA crypto license approval from Luxembourg's CSSF, enabling expanded stablecoin services across the EU
Source: CoinDesk Policy
The leadership read
Market entry of this kind typically deepens demand for consulting leadership bench strength in the region over the following 12–18 months.
Market context: Backdrop: a 113.7 (Hot) Talent Market Index (up 13.7 on the month) with EMEA activity steady (-1.5pts).
Ripple: 4 signals in the last 90 days — above the Consulting median of 1 across 40 tracked companies; 0.2% of MitchelLake's Americas signal flow; 4 tracked across 69 days.
Market entry — the MitchelLake playbook
When a company expands into a new market, the first leadership hires decide whether it lands. A selection of market entries we've run:
Market entry · Oceania
Square
Executive Search Fintech
Market entry
Dropbox
Executive Search for SaaS
Market entry · Asia
Deliveroo
Executive Search in ASEAN
Market entry · Oceania
SurveyMonkey
Managing Director APAC (first hire in region) / Country Manager
Market entry · Asia
LivePerson
Director ASEAN (first hire in region); also Head of Presales APAC
Market entry · Oceania
Etsy
Managing Director, Australia + Asia (MD APAC)
MitchelLake in this thematic
Also at Ripple →
More signals across Consulting
Geographic Expansion · EMEA
TechnologyOne →TechnologyOne expanding aggressively in UK market with £53m ARR, up 23%, targeting council consolidation opportunities
Partnership · EMEA
Darktrace →Darktrace joined OpenAI's Daybreak Cyber Partner Program to explore defensive AI integrations for secure AI adoption and organizational resilience
Ma Activity · EMEA
MoonPay →MoonPay acquired Entendre, an AI accounting agent platform serving stablecoin firms, to extend infrastructure into financial operations (reconciliation, treasury, close workflows).
Partnership · EMEA
Kyndryl →Kyndryl and AWS expanded their strategic partnership to scale agentic AI across enterprise IT environments. The agreement includes AWS investment in Kyndryl's talent development, joint solution engineering, AI specialisation, and sector-specific modernisation. Kyndryl will also support AWS's European Sovereign Cloud initiative as a launch partner.
Layoffs · EMEA
British Council →British Council plans to cut approximately 25% of workforce (alongside closure of 11 country offices) to manage £197m pandemic-related debt. Already reduced headcount by 2,110 FTE since April 2021; further redundancies signalled as part of turnaround plan. Organisation not expected to return to profitability until 2029/30.
Partnership · EMEA
Blockchain.com →Blockchain.com deepened partnership with Ondo Finance to expand tokenized equities offerings on-chain, capitalizing on growing demand for onchain stocks and ETFs.
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