A bridge from the old world to the new
Interact with a trusted provider that offers best-in-class trading, credit, custody, clearing and advisory services
Our Story
Our founders have always been fascinated by the crypto industry and worked in the nascent industry for several years before founding Aplo (originally named SheeldMarket).
While studying at Supaero and UC Berkeley, Oliver, Arnaud, and Simon identified a gap in the early stage global crypto market and founded Aplo as a fully-fledged crypto trading business. Jacques Lolieux, a renowned trader with over 25 years of experience and the creator of Credit Suisse’s famous dark pool, joined the team shortly after.
Together, they have made rapid progress in rolling out digital asset trading services to a wide range of customers around the world. Aplo’s platform is trusted by numerous institutional investors around the world to optimize their investments.
In 2020, Aplo raised $1m in seed funding and the following year, raised a further $10m from investors including Atomico, DraperDragon, and Axeleo. This has enabled the business to continue scaling its prime broker services and products.
Ultimately, our goal is to embrace the difficulty on our customers’ behalf, and build solutions that enable the next generation of finance.
Our Leadership
Join our team
Ingrid Richard
Head of Risks & Compliance
ExpandIngrid joined Aplo to build and lead the Risk & Compliance department, where she assesses and manages all risks related to Aplo’s operations and activities, as well as ensuring that the company is in compliance with relevant laws, regulations, and industry standards.
Ingrid has nearly 25 years experience in retail and commercial banking, for leading French financial institutions including BNP and BPCE. In that time she developed deep expertise in internal auditing, quality management and anti-money laundering.
Oliver Yates
CEO
ExpandOliver is Aplo’s CEO and is responsible for all aspects of the business’ growth and strategy.
A relative veteran in the crypto space, he built the first blockchain-enabled insurance contract for a major French insurer. Later led a research project on Ethereum security exploits at his university laboratory and contributed to the design of risk & trading signals for cryptocurrency funds at Merkle Data.
He holds a MSc in Applied Mathematics from Supaero and a joint MSc in Technology Entrepreneurship from Ecole Polytechnique and HEC Paris.
Jacques Lolieux
VP of Trading and Research
ExpandJacques is responsible for overseeing the trading and research functions of the company. As well as managing the trading desk and deciphering strategy, he leads on research and analysis.
He brings over 25 years of experience in traditional finance, with a primary focus on equities trading and technology, on the sell and buy side.
Prior to joining Aplo, he was Head of Electronic Market Making at Credit Suisse, where he built CrossFinder EU - one of the largest cash equity Dark Pools in the world. He recently exited a market making company accounting for over 5% of US equities volume.
Arnaud Carrere
CTO
ExpandArnaud is responsible for leading the technical direction of Aplo and overseeing the development of new products and services.
Before co-founding Aplo, Arnaud worked on lightning strike damage analysis at Airbus and designed software for the largest French cryptocurrency mining pool.
He holds a MSc in Computer Science from Supaero and a joint MSc in Technology Entrepreneurship from Ecole Polytechnique and HEC Paris.
Simon Douyer
COO
ExpandSimon is the professional problem-solver at Aplo. As COO he works closely with other departments to ensure that the company's operations are running smoothly and efficiently.
Before co-founding Aplo, he built an all-electric car, onboarded institutional customers at an early stage HR-tech company and designed better algorithms for the Bitcoin Lightning Network.
He holds a MSc in Systems Engineering from Supaero and a joint MSc in Technology Entrepreneurship from Ecole Polytechnique and HEC Paris.
François-Xavier Del Boca
Head of EMEA Sales
ExpandFrançois-Xavier has responsibility for Aplo’s client relationships and ensures they are receiving the prime brokerage services they need. He joined Aplo in 2020 to lead the sales team and bring crypto assets to global institutional clients.
Prior to joining Aplo he worked for Lehman Brothers, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, covering institutional clients in Equity Derivatives Sales. In 2018 he launched his own vintage watches business, a family passion that he maintains today.
Strategic partners
