Charles Hearn (entrepreneur)

Charles Hearn is an American software engineer, entrepreneur, co-founder and chief technology officer (CTO) of the financial technology company Alloy, a financial technology company that provides an identity decisioning and risk management platform for financial institutions and fintech firms.

Early life and education

Charles Hearn attended high school at the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies. He later graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in computer science.

Career

Hearn began his career in software development and technical research. Between 2011 and 2013, he served as the mobile lead and general developer for the start-up company: The City Swig. During this period, he also conducted independent research at the University of Virginia, focusing on the exploitation of GSM authentication protocols.

In August 2013, Hearn joined Microsoft as a program manager for the Bing Index and Knowledge team. In 2014, he moved into the fintech sector, serving as the lead product engineer at Knox Payments.

in February 2015, Charles Hearn along with Laura Spiekerman and Tommy Nicholas founded Alloy, a financial technology company that provides an identity decisioning and fraud prevention platform for banks, credit unions and fintech companies. Hearn serves as its chief technology officer (CTO).

In 2021, Hearn was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Enterprise Technology category. Under Hearn’s technical leadership, Alloy achieved unicorn status following a $100 million Series C funding round that valued the company at $1.35 billion. In September 2022, the company announced a Series C extension, bringing its valuation to $1.55 billion. The funding supported Alloy’s continued product expansion and international growth. As of late 2022, the company was valued at $1.55 billion.