Rutul Davé

Co-Founder and CTO Maxwell

Last Reviewed: September 28, 2026

Executive Summary

Rutul Davé is co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Maxwell, a company providing AI-powered mortgage technology and services to lenders. He built it with CEO John Paasonen and has led its technology, with a particular focus on applying machine learning and generative AI to lending workflows. In September 2026 PLACE, a real estate and financial services technology company, announced that it had acquired Maxwell; Maxwell’s own site continues to list him as Co-Founder and CTO. Before Maxwell he founded Bright Funds, a platform for impact-focused charitable giving, and he holds a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Southern California.

Career Highlights

• Holds an MS in computer science from the University of Southern California.
• Worked in marketing, product design and software engineering at Bay Area startups and venture-backed companies.
• Founded Bright Funds in 2012 to help a new generation of donors direct capital to impact.
• Co-founded Maxwell with John Paasonen and serves as its Chief Technology Officer.
• Named a 2023 HousingWire Vanguard honoree.
• Named with Paasonen to Inman’s 2024 Best of Finance list, with Maxwell citing his work leading AskMax, an AI feature that returns data insights through a search interface.
• Maxwell was acquired by PLACE, announced 24 September 2026.

Professional Journey

Davé trained as a software engineer, taking a master’s degree in computer science at the University of Southern California, and spent his early career in the Bay Area startup world, working across marketing, product design and software engineering at a number of venture-backed companies. In 2012 he founded Bright Funds, whose aim he described as designing experiences that “unlock passion and capital from a new generation of donors focused on impact”.

His move into mortgages came, by his own account, from a long-standing interest in the intersection of technology, startups and finance and from his own experience as a homebuyer. With John Paasonen he launched Maxwell, which the company says he co-founded to develop technology that helps lending teams reduce costs, manage risk and expand access to capital. As CTO he has described his job as using technology “to boost efficiency, bring down costs, and increase margins so the lenders on our platform can better serve their communities”. In the early days of the company he spent a few months living on a houseboat on a lake in Seattle, looking for somewhere he could feel on holiday while still getting work done.

Maxwell grew by building and by buying. In September 2023 it acquired Revvin, the digital mortgage lending platform formerly known as MortgageHippo. Davé’s own recent work has centred on AI: Maxwell credits him with leading the development of AskMax, which lets lenders query their data through a familiar search interface, and with a philosophy of AI as a co-pilot for lending staff rather than a replacement for them. That work earned him a 2023 HousingWire Vanguard award and, alongside Paasonen, a place on Inman’s 2024 Best of Finance list. Maxwell now says it has served 400-plus lenders and more than $230 billion in funded loans.

On 24 September 2026 PLACE announced that it had acquired Maxwell. The announcement names Paasonen as Maxwell’s CEO and does not mention Davé; Maxwell’s own leadership page continues to list him as Co-Founder and CTO.

Education

University of Southern California

MS, Computer Science.