Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Blair Silverberg, Founder and CEO of Hum Capital, a funding platform connecting great companies with the right capital for their growth. Hum believes that every qualified company should be able to raise the capital they need to flourish without bias or friction. On Hum?s Intelligent Capital Market, companies are evaluated on fundamentals and performance, not on who they know. In this episode, you will learn all about: - The platform that Blair and his team are building - How Hum builds an efficient two-sided marketplace - The current issues companies face when attempting to access capital - Blair?s journey from investor to founder - And much more! About Blair Silverberg Blair Silverberg is the Founder and CEO of Hum Capital. Prior to launching Hum, he was an investor at Draper Fisher Jurvetson. He is passionate about using data to identify great businesses. He studied Product Design at Stanford University. About Hum Capital Launched in 2019, Hum is turning the tables on the traditional fundraising process. The platform strives to make fundraising more efficient, transparent and data-driven. To learn more about Hum, visit humcapital.com. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Rishi Khanna, CEO of Stocktwits. The two discuss Rishi's lessons learned as a serial entrepreneur, the benefits of social trading, international expansion at Stocktwits, meme stocks, NFTs, and much more. Rishi Khanna: Rishi Khanna is the CEO of Stocktwits, the original social platform for individual investors and traders with 6M registered members. Before Stocktwits, Rishi was Managing Director at SS&C GlobeOp at SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc, where he had overall responsibility for sales, product, operations and strategic direction of a number of businesses serving the alternative assets industry. In 2007, Rishi co-founded and served as President of Novus, a global portfolio intelligence platform company that invented the art of portfolio intelligence, solving unique data and analytics challenges facing capital allocators and fund managers across liquid and illiquid investments. Prior to co-founding Novus, Rishi was responsible for the development of the technology and product platforms for Gerson Lehrman Group. Rishi holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Cornell University. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

In today's episode, Ally McCloskey sits down with Ganesh Rao, Managing Director and Head of Financial Technology and Services at Thomas H. Lee Partners ("THL"), the $16B+ private equity firm. THL invests in middle market growth companies exclusively in three sectors: Financial Technology & Services, Healthcare, and Technology & Business Solutions. Since its founding in 1974, THL has raised more than $34 billion of equity capital, invested in over 160 companies, and completed more than 500 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $210 billion. Specifically within Financial Technology & Services, THL has invested $5.7 billion in 28 companies. Some notable exits you may know include: BlackKnight, FIS, FirstbanCorp, and MoneyGram, among others. Ganesh, has been with THL for over 20 years, coming from Morgan Stanley's FIG group and after completing his MBA at Harvard Business School. He is currently a director of AbacusNext, Black Knight, Dun & Bradstreet, ServiceLink Holdings, Ceridian HCM Holding Inc., AmeriLife Group, Auction.com, Hightower Advisors, and Insurance Technologies, and a board observer at Guaranteed Rate. Ally and Ganesh discuss: ? The ways in which Private Equity has changed over the past 2+ decades ? How THL is structured, where its latest $5.6 billion fund will be deployed, and the 5 Identified Sector Opportunities Ganesh focuses on within Financial Technology & Services ? THL's sourcing and relationship building process with target partner companies ? THL's role after a deal is inked ? Ganesh's forward-looking theses on Vertical Software with Integrated Payments and Insurance Tech & Services ? His most memorable deal and spending an atypical 13 years with that company before exiting ? And a whole lot more -- About Ganesh Ganesh B. Rao is a managing director at Thomas H. Lee Partners. Prior to joining Thomas H. Lee Partners, Mr. Rao worked at Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated in the Financial Institutions Group. Mr. Rao is currently a director of AbacusNext, Black Knight, Dun & Bradstreet, Ceridian HCM Holding Inc., AmeriLife Group, Auction.com, Hightower Advisors, Insurance Technologies, Nextech, Odessa and a board observer at Guaranteed Rate. His prior directorships include Comdata, Nielsen, MoneyGram International, Optimal Blue, ServiceLink Holdings and Ten-X Commercial. Mr. Rao holds a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics from Duke University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. About THL THL invests in middle market growth companies exclusively within selected Identified Sector Opportunities (ISOs) in three industry groups: Financial Technology & Services, Healthcare and Technology & Business Solutions. The firm couples deep domain expertise with dedicated internal operating resources to transform and build great companies of lasting value in partnership with management. Since 1974, THL has raised more than $34 billion of equity capital, invested in over 160 companies and completed more than 500 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $210 billion. Its global investor base includes some of the world's leading public and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, endowments and high net worth families, which THL considers to be a valuable asset, providing additional co-investment capital as well as insight and relationships useful to its portfolio companies. Since 2015, the firm has raised approximately $15 billion for its Flagship, Continuation and Automation Funds and over $5.5 billion of LP Co-investment vehicles. -- As always, for more Fintech insights and opportunities to collaborate, please find us below: Blog: medium.com/wharton-fintech Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ Suggest a Guest: airtable.com/shrdbokQPxAJzgVh7 Ally's Twitter: twitter.com/AllyMcCloskey Ally's Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/allyraemccloskey/

Anirudh Singh sits down with Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners. The two discuss what makes Insight such a successful investment firm, the evolution of fintech investing over the past 10 years, investments in Slice, GCash, Pomelo, and much more. Deven Parekh: Deven Parekh is a Managing Director at Insight Partners. Since joining Insight in 2000, he has made more than 130 investments in enterprise software, data, and consumer internet businesses globally, including in North America, Europe, India, Israel, China, Africa, Latin America, and Australia. Currently, Deven serves on the Boards of Directors for Appriss, Calm, Candy, Checkout.com, Chrono24, Community Brands, CoreLogic, Diligent, DistroKid, DriveWealth, Ellkay, Fanatics, iad, PDI, TetraScience, Vinted, WeWork, and Within3. Other companies within his portfolio include Chargebee, FTX, Thunes, Splitwise, 1stdibs, Slice, Saks.com and Saks OFF 5th, BharatPe, and Automattic (WordPress). In addition to his work at Insight, Deven currently serves as a Board Member for the Council on Foreign Relations, NYU Langone, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Tisch New York MS Research Center. He was also confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Board of Directors for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Prior to joining Insight, Deven was a Principal at Berenson Minella & Company, a New York-based merchant banking firm, where he served on the M&A Committee. He also worked for Blackstone on M&A and other investment activities. Deven has a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Anirudh Singh sits down with Greg Schvey, CEO of Axoni. The two discuss Greg?s introduction to bitcoin, the benefits of blockchain technology, public vs. private blockchains, and much more. Greg Schvey: Greg is a repeat entrepreneur and drives Axoni?s strategic execution. He previously co-founded TradeBlock and worked as a fixed income analyst at Citigroup. Greg holds a bachelor?s degree from Cornell University where he studied finance. Axoni: Axoni was founded in 2013 with the goal of overhauling global capital markets infrastructure. That vision has become a reality through intensive technology development and deep collaboration with the world?s leading financial institutions. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

In today's episode, Ally McCloskey sits down with two-time guest Dan Westgarth, COO at Deel. Deel makes growing remote and international teams effortless by simplifying international hiring, compliance, and payments all on one platform. This means businesses can hire anyone, anywhere as independent contractors or full time employees compliantly, in minutes, and with the ability to pay them in over 120 currencies and cryptos starting with USDC. The company has raised over $631mm from the likes of a16z, Spark Capital, Y Combinator, Coatue, Elad Gil, Nat Friedman, Alexis Ohanian, Daniel Gross, and others, most recently closing their $425mm Series D this past October. Dan joined Deel in 2020, after spending what he calls his "postgraduate education" at Revolut. For more on that chapter of his life, check out the link below to his 2019 WFT Podcast debut. In this conversation, Ally and Dan discuss: ? Dan's time at Revolut and his lessons learned leading the early U.S. expansion ? Meeting the founders of Deel and building conviction that they'd be the team to tackle global hiring and payroll ? How Deel replaces long email chains, generic contracts, individual wire transfers, and foreign subsidiaries and instead enables quick and compliant hiring of employees living anywhere in the world ? The effects of the pandemic on demand for foreign talent ? How Deel thinks about company culture when it has 450 employees working in more than 50 countries ? Why Dan values investor diligence as it relates to his own technical operations ? And a lot more About Dan (twitter.com/Dan_Westgarth) Fintech enthusiast Dan Westgarth currently serves as Chief Operating Officer at Deel, where he manages Deel's Business, Operations, Legal, and Compliance teams. Before joining Deel, Dan was one of challenger bank Revolut's earliest employees, most recently in the role of General Manager for North America. Outside of his day to day at Deel, Westgarth spends his time making early-stage angel investments into interesting technology companies and helping them scale. Dan's 2019 WFT Podcast debut: https://soundcloud.com/wft/dan-westgarth-north-america-general-manager-for-revolut About Deel Deel is a global payroll solution that helps businesses hire anyone, anywhere. Using a tech-enabled self-serve process, companies can now hire independent contractors or full-time employees in over 150 countries, compliantly and in minutes. Today, Deel serves 6,000+ customers from SMBs to publicly traded companies, including Coinbase, Shopify and Dropbox, among others, and just recently announced that customers can now fund their payroll in crypto. For more on its journey, check out What's the deal with Deel? -- As always, for more Fintech insights and opportunities to collaborate, please find us below: WFT Blog: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech WFT Home: www.whartonfintech.org WFT LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ Suggest a Podcast Guest: airtable.com/shrdbokQPxAJzgVh7 Ally's Twitter: twitter.com/AllyMcCloskey Ally's Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/allyraemccloskey/

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Ram Palaniappan, Founder and CEO of Earnin, which gives people access to their pay directly from their smartphones. No hidden fees, no penalties, no waiting?just access to your hard-earned cash right when you need it. With each transaction users are given the opportunity to pay what they believe is fair. In this episode, you will learn all about how: - Ram started Earnin by lending his own money to his colleagues - Earnin addresses the Earned Wage Access gap - 66% of users see an increase in their ability to pay bills with Earnin? - The lending landscape is changing - And so much more! About Ram Palaniappan Ram Palaniappan, is the Founder and CEO of Earnin. He is passionate about building a financial system for the people, by the people. He is a graduate of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, where he earned his MMS, and Purdue University Krannert School of Management, where he earned his MBA. About Earnin Earnin gives people access to their pay directly from their smartphones, whenever they need it. Launched in 2014, Earnin is driving consumer-empowered finance through mobile technology by breaking open more than $1 trillion held up in America's pay cycle. Current funding partners include Andreessen Horowitz, Matrix Partners, Ribbit Capital, Felicis Ventures, March Capital Partners, Trinity Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Camp One Ventures. To learn more about Earnin, visit earnin.com. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

In today's episode, Olamide Williams catches up with Professor Chris Brummer of Georgetown Law to discuss fintech regulation, balancing that with innovation, the unique connection between fintech and rap, as well as his top five rap artists of all time. Professor Brummer is the host of the Fintech Beat Podcast, which features the latest trends, movers and shakers, ideas, and policies in fintech. He sits on the boards of Fannie Mae, K2 Integrity, public.com and is the Scholar in Residence at Paradigm, the $2 billion crypto fund. He is also the host and organizer of DC Fintech Week. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech

Anirudh Singh sits down with Arvind Purushotham, Global Head of Venture Investing at Citi Ventures. The two discuss Arvind's early career at Menlo Ventures, developing partnerships between portfolio companies and Citibank, investments in Doconomy, DriveWealth, and TRM labs, Citi impact fund, and much more. Arvind Purushotham: As Global Head of Venture Investing, Arvind leads Citi?s efforts to identify, invest in, and partner with leading startups as a way to bring cutting-edge technologies and capabilities to Citi?s businesses and functions. Additionally, he serves as a partner to Citi?s business leaders and helps identify market trends based on the 1000+ startups the Venture Investing team meets every year. Under his leadership the group has partnered with category-defining startups such as Square, Plaid, DocuSign, Honey, Betterment, Braze, Netskope, and Tanium. In his capacity as head of venture investing for the company, he also co-leads the Citi Impact Fund. Prior to Citi, Arvind spent nearly a decade as a Managing Director at Menlo Ventures, where he was an investor and Board member at companies including Kazeon Systems, Cavium Networks, Solidcore, nCircle Network Security, Intelligent Results, and Vhayu Technologies. Previously, Arvind was a design engineer and a Program Manager at Intel Corporation. Arvind obtained his BSEE from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, an MSEE from Case Western Reserve University, and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He enjoys running, photography, and reading in his spare time. Arvind is passionate about golf?a passion, sadly, that his skill level does not match. He lives in Palo Alto, CA with his wife, two sons, and their black lab Rocky. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Mike de Vere, CEO of Zest AI. Zest helps lenders make better credit decisions -- increasing revenue, reducing risk, and automating compliance. The company serves its customers by providing them with custom credit models leveraging more data, better math, and smarter software. Today Mike is leading Zest to fulfill a mission of making fair credit available to everyone. In this episode, you will learn all about: - How it builds more inclusive underwriting models for its clients - The loan decision and funding journey - Zest?s company culture - Insights on how the lending landscape is changing - And so much more! About Mike de Vere Mike is passionate about expanding access to fair credit. He has a rich career in leveraging customer insights given his time at Nielsen, Harris Interactive and JD Power & Associates. He earned his MBA from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California and studied Business Administration at the California State University, Northridge. About Zest AI Zest AI makes the power of machine learning safe to use in credit underwriting. The Zest Model Management System enables lenders to analyze vast amounts of credit data to help increase approval rates and reduce the risk of faulty credit decisions. The platform also provides the ability to explain data modeling results to measure business impact and help comply with regulatory requirements. To learn more about Zest, visit zest.ai. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Nathan McCauley, Co-Founder and CEO of Anchorage Digital, a leading digital asset platform for institutions. Previously, Nathan worked as an early employee at Square and at Docker. They discuss the lessons Nathan learned from helping scale Square, getting a banking charter at Anchorage Digital, Nathan?s thoughts on key crypto trends moving forward, and much more. Nathan McCauley: Nathan McCauley is the Co-Founder and CEO of Anchorage, the leading digital asset platform for institutions. He started his career at Arxan Technologies, where he worked on anti-reverse engineering and key management for commercial and military applications. As an early employee at Square, he worked on the infrastructure security platform now used to move over $80B in annualized GPV. Later, at Docker, together with Anchorage Co-Founder Diogo Mónica, he built and led the security team, developing code that helps secure containers, one of the core underpinnings of modern infrastructure. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

In today's episode, Anirudh Singh sits down with Christina Melas-Kyriazi, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. Previously, Christina served as Head of Product for Consumer Foundations at Affirm and Senior Product Manager at GoFundMe. They discuss being at Affirm as the company IPOed, launching her whirlwind career at Bain Capital Ventures, and helping founders go from 0 to 1. Christina Melas-Kyriazi: Christina joined Bain Capital Ventures in 2021, where she focuses on early-stage investments in fintech and commerce. Christina was previously Head of Product for Consumer Foundations at Affirm, where she led a team of product managers to enable a delightful, frictionless customer experience from account creation to loan servicing. Before Affirm, Christina was a Senior Product Manager at GoFundMe, where she worked on growth and new product areas. Earlier in her career, Christina also spent time in business operations at LinkedIn and as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Christina is an active angel investor and an advisor to early-stage companies. She has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Economics from Stanford University. Christina grew up in Los Angeles, CA and now lives in San Francisco with her husband John and son Theo. She loves running in the Presidio and skiing. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

In today's episode, Anirudh Singh sits down with Liran Zelkha, Co-Founder and CTO of Lili, an all-in-one banking app designed for freelance workers. In this episode, they discuss the thriving startup ecosystem in Israel, why it's so hard to manage your money as a freelance worker, and how Lili hopes to make freelancers' lives easier. Liran Zelkha: Liran Zelkha is Co-Founder and CTO of Lili, the all-in-one banking app designed for over 500K freelance workers. He has over 20 years of tech industry experience, including as a freelancer, which inspired him to create a solution for independent workers? unique pain points. From strategic management to hands-on coding, Liran specializes in turning lofty ideas into functioning businesses. Prior to founding Lili, Liran served as CTO and VP, Research and Development for Pepper, the first and only challenger bank in Israel. Liran was also CEO and CTO at tech consulting firm Tona and owner / co-CEO of Aluna, Israel?s leading Java and service-oriented architecture (SOA) consulting firm. Liran received bachelor's degrees in computer science from Universitat Ben Gurion Ba-Negav and The Academic College of Tel-Aviv. He is based in Israel.

In today's episode, Ally McCloskey sits down with Jason Wenk, Founder & CEO of Altruist. Altruist is an all-in-one digital platform for Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) and their clients that helps make financial advice more efficient, more affordable, and accessible to more people. Using Altruist, advisors have cutting edge tools on an investment platform that significantly streamlines and reduces their costs, enabling them to serve more people, better. The upstart most recently raised its $50mm Series B led by Insight Partners, with follow-on participation from Series A investors Venrock and Vanguard. Ally and Jason discuss: - How the space has evolved over the decades he's been a founder in financial advice and wealth management, and how he was able to get "more efficient" with each new company - Where he stands on the human advice vs. roboadvisory trade-off and why Altruist only works with RIA firms - How he cold solicited the Top 10 Financial Advisors To Watch on Linkedin as part of customer discovery - Launching the Human Advisor Podcast (https://apple.co/3KMghnX) to elevate the stories of a new breed of modern advisors - Building a "dreamy" group of board members, including Wharton Alumni and Former Chairman and CEO of Vanguard, Bill McNabb, Jonathan Rosenbaum (Insight Partners), Nick Beim (Venrock), and Ryan Barrows (Vanguard) as an observer. - Attracting folks to the challenge of taking on 2 major incumbents controlling 80%+ market share and each with $100 billion dollar valuations - Why Altruist's people quotient centers on kindness, brilliance, and grit - And a WHOLE lot more About Jason Wenk Jason has excelled as a leader in the financial services industry over the past 20 years, working as an advisor, investment systems developer, analyst, and founder of multiple companies. He is dedicated to making finance a collaborative space between advisors and consumers, emphasizing the importance of human connection and interaction to improve financial wellness with affordable and accessible resources for more people. After a number of successful and innovative business concepts including FormulaFolios and Retirement Wealth Advisors, Jason chose to focus on creating meaningful experiences for advisors and their clients with fintech firm, Altruist. Jason was awarded GRBJ Newsmaker of the Year in 2016 and 2017 (finance category) and was named an EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2018. About Altruist Altruist is a Los Angeles-based company on a mission to make financial advisors more efficient, more affordable, and accessible to more people. The team builds products to provide advisors cutting edge tools, and offers an investment platform that substantially lowers costs. As a completely digital brokerage, Altruist helps advisors provide their clients with a delightful experience with their money. Learn more at altruist.com, follow on Twitter @altruist, and check out the Human Advisor Podcast here: https://grow.altruist.com/introducing-the-human-advisor-podcast. Honorable mentions: - WFT podcast episode with Bill McNabb, Former Vanguard CEO & Chairman: https://medium.com/wharton-fintech/former-vanguard-ceo-chairman-bill-mcnabb-the-future-of-finance-leading-in-crisis-esg-436f1c031907 - WFT podcast episode with Henrique Dubugras, Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Brex: https://medium.com/wharton-fintech/reinventing-financial-systems-henrique-dubugras-co-founder-co-ceo-of-brex-8dc7ab820765 -- As always, for more Fintech insights and opportunities to collaborate, please find us below: WFT Blog: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Ally's Twitter: twitter.com/AllyMcCloskey Wharton FinTech Home: https://www.whartonfintech.org LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ Suggest a Podcast Guest: https://airtable.com/shrdbokQPxAJzgVh7

In today?s episode, Anirudh Singh sits down with Eddie Serrill, Business Lead for Stripe Capital and the site lead for Stripe?s New York office. In the episode, they discuss what makes Stripe so good at offering products to online businesses, how Stripe leverages banking relationships to bring the best products to the table, the impact that Stripe Capital has had on the small businesses it partners with, and much more. Eddie Serrill: Eddie is the Business Lead for Stripe Capital and the site lead for Stripe?s New York office. Stripe is a technology company that's building economic infrastructure for the internet. Businesses of every size?from new startups to public companies?use Stripe's software to accept payments and manage their businesses online. Stripe Capital provides Stripe users with access to financing, and enables platform partners to offer financing to their customers with an end-to-end lending API. Prior to Stripe, Eddie served as the COO of Bond Street and the VP of Revenue & Operations at TrialPay. He holds a degree in Economics and Philosophy from Duke University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Ronen Assia, Managing Partner at Team8 Fintech Foundry, a venture fund within Team8 that partners with entrepreneurs to build companies in the fintech space. For over twenty years, Ronen has successfully merged technology and design together into useful and accessible products, and defined user experience across various devices and platforms. Most recently Ronen served as eToro?s Chief Product Officer, managing product and engineering, and helped grow the company into a Fintech unicorn serving 13 million users in over 140 countries. eToro pioneered Social Investing, enabling every investor to see, follow and automatically copy the portfolios of other investors in the network. In this episode you will learn all about: - How Team8 works with fintech talent - Ronen?s insights into the Isreali fintech ecosystem and global investment outlook - Blockchain innovation, NFTs and art curation - How start-up?s can marry the old and new worlds of fintech - And so much more! About Ronen Assia Ronen Assia is a Managing Partner at Team8 Fintech Foundry and a Co-Founder and Executive Director at eToro, a social investing platform. Ronen currently resides in Israel and studied Product Design at the Royal College of Art and Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. About Team8 Fintech Team8 Fintech partners with entrepreneurs to co-found transformative fintech companies. For additional information on Team8 Fintech, please visit team8.vc/team8-fintech. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

In today?s episode, Anirudh Singh sits down with Basil Darwish, Managing Director and Fintech & Enterprise Tech lead at Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. Basil joined as the team?s first hire in March 2016, coming over from Citi Ventures. In this episode, they discuss a range of topics, including Basil?s winding path towards venture investing, the pros and cons of different corporate venture capital models, a deep dive into three of Wells Fargo?s investments: Trovata, H20.ai, and Arkose Labs, and much more! Basil Darwish: Basil Darwish is a Managing Director at Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and leads the group?s focus on Fintech and Enterprise Software. His investments range from early-stage to growth capital investments in companies that are strategically aligned with Wells Fargo. One of his goals is to bring technology-based innovation into the Bank. Basil?s investment focus areas include B2B/B2C Fintech, RegTech, AI & Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics, and Cyber Security. Basil has been in the domain of venture investing for the past 12 years, across Silicon Valley, New York, and Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Wells Fargo in 2016, Basil was with Citi for 8 years most recently as Senior Vice President at Citi?s growth ventures and innovation group (Citi Ventures), where he focused on venture investments and innovation initiatives across the US and Asia, in the domains of Payments, Big Data Analytics, and Information Security. Prior to moving into financial services, Basil spent several years in the technology industry in various roles across the value chain, from semiconductor product engineering and system-level product development at Analog Devices Inc, as well as digital design engineering at Chinook Communications, a technology startup that emerged out of MIT in 1999 developing spectrum enhancement technologies. Basil currently serves as a board director of Trovata, H2O.ai, OpenFin, and Droit. He also serves as a board observer of Arkose Labs, Socure, Volante Technologies, Elliptic and Atscale. Basil holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business with a double major in finance and entrepreneurial management, a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University with a focus on semiconductor design, and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Jordan. Basil lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Raghu Yarlagadda, CEO and Co-Founder of FalconX. The company is a digital assets brokerage that provides a single account connected to global crypto liquidity pools. Asset managers can execute trades at prices routed across liquidity sources, and settle with a single counterparty. Raghu and Prabhakar Reddy launched the company just four years ago, and today it is valued at $3.75 Billion dollars. In this episode you will hear about: - How FalconX works with institutional clients - What it?s like to run a start-up which is live 24/7 - Innovation for cryptocurrency retail investors - Raghu?s career and his commitment to education - And much more! About Raghu Yarlagadda Raghu Yarlagadda co-founded FalconX in 2018. Prior to FalconX, Raghu worked at Google and Motorola Mobility and in 2014 launched Sarada Educational Institution which leverages edtech to improve education for its students across India. He is also a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of Texas at Dallas, where he studied Electrical Engineering. About FalconX FalconX is a blockchain, cryptocurrency, and fintech-focused cryptocurrency brokerage and digital asset trading platform. For additional information on FalconX, please visit FalconX.io. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with the one and only Daniel Vogel, Co-Founder and CEO of Bitso, the leading crypto-services provider in Latin America. Bitso is committed to the development of efficient, competitive, accessible and inclusive financial services in Latin America, and Daniel is among the youngest entrepreneurs and leaders in the region. In this episode, they discuss Dan?s introduction to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, how an unsuccessful remittance startup helped with the genesis of Bitso, Bitso?s growth and international expansion, and much more! Daniel Vogel: Daniel is co-founder and CEO of Bitso, the leading crypto-services provider in Latin America. Bitso is committed to the development of efficient, competitive, accessible and inclusive financial services in Latin America, and Daniel is among the youngest entrepreneurs and leaders in the region. Daniel holds two degrees from Stanford University (BA in Economics, BS in Computer Systems Engineering) and a Master's degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School. During his academic career, he presided various student societies such as the Society for Entrepreneurship in Latin America, the Bitcoin Club, the LatAm Club, the Aviation and Aerospace Club, among others. At Stanford he was elected by his colleagues to be a member of the Class Cabinet. Prior to co-founding Bitso, Daniel worked for Silicon Valley?s Quantcast, where he developed a real-time bidding system, a product that would later go on to become the company's main source of income. In 2016, he was included in the MIT Technology Review?s "Innovators under 35 Mexico 2016" award. His work at Bitso has been recognized by Endeavor (Global Endeavor Entrepreneur), MassChallenge (2016 Gold Winner), and the President of Mexico (Digital Leader Mexico), among others. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

In his final episode, Ryan Zauk sits down with none other than Justin Overdorff, former Stripe exec and now Lightspeed's newest Fintech partner, based in New York City. Justin joined Lightspeed after an incredible career spanning Wall Street, growth equity, Techstars, Yelp!, Stripe, a whole lot of angel investing (Lithic, Alloy, Orum, Moov, Stir, Puzzle), and of course?a 2-year stop at Wharton for his MBA. At Lightspeed, Justin is helping lead the team's Fintech practice and build on its portfolio investments in iconic companies like Affirm and Carta. As a Fintech junkie with a product-focused passion for tech, Justin understands the true value of innovation and how it can serve as a major impetus for change. Justin's previous experience at Stripe (which they cover in-depth) stoked his passion for Fintech and the constraints of creative problem-solving in a regulated industry. In today's episode, they discuss: - His long, winding journey from mortgage trading at Bank of America to building world-changing products at Stripe - How he got into fintech and a big, early missed investment opportunity - The secret sauce of Stripe - His new role at Lightspeed and why he left arguably the greatest startup in the world to join the Lightspeed team - The cruciality of narrowing your focus in venture - What fintech sectors he's most excited about investing in - How he's thinking about valuation in this raging bull market and credit cycle - The underestimated TAMs in fintech - Facebook Libras "Leroy Jenkins!" moment - A fun rapid-fire round And so much more! For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Ryan's Twitter: twitter.com/RyanZauk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/

Anirudh Singh sits down with Douglas Landy, Partner at White & Case, a leading law firm serving companies, governments, and financial institutions worldwide. They discuss the neobank decision making process when applying for a banking charter, regulations surrounding bank engagement in crypto activities, the evolution of central bank digital currencies, and much more. Douglas Landy: Douglas Landy serves as co-head of White & Case's Financial Institutions Industry Group and head of the US Financial Services Regulatory practice. He is one of the most preeminent US lawyers advising financial institutions on blockchain and crypto matters. He represents global banks on the creation of blockchain and crypto trading platforms, custody, payment systems, stablecoins, and related financial products. Doug has also been advising non-bank Fintech companies on potential bank charters, including the OCC's Payment Charter, and similar charters and licenses.

Anirudh Singh sits down with Nitin Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of Uni, one of the fastest growing pay-later card providers in India. They discuss Nitin's past work at PayU and Ola Financial Services, the overall credit card landscape in India, and launching the Pay 1/3rd product with Uni. Shortly after this episode was recorded, Uni went on to raise a $70M series A round at a $350M valuation. Nitin Gupta: Uni's Founder and CEO, Nitin Gupta is an alumni of IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad. He started his career as a Founder and CEO of Khojguru and then led the PayU India team as Co-Founder and CEO. He built Pay U into one of the largest payment gateways in India under his able leadership. At Ola, during his stint of 2.5 years, he headed the Ola Financial Services as CEO and launched Ola Money Postpaid which was valued at $250 million last year. It's now one of the largest financial services businesses in the country. Currently, at Uni, he has raised $18.5M, while in stealth mode and launched the BNPL product Pay 1/3rd card. Apart from building cutting-edge financial products he also invests in new and upcoming companies in the capacity of an Angel investor.

Anirudh Singh sits down with Matan Bar, Co-Founder and CEO of Melio. They discuss the thriving startup ecosystem in Israel, building a streamlined B2B payments product for SMBs, Matan's personal guiding principles when building a company, and much more! Matan Bar: Matan is the Co-founder and CEO of Melio. Before founding Melio in 2018, he was the GM of the PayPal Consumer R&D center in Tel Aviv and led PayPal's Consumer Peer to Peer Payments Group globally, responsible for over $50B in payment volume annually. Matan joined PayPal through the acquisition of his first company (The Gifts Project) by eBay Inc in 2012.

On today?s episode, ?21 host Ryan Zauk comes back to the show to host Andrei Cherny, Co-Founder & CEO of Aspiration, a budding financial services platform for people who want to save the planet by trying to neutralize their carbon footprint. Their mission is massive, with around 5 million members trying to help make a difference in the fight against climate change. Aspiration provides numerous products, including deposit balances completely divested from fossil fuels, a round-up feature like Acorns to plant trees with your purchases, 2-day early access to wages, carbon offsets for car mileage of its users, cashback on mission-focused retailers, and more. They also are a burgeoning b2b platform for carbon offsets, helping people like Drake calculate the planetary impact of their businesses and offset it. Andre and Ryan cover a great deal in today?s episode, and special shoutout to Ami Naik of Radicle Impact for setting up this episode! They cover: - How Andrei?s op-eds in Harvard?s student newspaper landed him a job with Bill Clinton - How Aspiration works and what inspired him to start the company - Why identity banking is the future of financial services - How they divested completely from fossil fuels - Raising his company?s minimum wage to $25 during a pandemic - And so much more. Also at the end, Andrei mentions it being Ryan?s last show?it will actually not be his last, but it?s getting very, very close! Stay tuned for his finale. Disclaimer: This episode is not securities advice in any way, and this is recorded solely for the educational purposes of Wharton Fintech. --- For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Ryan's Twitter: twitter.com/RyanZauk LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/

Anirudh Singh sits down with Rohit Mittal, co-founder and CEO of Stilt. They discuss the difficulties Rohit faced when looking to rent an apartment in New York City, why United States immigrants are an underserved but creditworthy population, and how Stilt has approached solving this problem. Rohit Mittal: Rohit Mittal is the co-founder and CEO of Stilt. Rohit has extensive experience in credit risk analytics and data science. He spent years building credit risk and fraud models for top U.S. banks. In his current role, he defines the overall business strategy, leads debt and capital fundraising efforts, leads product development, and leads other customer-related aspects for the company. Stilt is backed by Y Combinator and has raised a total of $275M in debt and equity funding to date. Prior to founding Stilt, Rohit started his career at Verisk Analytics using big data to optimize credit risk. He went on to become the founding member of the data science team at Popsugar, helping the company build its analytics framework for data science efforts. Rohit has a Bachelor's degree from Delhi College of Engineering and Master's degree from Columbia University.

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Harshul Sanghi, Founder and Global Head of Amex Ventures. Harshul has over thirty years of operating experience, and for the past 10 years has led the venture arm of American Express and oversees global investment activity across the company. To date, Amex Ventures has invested in 80+ companies and has offices in New York, San Francisco, and Boston. He has led investments in Abra, Better.com, Bill.com, Boom Supersonic, Boxed, Instacart, Learnvest, FalconX, Finix, Next Insurance, Philanthropi, Plaid, RetailNext, Stripe, Toast, and Turo, among others. Amex Ventures now has a portfolio valued at over $1 billion dollars. In this episode you will hear about: - The birth of Amex Ventures - 10 years of investing - What differentiates Amex Ventures from other corporate VCs - Investment-worthy trends in the payments space - Harshul Sanghi?s career - And much more! About Harshul Sanghi Harshul Sanghi founded Amex Ventures in 2011 to accelerate the digital transformation of American Express by investing in and partnering with innovative start-up companies. Prior to joining Amex, Harshul was Managing Director of Motorola Mobility Ventures and has over 30 years of operating experience. About Amex Ventures Amex Ventures invests in and partners with start-ups to accelerate innovation for consumers and businesses. For additional information on Amex Ventures, please visit www.americanexpress.com/us/business/american-express-ventures For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Xochitl Cazador, Head of Ecosystem Growth at Celo. In this episode, they discuss: - Social impact through blockchain technology - Disrupting blockchain through diversity at She(256) - Creating an open financial system through Celo - The $100M Defi for the People initiative And much more! Xochitl Cazador: Xochitl Cazador leads Platform and Builder growth at Celo Foundation. She has extensive experience shaping strategy into execution to drive growth and scale operations. Prior to cLabs, Xochitl spent 15 years driving growth at Cisco, where she managed a $1 billion investment portfolio and led the expansion into 26 emerging markets resulting in 30% year over year growth. She previously served in leadership positions in the Americas, Europe, and Asia where she held roles in product and portfolio management. Xochitl is the granddaughter of Mexican migrant farmworkers and one of the first in her family to graduate from college. She understands firsthand how access to basic financial tools can change lives. Xochitl holds a master?s degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Jimmy Chen, CEO of Propel, a software company dedicated to helping low-income Americans improve their financial health. Propel?s mobile app provides Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP, benefits users with the ability to check their benefit balance -- which was only previously available over a 1-800 number, and more recently offers users a checking account and debit card. In this episode we discuss: - Propel?s app which today has 5 million active users - Propel?s vision to become a one-stop-shop to manage government benefits and other income, side-by-side - The ways in which the company stood by their users during the pandemic - All about the company?s culture - And so much more! Jimmy Chen Jimmy is the Founder and CEO of Propel. Previously, Jimmy was a Product Manager at Facebook, where he led product for Facebook Groups and prior to Facebook worked at LinkedIn. He is passionate about making America's safety net more user-friendly. He is a graduate of Stanford University, where he studied Symbolic Systems. Propel Propel builds software dedicated to helping low-income Americans improve their financial health. For additional information on Propel, please visit joinpropel.com and www.joinproviders.com | Twitter: twitter.com/joinproviders For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Aaron Schumm, Founder and CEO of Vestwell. In this episode they discuss: - Aaron's first company, FolioDynamix - Launching Vestwell 6 days after selling FolioDynamix - The small business retirement landscape in the U.S. And much more! Aaron Schumm: Aaron is the founder & CEO of Vestwell, the engine powering modern-day workplace savings and investing programs, such as 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Our cloud-based digital recordkeeping platform provides the underlying architecture to support financial services and payroll partners, who are rapidly working to serve the 30M small businesses in the country. Prior to founding Vestwell, Aaron co-founded FolioDynamix, a wealth management fintech platform. At FolioDynamix, Aaron oversaw the strategy, revenue, marketing, customers and product development. FolioDynamix was acquired by Envestnet (NYSE: ENV). Outside of Vestwell, Aaron has served on the board of directors and the advisory board for several fintech companies, including Quovo (acquired by Plaid), Vestorly, OfColor, and Chalice Financial Network. Aaron holds a B.S. degree in finance from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and an M.B.A. degree from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business. He was included in InvestmentNews' 40 Under 40 and WealthManagement.com's "10 to Watch." For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Ryan George, Chief Marketing Officer of Docupace. Founded in 2002, Docupace is a solutions provider focused on digitizing and automating operations in the financial advice and investment industry. For close to two decades, this company has served wealth managers and helped them to work faster, more securely, and with fewer errors. The platform is composed of client onboarding, document management, advisor transition, and regulation business intelligence features. In this episode you will learn about how Docupace empowers its users to do more in less time, the types of users the company works with, the importance of back office innovation and Ryan?s fifteen-year career in Financial Services. Ryan George Ryan George is the Chief Marketing Officer of Docupace. Prior to joining Docupace, Ryan was in various marketing positions at GuideStone Financial Resources, 1st Global, and U.S. Global Investors. He has spent over fifteen years of his career in Financial Services and is a proud Texan. He is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, where he studied Public Relations. To follow him on Twitter visit twitter.com/RealRyanGeorge1. About Docupace Docupace is a technology company built for the wealth management industry. They?ve been on a mission to eliminate paperwork since 2002. For additional information on Docupace, please visit docupace.com | Twitter: twitter.com/docupace For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Sherwin Gandhi, co-founder and President of Jeeves. In this episode, they discuss: - Sherwin's early career in financial services - Launching Jeeves to provide borderless business banking for startups and SMEs - Expanding Jeeves internationally and the search for global talent And much more! Sherwin Gandhi: In 2019 Sherwin Gandhi founded Jeeves, which offers a suite of cross-border B2B financial services including payments, loans, and expense management software. In the past 14 months, Sherwin has raised $88mm of equity and $100mm of debt from Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, Tencent, Silicon Valley Bank, and other investors, while launching in over 20 countries and reaching a valuation of $500mm. Jeeves has thousands of customers globally and is nearing $10mm of revenue - and was recently named one of The Information's 50 Most Promising Startups to watch. At Jeeves, Sherwin is unlocking globalization by architecting the future of global business banking so that entrepreneurs can focus on growing their businesses by having access to non-dilutive capital and true cross-border banking solutions. Prior to Jeeves, Sherwin founded two companies and led go-to-market, finance, engineering, regulatory, and product at two unicorns - AppNexus and Viagogo. Before becoming a Silicon Valley founder, he was a trader and investment banker on Wall Street, where he issued $17bn of multicurrency fixed income and equity derivatives at JPMorgan and was a hedge fund manager of a $200mm global fund. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Anirudh Singh sits down with Mike McFadgen, Partner and Co-Founder of Element Ventures. In this episode, they discuss: - Mike's early career at Barclays - Launching Element Ventures to focus on B2B fintech investing - Cultural differences that drive European fintech - Element's portfolio companies And much more! Mike McFadgen: Mike is a Partner and co-founder of London-based B2B fintech venture capital firm Element Ventures. Mike made his first fintech investment in 2009 and since has had 12 years investing experience working with Barclays and Euclid Opportunities (the CVC fund of NEX Group). He currently represents Element on the boards of Hepster, Billhop, Minna Technologies and Coincover. He holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School and lives in London with his wife and two small children. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits with Michael Bourque, CEO of LendingHome. Since 2013, LendingHome has offered thousands of real estate investors fix-and-flip bridge loans and rental loans. Today, it is the only company focused on serving real estate investors across the entire lifecycle of a transaction. LendingHome leverages a purpose-built software platform that creates structured data that it uses to help its customers be successful. The company has aggregated over 900 million data points across more than 25,000 completed transactions to date. In this episode we discuss: - LendingHome?s award-winning loan origination platform - Products real estate investors are seeking - How LendingHome meets the needs of its users - LendingHome?s culture - Michael?s career and transition into fintech and proptech - And much more! Michael Bourque Michael Bourque is the CEO of LendingHome. Before his position as CEO, Michael was COO and CFO of LendingHome. He was also CFO of Ocwen Financial Corporation and GE Distributed Power. He is a graduate of The Wharton School, where he earned his MBA and the College of Holy Cross, where he studied Mathematics. About LendingHome LendingHome allows you to close more deals and open more doors with its bridge loans and rental loan products as well as its property marketplace. LendingHome is becoming Kiavi. For additional information on LendingHome, please visit lendinghome.com | Twitter: twitter.com/lendinghome For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Brett Crosby, CCO of PeerStreet. In this episode they discuss: - Brett's entrepreneurial past - Joining PeerStreet after a decade at Google - The challenges in building a two-sided marketplace - The future for PeerStreet And much more! Brett Crosby > Co-founder and CCO of PeerStreet.com, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed platform for investing in real estate debt with the goal of transforming mortgage finance. > Formerly Director of Product Marketing at Google for Chrome, Gmail, Docs and Drive. Founder and head of strategic growth on Google Analytics. Launched and ran product marketing for Google+, Mobile Ads, Local Ads and more. > Founder, Board member and Vice President of Urchin Software Corporation, acquired by Google in 2005. > Specialties: Business strategy, company culture, product market fit, user growth, product marketing, product development, public speaking, press/media, social, mobile, web analytics, surfing and mountain biking. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Anirudh Singh sits down with Prashant Fuloria, CEO of Fundbox. In this episode they discuss: - Prashant's early career with big tech companies - Navigating SMB lending during the covid-19 pandemic - The SMB recovery by sector - Fundbox's new products, including Flex Pay And much more! Prashant Fuloria: Prashant Fuloria is Chief Executive Officer of Fundbox. With decades of experience in payments and monetization, he has served in a wide variety of leadership, operational, and product roles at prominent technology companies. Prashant's previous leadership roles at Fundbox include Chief Operations Officer and Chief Product Officer, where he led various parts of the business, including core tech functions, product marketing, collections, support, and HR. Prior to joining Fundbox, Prashant served as SVP of Advertising Products at Yahoo, having joined through the acquisition of Flurry, where he was the Chief Product Officer. He also served as Senior Director of Product Management at Facebook, where he led the company's advertising and payment product efforts. Prashant also held the role of Product Director at Google, where he built their global payment platform and managed all of Google?s products for the APAC region. Prashant received a B.Tech. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi. He also holds an MA in Business research; an MS in Statistics; a Ph.D. minor in Engineering-Economic Systems & Operations Research; and a Ph.D. in Business, all from Stanford University. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Anirudh Singh sits down with Sarah Hammer and Sameer Gupta to discuss launching the Cypher Accelerator. Topics include: - Sameer's work at Point72 - Why Sarah is well-positioned to lead Cypher - Cypher's incredible board of advisors - What excites the two most about Crypto / Blockchain And much more! Sarah Hammer:  Sarah Hammer is Managing Director of the Stevens Center for Innovation in Finance and Senior Director of the Harris Alternative Investments Program at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In these roles, she focuses her efforts on private capital investments and financial technology. Sarah is also Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, teaching an upper-level juris doctor course on financial regulation. Previously, Sarah was Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions and Director of the Office of Financial Institutions Policy at the United States Department of the Treasury. In this role, she led and directed the Department's policy responsibilities involving financial institutions, as well as oversaw the Federal Insurance Office and the Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Compliance Policy (cybersecurity). Sarah earned a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Studies from Oxford University. She is a Harry S. Truman Scholar and a Member of the American Law Institute. Sameer Gupta:  Sameer Gupta is the Head of Data Solutions at Point72 and for the New York Mets. He is responsible for creating end-to-end solutions in data and analytics for all Point72 businesses as well as the Mets. Before joining Point72, Gupta was the chief operating officer at iSentium, an artificial intelligence startup where he led key business functions including sales, business development, fundraising, engineering, and operations. Before iSentium, he was the COO for the Global Electronic Trading and Americas Cash Equities business at JPMorgan. Gupta also served in business development and product management roles at New York Stock Exchange Technologies, and in software development and technology strategy positions at Goldman Sachs. He is also actively involved in the New York City startup community through TechStars and New York University's Endless Frontier Labs. Sameer earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, M.S. in Information Systems Management from Carnegie Mellon, and B.S. in Computer Science from the National Institute of Technology in India.

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with James Garvey, the CEO and Founder of Self Financial. Since 2015, Self has helped hundreds of thousands of people build a strong financial future. It provides tools necessary for building on-time payment history and responsible use of credit, in collaboration with issuing bank services for those who are new to credit or who might not have access to traditional financial products. Self understands that building a financial foundation is a daunting task for most people, so they?re dedicated to building a product that will help their customers move two steps in the right direction. Last month, Self raised $50MM in a Series E round which included investors like Altos Ventures, Conductive Ventures, and Meritech Capital Partners. In 2020, Self raised a Series C and a Series D round. In this episode we discuss: - Self?s Credit Builder Account - Why a credit history matters - James?s career as a serial entrepreneur - Self?s work culture - And much more! About James Garvey James Garvey is the CEO and Founder of Self Financial. Self is the third start-up company which James launched. He started Self after his own experience building his credit score. He is a graduate of the University of California, Davis where he studied Mathematics. James currently resides in Austin, Texas. To follow him on Twitter visit twitter.com/jkgarvey. About Self Financial Self Financial is a venture-backed fintech startup that helps customers build credit and save money. For additional information on Self Financial, please visit self.inc | Twitter: twitter.com/SelfCreditApp For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Meka Asonye, Partner at First Round Capital. In this episode they discuss: - Meka?s early career, including spending time with the Cleveland Indians - Heading Stripe?s Startup/SMB business - How Meka became an angel investor and later decided to join First Round Capital - Being fluent in Pig Latin And much more! Meka Asonye is a Partner at First Round Capital based in San Francisco. Before moving into venture, Meka was an active angel investor backing companies such as Coda, Common Room, Rimeto (acq. by Slack), Snackpass and Stytch. Previously, he served as the VP of Sales & Services at Mixpanel, where he ran the more than 100-person global revenue team and owned the customer lifecycle from first website visit to renewal. Before Mixpanel, Meka spent four years at Stripe as it scaled from 250 to 2000 people and matured its sales org. When he first joined in 2016, Meka served as one of the payments company?s early account executives, leading their first attempts to go upmarket and land enterprise logos. For the next three years, he headed up Stripe?s Startup/SMB business, which involved launching outbound sales, optimizing self-serve, building a customer success function, opening new offices, and finding creative ways to holistically support startup customers. Prior to joining Stripe, Meka served as Case Team Leader at Bain in San Francisco, partnering with the C-Suites of Fortune 50 companies across different verticals. Meka started his career working in Player Development & Baseball Operations for the Cleveland Indians, where managed operations of the Minor League system and advised the General Manager on Major League roster and payroll allocation through advanced statistical analysis. Meka earned a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude in Economics and Finance from Princeton and his MBA from Harvard Business School. He's an instrument rated private pilot and diehard Chicago Bears fan. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Anirudh Singh sits down with Renaud Laplanche, CEO and Co-founder of Upgrade. In this episode they discuss: - Launching Upgrade after the success of Lending Club - Upgrade's unique product offering, including bitcoin rewards and debit card rewards - What Renaud looks for when partnering with Venture Capital firms - Milestones to reach before taking a company public And much more! Renaud Laplanche Renaud is the co-founder and CEO of Upgrade, Inc. a neobank that offers affordable and responsible credit to mainstream consumers. Under his leadership, Upgrade has reached profitability and a $3Bn+ valuation within 4 years of launch. Prior to Upgrade, Renaud founded and ran Lending Club for 10 years. He took the company public, reaching a market capitalization of $10 billion in December 2014. At Lending Club, Renaud pioneered consumer fintech and grew the company to become the largest provider of personal loans in America. Renaud was ranked #23 in Bloomberg Markets? 2015 Most Influential List, an annual ranking of the World?s top 50 most influential leaders across technology, finance, and politics. He was also recognized at the Clinton Global Initiative by President Clinton for expanding access to affordable and responsible credit. In 2014, he won the Economist Innovation Award in the consumer products category and was named the "best start-up CEO to work for" by Business Insider. Renaud was named ?Fintech Executive of the Year? by Finovate in 2020. He also holds the Newport-Bermuda world speed sailing record. About Upgrade Upgrade is a neobank that offers affordable and responsible credit to mainstream consumers through personal loans and cards, together with credit monitoring and education tools that help consumers better understand and manage their money. Over $7 billion in loans and cards have been originated by the Upgrade platform since its inception in 2017. Upgrade is headquartered in San Francisco, California. More information is available at: www.upgrade.com. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Michelle Tran and Sasha Pilch, co-founders of NYC Fintech Women, an organization which promotes gender equality through diversity in the fintech community. Founded in 2017, NYC Fintech Women connects, promotes and empowers women in their professional advancement in the fintech industry. Today, they have over 7,000 members across startups, traditional finance and VCs. They host monthly events in collaboration with fintechs such as Adyen, Stash, and Plaid as well as institutional enterprises such as Deutsche Bank, Google, Shearman & Sterling, and Silicon Valley Bank. Over the past year, NYC Fintech Women expanded its reach by building an online platform to reach out to members nationwide with educational and networking opportunities. Most recently, they also launched Talk of Her Town, a podcast which features inspiring women in fintech. In this episode we discuss: - What motivated Michelle and Sasha to grow this network - NYC Fintech Women?s humble beginnings - Michelle and Sasha?s careers in fintech - Opinions on what?s hot and exciting in fintech today - What?s next for NYC Fintech Women - And much more! Michelle Tran Michelle Tran is a Co-Founder of NYC Fintech Women. When she is not managing NYC Fintech Women, Michelle is an advisor for Harness Wealth, a wealth tech platform for individuals with complex financial situations to gain access to a curated network of industry-leading financial advisors, CPA, and trust & estate attorneys. She is also a founding member of Dreamers // Doers, a highly curated, female-focused collaboration and co-mentorship community, consisting of an ever-growing powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors, and advisors. She is a graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz where she studied Politics and Economics. She also holds a Certificate of International Business from the University of Cambridge. Michelle currently resides in San Francisco. To follow her on Twitter visit twitter.com/fintechmichelle. Sasha Pilch Sasha Pilch is a Co-Founder of NYC Fintech Women. Aside from managing NYC Fintech Women, Sasha is the Sales Lead at Pinwheel, a NYC VC-backed startup company, building the infrastructure that will power the future of finance. She has worked in Sales in multiple start-up companies, including Ramp, Plaid, and Quovo. Sasha also has international work experience, having worked in the United Kingdom and Australia in banks including Citi, Commonwealth Bank, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. She is a graduate of the University of Technology, Sydney where she studied Management and Marketing. Sasha currently resides in New York. To follow her on Twitter visit twitter.com/sashafintech. About NYC Fintech Women NYC Fintech Women connects, promotes and empowers women in their professional advancement in the fintech industry. For additional information on NYC Fintech Women, please visit nycfintechwomen.com | Twitter: twitter.com/nycfintechwomen For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Phillip Klein, CEO and co-founder of FinLync. In this episode they discuss: - Phillips background in consulting and financial services - The transition towards becoming a founder - The corporate treasury renaissance - Fostering a strong culture and strong values in an international company - The flight of talent towards fintech companies And much more! Phillip Ashley Klein: Phillip Ashley Klein is the co-founder and CEO driving FinLync?s mission of bringing the ease, modernity, and elegance of consumer banking to corporate treasuries with ERP-native Apps and bank APIs that create a data-rich, real-time global infrastructure that empowers finance and treasury professionals. As the architect of the business, Phillip takes great care in ensuring that the talent and diversity within the company, extensive expertise in technology and finance, a laser focus on customer satisfaction, and a constant drive for innovation are the cornerstones of FinLync?s vision of creating solutions that empower today?s corporate treasurer. Prior to co-founding FinLync, Phillip led the digital banking practice at Deloitte Consulting where he was one of youngest practice leaders in recent history. He has deep expertise in advising Fortune 500 CEOs and C-Suite in aspects of digital and growth strategy, innovation and complex transformation For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Sameer Gulati, Chief Operating Officer of Plastiq, a fintech company that makes it easier for cardholders to earn credit card rewards, tap early-payment discounts, and use cash in the ways that make the most sense for their lives. For small businesses, Plastiq solves day-to-day payments problems for them and helps them get better access to cash flow. Today this fintech is advancing innovative payment solutions to more than 150 countries around the world. Founded in 2012, Plastiq has processed billions of dollars. It is backed by Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Alumni Ventures Group, among others. Sameer has an impressive career working with fintech companies through his time as COO at Plastiq and formerly at Lending Club and McKinsey & Company. In this episode we discuss: - How Plastiq addresses the working capital gap businesses often face - The importance of credit for Plastiq users - Insights which led to the company?s focus on small businesses - Sameer?s career from software engineering to consultant to COO - The company?s culture and GOAT values - And much more! Sameer Gulati Sameer Gulati is the Chief Operating Officer of Plastiq. Prior to joining Plastiq, Sameer served as Chief Operating Officer of Lending Club, a fintech company that provides a range of financial products and services through a technology-driven platform in the United States. It was the first peer-to-peer lender to register its offerings as securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the first to offer loan trading on a secondary market. Before joining the fintech world, Sameer was a partner at McKinsey & Company, where he became a leader in banking, payments and lending. Sameer started his career as a software engineer. He is a graduate of the Booth School of Business at The University of Chicago, where he earned his Masters in Business Administration and Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, where he studied Chemical Engineering and Computer Science. Sameer has global experience in fintech companies. To follow him on Twitter visit twitter.com/thesameergulati. About Plastiq Plastiq allows business owners and savvy consumers to use their credit cards to pay for virtually anything, even their rent which would normally require a check. For additional information on Plastiq, please visit plastiq.com | Twitter: twitter.com/payplastiq For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela?s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela?s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Ben Miller, CEO and co-founder of Fundrise. In this episode they discuss: - His career in real estate investing - Growing Fundrise into the 20th largest real estate investor in the world - Democratizing real estate investing and the overall growth of fractional investing - His outlook on the real estate market - The impact of cryptocurrency on the fintech industry And much more! Ben Miller: Ben Miller is CEO and co-founder of Fundrise, America's largest real estate investment platform. Now with over 150,000 active individual investors and more than $1.5 billion worth of equity under management, Fundrise has made high-tech, low-cost real estate investing available to everyone. Founded in 2012, Fundrise is on a mission to use technology to build a better financial system for the individual. With over 20 years of experience in real estate investment and development, Ben Miller?s responsibilities cover day-to-day management, real estate investment oversight, and corporate finance, as well as setting the long-term strategy and goals for the company. Prior to Fundrise, Ben was managing partner of WestMill Capital Partners and President of Western Development Corp., one of the largest mixed-use real estate development companies in the Washington, DC metro area. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he sits on the board of National Center for Children and Families. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Anirudh Singh sits down with Carey O?Connor Kolaja, CEO of AU10TIX. In this episode they discuss: - Her background at PayPal and Citi - Key leadership lessons she has picked up over the past 20 years - Working towards identity literacy - Transitioning into CEO of AU10TIX And much more! Carey O?Connor Kolaja: Carey O'Connor Kolaja is an entrepreneur, investor and global leader focused on redefining how ?trusted access" is granted to individuals and entities. Throughout her career, Carey has been known as an innovator, disrupter and operator who can drive from start-up to scale-up. A thought leader in the financial services and payments industry, Carey has been exploring the intersection of payments, identity and adaptive technologies for more than 25 years and is on a mission to create a more inclusive and secure world. Carey is chief executive officer of AU10TIX, the global leader in automated identity intelligence and cyber fraud prevention. In this capacity, Carey is responsible for establishing and driving the overall business strategy and day-to-day operations, leading a team charged with enabling companies to onboard faster, prevent fraud, meet compliance mandates, and establish trust with their customers. Prior to AU10TIX, Carey was the global chief product officer at Citi Fintech and vice president of global consumer products at PayPal. In these roles she was responsible for the global product vision in service to hundreds of millions of consumers around the world. She led international teams charged with designing, deploying and operating global product and commercial strategies for consumer products to effectively serve the local needs and interests of customers in the 200+ markets they serve. Carey has a B.S. from the University of Indiana Business School and is an executive program graduate from Stanford University. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Miguel Armaza sits down with Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed Ventures, a global multi-stage VC with over $10B in AUM, focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise and Consumer sectors. They?ve backed some amazing companies, including Snap, Affirm, and GrubHub. Alex focuses on online marketplaces and co-leads Lightspeed?s investment efforts in Latin America. He is also the author of the popular weekly newsletter, DRINKING FROM THE FIREHOSE, in which he writes about recent trends in commerce, media, tech, climate, science, and popular culture. In this episode, we discuss - Alex?s story and why he decided to stop pursuing a Phd and left academia to join the tech investing world - The intersection of marketplaces and fintech and why the payment technology is the motor oil that makes transactions flow smoothly for marketplaces - Why in Venture Capital it?s very important to ask the best possible questions and pay close attention to the answers that reveal an underlying truth - Early investing mistakes and the importance of focus - Lessons from several years of writing a successful newsletter? and a lot more! Alex Taussig Alex joined Lightspeed in 2016 as a partner on the consumer investment team and has spent 12+ years in venture capital. He is passionate about partnering with founders who are reimagining major categories of commerce using technology. At Lightspeed, Alex has led investments in startups disrupting massive industries like food (Daily Harvest, Frubana), retail (Faire), education (Outschool), and weddings (Zola). He also co-leads Lightspeed?s investment efforts in Latin America. Prior to joining Lightspeed, Alex was a partner at Highland Capital Partners, where he led investments in and supported over a dozen companies, including thredUP (IPO TDUP, 2021), Carbon Black (IPO CBLK, 2018), 2U (IPO 2014, TWOU), and RentJuice (acquired by Zillow, 2012). Alex is a trained research scientist and breaks down business problems with deductive logic and analytical rigor. He originally studied physics at Harvard College, where he graduated summa cum laude, and then went on to receive a Master?s degree in materials engineering from MIT, where he was part of a research group building the first fully optical computer chip. Alex also received an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, an honor given to the top 5% of the graduating class. Alex publishes a popular weekly(ish) newsletter called DRINKING FROM THE FIREHOSE, in which he writes about recent trends in commerce, media, tech, climate, science, and popular culture. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children and enjoys baking, anime, and heavy metal music. About Lightspeed Venture Partners Lightspeed Venture Partners is a multi-stage venture capital firm focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise and Consumer sectors. Over the past two decades, the Lightspeed team has backed hundreds of entrepreneurs and helped build more than 400 companies globally, including Snap, Nest, Nutanix, AppDynamics, MuleSoft, OYO, Guardant, Affirm, and GrubHub. Lightspeed and its affiliates currently manage $10.5B across the global Lightspeed platform, with investment professionals and advisors in Silicon Valley, Israel, India, China, Southeast Asia, and Europe. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Miguel Armaza sits down with Sean Salas, Co-Founder and CEO of Camino Financial, a Fintech company pioneering access to affordable credit to underbanked Latino businesses. Since inception, the company has raised over $125 in debt and equity from top industry investors. Sean grew up in between Mexico and the US and holds and got his MBA at Harvard Business School. In this episode, we discuss: - Sean?s journey between the US and Mexico - Launching Camino Financial while at Harvard Business School and the incredible benefits of using your MBA time to start a company - The importance of serving SMBs and how the company is leveraging technology to provide a more inclusive solution and improve underwriting decisions - How Camino Financial continues to innovative and why cultural nuances are important for clients - Lessons and reflections for aspiring entrepreneurs? and a lot more! Sean Salas Sean Salas is the CEO and Co-Founder of Camino Financial, a fintech platform pioneering access to affordable credit to underbanked Latinx businesses. He is often featured as a commentator discussing FinTech and Latino entrepreneurship, including appearances on Univision, CNN, and Discovery Channel. Sean also sits on the board of two non-profit organizations, the US-Mexico Foundation and the Harvard Business School Latino Alumni Association (HBSLAA). Sean co-founded Camino Financial with his twin brother, Kenny Salas. The twin brothers were raised by an entrepreneurial mother, who built and lost her business. While completing their MBAs at Harvard Business School, the Twins co-founded Camino Financial under the notion of never leaving a small business owner behind. As CEO of Camino Financial, Sean has built a team of over 50 employees distributed globally and raised over $125 million in debt and equity. Previously, Sean worked in private equity and investment banking. Throughout his experience, Sean oversaw four portfolio companies with combined revenue of over $250 million, invested close to $50 million in direct equity investments, and structured $1.2 billion in debt financings. Sean has a BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Harvard Business School. About Camino Financial Camino Financial is the first AI-powered Community Development Financial Institution (?neo-CDFI?) expanding access to credit for underserved Latinx entrepreneurs in the U.S. Camino is uniquely positioned to offer affordable loans as it combines its proprietary AI technology with access to CDFI designated low-cost capital and resources. Camino Financial has also produced the largest bilingual content hub to empower Latinx entrepreneurs to thrive and graduate into lower-cost, longer-term credit products. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

I sit down with Patrick Burns, CEO and Co-founder of Spruce, a proptech powering online real estate transactions that?s on a mission to build a one-click checkout experience for real estate transactions. Spruce has raised more than $50M from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, and Third Prime. Mr. Burns is based in NYC and holds an MA in Statistics from Yale and a BA in Physics from Oxford. We discuss - Patrick?s journey from Scotland to the heart of fintech in NYC - Digitization of the real estate market and why shifting consumer expectations are driving innovation and a better customer experience - Importance of thinking of company culture from day one and how they?ve built a culture of decentralized and autonomy - Reflections and lessons for aspiring entrepreneurs? And just a lot more including the ideal itinerary for your next visit to Scotland! Patrick Burns Patrick is the CEO and co-founder of Spruce, the proptech company powering online real estate transactions. Spruce has raised more than $50M from investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Scale Venture Partners, and Third Prime. Prior to founding Spruce in 2016, Patrick was a product manager at Betterment, the largest automated investment service with $20B under management. He holds an MA in Statistics from Yale, and a BA in Physics from Oxford. About Spruce Spruce is the proptech company on a mission to build the one-click checkout experience for real estate transactions. The company is digitizing real estate transactions for forward-thinking real estate companies and mortgage lenders. By leveraging proprietary technology and best-in-class operations, Spruce provides a seamless, affordable solution. Spruce was founded by Andrew Weisgall and Patrick Burns in 2016, and is headquartered in New York with hubs across the U.S. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Anirudh Singh sits down with Peter Sanborn, Head of Corporate Development at PayPal and Managing Partner of PayPal Ventures. In this episode they discuss: - Peter?s early career at HSBC - Transitioning to PayPal and launching PayPal Ventures - Developing a thematic investing approach - Leveraging PayPal?s broader network to invest globally And much more! Peter Sanborn: Peter Sanborn serves as Vice President, Head of Corporate Development at PayPal and Managing Partner of PayPal Ventures, responsible for identifying, evaluating and executing global M&A and corporate venture capital investments. At PayPal since 2014, Peter is focused on the intersection of financial services, commerce and technology and on providing strategic thought leadership and business insights within PayPal and to PayPal's venture portfolio companies as an investor & board observer. He has led or helped manage the acquisitions of Honey, Xoom, Hyperwallet, Swift Capital, Happy Returns and Paydiant as well as investments in Acorns, Toss, Pine Labs, Tala, Paidy, Paxos, Neon, Divvy, Flutterwave and MercadoLibre. Prior to PayPal, Peter worked in financial services at HSBC for over nine years in Asia (Hong Kong) and Latin America (Mexico City) in M&A/investment, strategy, finance and investor relations roles. Peter enjoys working with passionate entrepreneurs and serves as an advisory board member for Village Capital?s US Fintech program and as a mentor in the Endeavor network. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Miguel Armaza sits down with the amazing Sebastian Kreis, Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Xepelin, a Latin American fintech company that aims to be the leading SME digital bank in the region. Founded in 2019 by Sebastian and Nicolas de Camino, they are one of the fastest growing fintechs in the history of Latam, having loaned more than $400 million in the last couple of years, onboarded over 4,000 clients, and have been doubling in size every three months throughout the last year. They are also backed by some of the best fintech investors, including Kaszek, DST Global, Picus Capital, FJ Labs, Gilgamesh Ventures, Jackie Reses, and many more. In this episode, we discuss - Sebastian?s journey and what inspired him to pursue an entrepreneurial career in fintech - The importance of a strong co-founder relationship and how Sebastian and Nico work together - Company culture and why honesty and transparency are at the very center of Xepelin - The dramatic reality that almost 95% of Latin American companies are unbanked or underbanked and how Xepelin is fixing this - Lessons for entrepreneurs, fundraising reflections? And just a lot more! Sebastian Kreis Sebastian is Co-Founder & Co-CEO at Xepelin, a Latin American fintech company that aims to be the leading SME digital bank in Latam. Prior to Xepelin, he was a Consultant at BCG where he led a multidisciplinary team to develop and execute several successful fintech products serving Fintech and Financial Services firms with a focus on digitization and technology. He has dedicated his efforts in leading teams and helping organizations to bring new digital experiences. Sebastian's experience goes across digital functions: digital strategy, at scale digital transformations, product development, omnichannel user experience strategy and advanced analytics. Prior to BCG, Sebastian co-founded and scaled Safecard from an idea to $2.0M in recurring revenue. Before Safecard, he was an Investment Banking VP at IM Trust (acquired by Credicorp) where he led over 30 M&A, capital market and private transactions totaling +$10Bn and the company?s international expansion into Peru. Sebastian holds a Master in Business Administration from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business where he was co-president of the Latin American and Hispanic Business Association and co-founded the Haas Fintech Club. He is an Industrial Civil Engineer from Catholic University. He is certified Scrum Master for software development. Sebastian has also been involved in academia, serving in 2010-2013 as part time professor of Managerial Accounting & Corporate Finance in the school of engineering in Catholic University. About Xepelin ?We?re reimagining financial services in Latam so every company can focus on operating their business and realize their potential.? Xepelin is a Latin American fintech company that aims to be the leading SME digital bank in Latam. The company was founded in 2019 by Nicolas de Camino and Sebastian Kreis. Thousands of businesses use Xepelin to manage their finances. We?re proud to serve SMBs from all regions and industries in Mexico and Chile, helping founders, managers and their teams stay focused on what they care about most: operating their business. Xepelin is backed by Kaszek, DST Global, Picus Capital, Kayyak Ventures, FJ Labs, Kavak founder Carlos Garcia and ex-head of Square Capital Jackie Reses. Xepelin has raised over $36 million in equity and $250 million in asset-backed facilities to date. For more information, visit https://www.xepelin.com For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Newsletter: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp

Franz Rassman sits down with fintech venture capitalist Howard Mergelkamp. In 2011, Howard Mergelkamp and Miles Kilburn co-founded Mosaik Partners, an expansion-stage venture capital firm investing in commerce-enabling technology companies. Since its founding, Mosaik has invested roughly $150 million in early-stage enterprise fintech companies solving major pain points in large, B2B markets, such as payments, banking, and insurance. We discuss: - Howard?s path to becoming a venture capitalist, which included stops in law, banking, private equity, and operations - Mosaik Partners? origin story and its investment process - How fintech has changed over the past decade and the changes the next decade will bring - Automatic deal breakers in the due diligence process - And a whole lot more! Howard Mergelkamp Howard Mergelkamp III has over two decades of investment banking, private equity, operating and corporate law experience in financial technology, transaction processing/electronic payments and financial services. Howard has been principal or advisor on over $157 billion of strategic transactions across over 100 completed deals of all types and structures, working with executive management teams and boards at companies with market capitalizations from $1 million to $43 billion. As a founding member of Corporate Ventures and Advisory Services at BlackRock, Inc., Howard managed proprietary investments and third-party mergers and acquisitions in financial technology. As a senior vice president at Regulus Group LLC, he led strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructuring. Howard?s advisory experience includes investment banking at Merrill Lynch & Co. ? focusing on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance in electronic payments and financial technology. He practiced corporate law at both Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Cravath, Swaine & Moore ? focusing on mergers and acquisitions in banking, asset management, insurance and consumer finance. Howard has a BA, cum laude, in political science and economics from Columbia University, and a JD, magna cum laude, from University of Pennsylvania Law School. About Mosaik Partners Mosaik Partners is an expansion-stage venture capital firm investing in commerce-enabling technology companies. Founded in 2011 by industry veterans Howard Mergelkamp and Miles Kilburn, Mosaik has since deployed $145+ million across roughly 30 investments. To learn more, check out Mosaik Partners. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: https://medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: https://twitter.com/whartonfintech