Wharton FinTech Podcast

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