Wharton FinTech Podcast

In our latest episode of the Wharton Fintech podcast, Anchit Gupta (WG’21) is joined by Jared Hecht, Co-founder & CEO of Fundera, an online marketplace that matches SMB to lenders. Fundera is a financial-services marketplace for small businesses, helping connect business owners with the right lenders. Fundera is helping thousands of SMBs right now to help them navigate the chaotic Paycheck Protection Program application process. Since inception, Fundera has facilitated close to 3Bn USD financing for thousands of customers. Back in 2010, Jared also founded GroupMe, a popular group messaging app. GroupMe was a massive success with over 1 Mn users within a year and was eventually acquired by Microsoft and Skype. Prior to GroupMe, Jared worked as an early employee at Tumblr. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Columbia University Entrepreneurship Organization and is an investor and advisor to startups such as Codecademy, SmartThings and TransferWise. In this interview, Jared shares: - His background and journey across 2 very different entrepreneurial ventures - The challenges faced by Small and Medium Businesses to access financing in the United States - The various ways in which Fundera is helping solve these issues and creating a suite of financial service solutions for SMBs - The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Fundera as well his opinion on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) - His experience launching a viral messaging product (GroupMe) during the early days of smart phones - Advice to young entrepreneurs hustling through this crisis

In our latest episode of the Wharton Fintech podcast, Miguel Armaza is joined by Sebastian Kanovich, CEO of dLocal, a 360 payments technology company which handles payins and payouts in emerging markets for some of the largest global e-commerce and marketplace companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, and Google. As the CEO of AstroPay, prior to dLocal, he grew the company into a premier cross-border payment-card provider that processed millions of transactions daily. Sebastián holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from Universidad ORT Uruguay. He also studied Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Management of Technology at Tel Aviv University, and completed a prestigious Endeavor Innovation and Growth Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He continues to be fascinated with how payments work around the world.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Alex Lazarow, Investment Director at Cathay Innovation, Kauffman Fellow, Professor, and recent author of Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs - from Delhi to Detroit - Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley (HBR Press). Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs - from Delhi to Detroit - Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley In recent memory, the concept of entrepreneurship has been popularized by the explosive success of Silicon Valley startups. While the Valley's framework of building lean startups that "move fast and break things" has done wonders in their ecosystem, this model hasn't necessarily translated to outside the Valley. In his book, Alex Lazarow explores the framework of dozens of successful entrepreneurs and investors from around the world, acknowledging that entrepreneurship is never a one size fits all approach. Out-Innovate comes out at an especially relevant time as the COVID-19 crisis threatens VC investing volumes in emerging markets. Armed with data and real-life examples, Alex presents a compelling case to invest in emerging market ecosystems with startups that look a lot more like Camels rather than Unicorns -built for sustainability and resilience to navigate frequent shocks and survive droughts. Mr. Lazarow also reminds us that some of the best technology innovations increasingly come from outside of Silicon Valley. In fact, average returns for emerging-market VCs have outperformed their peers in traditional entrepreneurial hubs over the last fifteen years. By the same token, some of the most relevant fintech startups were born outside of the US. Nubank, a Brazilian company, is the largest independent digital bank in the world, and Ant Financial, a Chinese company, is considered the largest private fintech company worldwide. Out-Innovate is a must-read for any investor, entrepreneur, and aspiring builder interested in learning about some of the most resourceful founders around the world who are building lasting companies and improving their communities in the process. Alex Lazarow Alex Lazarow has worked at the intersection of investing, innovation, and economic development across the public, private, and social sectors for more than a decade. He is a venture capitalist with Cathay Innovation and was previously with Omidyar Network. He is a Kauffman Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations term member, and an adjunct professor specializing in social impact investment and entrepreneurship at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of Manitoba.

In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) sits down with Charlie Delingpole, the CEO and Founder of ComplyAdvantage. ComplyAdvantage is a FinTech start-up disrupting the compliance space using AI and machine learning to detect money laundering. In 5 years, Charlie has grown the company from 5 people in a garage to 250 employees with 500 customers in over 50 countries. Charlie is a successful serial entrepreneur, with this being his third venture. In this interview, Charlie shares: - The genesis of ComplyAdvantage and the opportunity that Charlie saw for a streamlined compliance experience - How ComplyAdvantage uses AI and ML to monitor bad actors and financial crime more effectively than traditional solutions - How bad actors are engaged in an "arms race" to change behavior in response to new innovations to stop them - The future vision for ComplyAdvantage - Lessons learned from Charlie's experience successfully scaling 2 previous ventures Prior to founding ComplyAdvantage, Charlie successfully founded two companies, MarketFinance and The Student Room. He also spent several years in investment banking at JP Morgan. He holds degrees from the University of Cambridge and London School of Economics and Political Science.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Maelis Carraro, Director of Catalyst Fund and the Impact Ventures Practice at BFA Global. The Catalyst Fund is an inclusive fintech accelerator supporting early-stage inclusive startups with flexible capital, bespoke venture building support, and connections to investors and corporate innovators. Maelis Carraro is the Director of Catalyst Fund and the Impact Ventures Practice at BFA Global. She spent her career working alongside fintech startups, investors, banks and donors to pioneer tech and data-enabled solutions for underserved communities in emerging markets. She runs global accelerator-Catalyst Fund, supported by JP Morgan Chase & Co and the UK Department for International Development, and helped over 30 early-stage fintech startups create innovative and affordable solutions for underserved populations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Previously, Maelis worked at the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), advising financial institutions on digital innovation and responsible financial inclusion strategies across fragile and emerging markets, as well as the OECD and the Grameen Bank, where she researched micro financing schemes for climate adaptation in South Asia, and impact fund- Global Partnerships, where she designed impact investing strategies to support tech-enabled businesses across Africa. Maelis also co-founded RemitMas, an inclusive fintech startup focused on remittances for savings for Latino immigrants in the US. Maelis is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a dual MBA and Master in International Affairs from Columbia Business School and the School of International and Public Affairs. She received her B.A Cum Laude from University College London in Political Science and Development Economics. About BFA Global BFA is a global consulting firm striving to build inclusive economies for a sustainable and equitable world. Together with partners and clients, BFA works at the frontier of applied research and innovation using finance, data, technology and behavioral science to build solutions for underserved populations. About Catalyst Fund Catalyst Fund is BFA’s flagship inclusive fintech accelerator, supported by The UK Department for International Development (DFID), JPMorgan Chase & Co and previously the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Catalyst Fund accelerates early-stage inclusive fintech startups with flexible capital, bespoke venture building support and connections to investors and corporate innovators. It also accelerates the ecosystem by fostering networks of fintech investors, corporates and talent organizations, to spur more fintech innovation for the world’s 3 billion underserved.

In today's episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Anchit Gupta sits down with Cathrine Andersen, Co-Founder and CEO of Roger.ai. Founded in 2017, Roger's accounting and finance automation technology help organizations automate time-consuming and expensive manual tasks like bookkeeping and expense management. Before Roger, Cathrine also founded Assemblage, which offered developers a solution to add real-time collaboration apps such as shared whiteboarding to their products. Assemblage was acquired by Cisco in 2014, where Cathrine then worked for 3 years in Innovation and Emerging Product Development. Cathrine holds a bachelor's degree from Copenhagen Business School and a Masters from University of Copenhagen. Cathrine was named to inc. magazine's Top 100 Female Founders in 2019.

In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Mike Vaughan. Mike is currently an Executive in Residence at Oak HC/FT, a leading venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage companies in healthcare and fintech with ~$2 B in AUM. Prior to this role, Mike was the COO of Venmo, scaling the business from the ground floor to 40 M active users, a $300 M revenue run rate, and $100 B in payments in 2019. In this episode, Mike shares: - His background and why he jumped into entrepreneurship after graduating from Wharton - Lessons learned from the early days of Venmo - The key decisions that enabled Venmo to scale over time - Mike's focus at Oak HC/FT and his view on where the next wave of innovation will be in FinTech - Advice for those starting their careers in FinTech Over more than two decades, Mike has developed successful businesses across multiple industries, including three exits totaling >$1 B in market value. He currently serves as an independent board member and active advisor to several early and growth-stage enterprise and consumer tech companies. Mike graduated with an economics degree from Wharton.

Miguel Armaza is joined by David Vélez, Founder and CEO of Nubank, the largest independent digital bank in the world. Nubank has over 25 million clients and has raised $1.2 billion from some of the most prestigious venture capital funds in the globe, including Sequoia, Ribbit Capital, DST, Kaszek Ventures, and QED. David grew up in a family of Colombian entrepreneurs. The concept of being your own boss was engrained in him daily and he always thought he would launch a company at an early age. However, after graduating from Stanford University, he found himself lost at the thought of starting a venture. He didn't know where to even begin. So, he took a more traditional route and joined Morgan Stanley, which later led him to General Atlantic, to focus on growth equity. Armed with 5 years of investing experience, he went back to Stanford in 2010 to pursue an MBA. His goal was to leverage the MBA experience to find a business idea. However, shortly after starting school, he was approached by non-other than Sequoia Capital to lead their Latin American group. He took the chance, but after almost 3 years with Sequoia, it became evident that the startup ecosystem of the region was not robust enough for them, and the Latin American strategy was scrapped. David saw this as an opportunity and decided it was time to start something. Inspiration His painful experience of opening a bank account in Brazil, which he describes as “almost going to jail”, convinced him there was a better way of doing banking in the country. Not only was customer service terrible, but banks were charging astronomically high interest rates to creditworthy customers. This is where Nubank was born. During his years at GA, David had the chance to work alongside Nigel Morris, Co-Founder of Capital One. David credits Capital One as a big inspiration for Nubank, as a data-driven company with a culture focused on recruiting the best analytical talent. Another source of inspiration was Tinkoff, a Russian neobank with a similar focus and excellent customer experience. Additionally, learning from technology companies like Amazon and Netflix convinced David that Nubank should be a technology company that happens to operate in financial services, and not a bank that uses technology. In his own words, “This makes all the difference”. Culture If there’s something that stands out when talking to David, it’s his dogged determination on building a customer-centric company culture that also takes care of its employees. In fact, back in 2013 when launching Nubank, he created two company presentations. One for investors and another one about company culture that he used to recruit his co-founders and first employees. He is clearly proud that the latter hasn't changed much in the last seven years and he continues to deliver this presentation to every single new employee at the company. Interestingly, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nubank culture has overperformed and employee engagement has never been better. Be it through the creation of a 20 million reais (≈US$3.8 million) fund for customer assistance or by providing over 1,000 remote service stations for their employees to work from home, the pandemic has allowed them to prove to clients and employees that they live and breathe these company values. Post-COVID World David argues that the current crisis doesn’t necessarily create any new trends, but instead accelerates several tendencies and behaviors that were already taking place. From digitalization to more flexible remote working policies, these trends are only accelerating. However, more importantly, David is convinced the pandemic is forcing companies to rethink their values and embrace a much broader view of capitalism, through a model that requires companies to show integrity and take care of their customers, their people, their communities, and the environment. As evidenced by their recent actions, Nubank is certainly adopting this philosophy.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Melbourne O’Banion, CEO and Co-Founder of Bestow, a digital life insurance company leveraging technology to make protection accessible and affordable. Bestow has received over $68 million in equity financing from Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures, NEA, Morpheus Ventures, Core Innovation Capital, Abstract Ventures, Sammons Financial, 8VC. Melbourne O’Banion is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bestow, a digital life insurance company leveraging technology to make protection accessible and affordable. Through data-driven technology applications and innovative products, Bestow is changing the way life insurance is perceived and purchased. He is an entrepreneur and investor with expertise in fintech and direct-to-consumer businesses. Among his startups, he was a founding member of Presidio Title, a leading title insurance agency in Texas. He is also co-founder of Beauty Bioscience, a skincare line sold via TV shopping channels and luxury retailers. Melbourne is a member of the National Advisory Council for the Marriott School of Management at Brigham Young University and is on the board of the SMU Tate Lecture Series. He is a graduate of BYU and studied Finance and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Bestow is an insurance technology company that builds products and software that make life insurance accessible to millions of families. In addition to its direct-to-consumer arm, Bestow provides industry-first APIs enabling partners to offer bespoke life insurance coverage to their customers with ease. Bestow is reshaping the life industry as the insurance company of the future. The company is headquartered in Texas with offices in Dallas and Austin. Learn more at www.bestow.com In this episode, Melbourne shares: - His background as a serial entrepreneur and what drove him to life insurance. - Why he and his co-founder decided to avoid third party software solutions and, instead, built an insurance product along with its integrated software from scratch. And why this decision has made a huge positive difference. - Reasoning behind Bestow’s entry market strategy. - Finding product-market fit and how they decided what customer segment to focus on - Bestow’s key partnerships, ranging from traditional life insurance companies to Fintechs like Acorns, Chime, Stash, Moneylion, and more. - The importance of hiring a great team, establishing company principles early on, and leading and hiring by those principles. - Famous Texas Hospitality. The advantages of launching a startup in Texas and why he thinks there isn’t a better place in the US to start a company. - How the COVID-19 crisis has awakened a lot of people to a sense of their own mortality and what this has meant for the life insurance business. - The state of InsurTech and why he thinks new entrants in the insurance space will have to do something radically new and different to differentiate themselves. - Valuable advice for entrepreneurs and aspiring founders.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Brad Paterson, CEO of SplitIt (ASX: SPT), a global payment platform that enables shoppers to pay installments via their credit cards, by splitting credit card purchases into interest and fee-free monthly payments. Splitit is a global payment platform that enables shoppers to pay installments via their credit cards, by splitting credit card purchases into interest and fee-free monthly payments. Splitit’s consumer solutions enable merchants to offer their customers an easy way to pay for purchases in monthly installments with instant approval, decreasing cart abandonment rates and increasing revenue. Splitit Business Payments allows manufacturers and suppliers to provide buyers with an interest-free, installment credit solution for purchasing goods and services utilizing their existing credit cards. Serving many of Internet Retailer’s top 500 merchants, Splitit’s global footprint extends to 27 countries around the world. Headquartered in New York, Splitit has an R&D center in Israel and offices in London and Australia. Brad Paterson has accumulated a wealth of knowledge over nearly two decades working with some of the world’s most successful payment companies, including Intuit, PayPal, and Visa. As Intuit’s VP of Marketing, Brad led the go-to-market team responsible for the US QuickBooks Online revenue and customer outcomes. His responsibilities included the strategy, sales, marketing, and general business operations for the QuickBooks Online portfolio. Prior to this role, Brad served as Intuit’s VP of Asia-Pacific and Global Operations, driving business growth in critical international markets. He also served as PayPal’s Head of Merchant Services, Asia-Pacific and Visa’s Director of Consumer and Emerging Products for Australia and New Zealand, among other roles at the two companies. In this interview, Brad shares: - His background and experiences from his days as an executive at PayPal, Intuit, and Visa. - What drove him to Splitit and why he sees a lot of parallels between them and the early days of Paypal. - The benefits of Splitit’s, business model and why they are experiencing incredibly fast growth during the COVID-19 crisis. - Going public on the Australian Securities Exchange. The benefits and challenges of running a publicly listed company. - Insightful advice for fintech professionals.