Fintech Nexus

This week, I shared my coffee break was Steve Smith COO at Esker. 

We spoke about the explosion of invoice-to-cash, and how automation of the procure-to-pay cycle using AI is essential in improving the productivity and sustainability of businesses.

One of the hottest areas of fintech today is anti-fraud. It has never been more challenging to stop fraudsters and for most fintechs this is not a core competency. Thankfully, new companies are arriving on the scene with deep experience to help fintechs combat the increasing fraud threats.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Soups Ranjan, the CEO and Co-Founder of Sardine. They have combined risk, compliance, and payment protection into one platform and they have started in the most challenging of all sectors when it comes to fraud: crypto. And they are about to move into mainstream fintech later this year.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The founding story of Sardine.
• Why they called the company Sardine.
• The biggest fraud and compliance challenges today in fintech.
• The different types of scams that are most popular today.
• Why combatting social engineering is all about education.
• What Sardine does exactly.
• How they are using behavioral biometrics.
• The three different products they offer.
• Where the most fraud is coming from today.
• How they are preparing for a world of real-time payments.
• Details of the new consortium they are getting ready to launch.
• How they are leveraging the expertise from the big name VCs on their board.
• What is next for Sardine.

Connect with Soups on LinkedIn
Connect with Sardine on LinkedIn

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

• Tweet me @PeterRenton
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

On today's episode, I'm joined by Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder & CEO of Zip.

Rujul and I talked about the frustrations he and his co-founder encountered, which led to the idea behind Zip, the importance of a consumer-grade solution, the growth trajectory Zip is currently on, raising capital, Roger Federer, and much, much more.

A couple of short PSAs:

We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023, head to (https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/) Fintech Nexus dot com for details. The link will be in the show notes.

If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at [email protected].

Without further ado, Rujul Zaparde, Co-Founder & CEO of Zip. Enjoy the show.

Episode highlights include:

• Zip's founding story
• A consumer-grade experience
• More spend visibility across the organization
• Better audit trail
• Easier budget management
• "Zip is where you do your best work"
• Recommended reading
  • The Master: The Long Run and Beautiful Game of Roger Federer by Christopher Clarey 
• Raising capital
• And much more…

Connect with Rujul on LinkedIn
Connect with Zip on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:

• Tweet me @ToddFintech
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Find previous PitchIt episodes
• Email me at [email protected]

Until next time.

We discussed big fintech news stories from Block, Coinbase, The White House, NYDIG, JPMorgan, First Republic, Credit Suisse, Brex, SoFi, eToro and more.

Today I shared my coffee break with Michelle Alt, Partner and co-founder of Klaros. We sat down to talk about the recent Silicon Valley Bank crisis, and what her view is for possible regulation and innovation and its wake.

Klaros is an advisory and investment firm focused on innovation in Financial Services, helping clients navigate the difficult regulatory landscape facing financial institutions as they develop for the future. 

When an immigrant first arrives in the U.S. they face a myriad of challenges. One of those core challenges is getting a bank account and becoming part of the financial system. Traditional banks find it very difficult to deal with these populations so, not surprisingly, fintech has come to fill in the gap.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Magnus Larsson, the CEO and co-founder of MAJORITY. It is a fintech company founded by immigrants for immigrants that offers an all-in-one mobile banking solution tailored for new arrivals in this country. As you will find out they are offering far more than just a bank account.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The founding story of MAJORITY.
• Why Magnus moved back to the US.
• The mistake that big brands make when dealing with immigrants.
• Why traditional banks find it so hard to serve immigrants.
• MAJORITY's core product offerings.
• Why they work hard to build a community as well as a digital app.
• How they customize their products to serve each country's diaspora.
• Why they have opened physical locations in select cities.
• How they can open bank accounts without a social security number.
• Why they spent so much time choosing their bank partners.
• Details about their bank partnerships.
• The key to success as a niche digital bank.
• What it was like raising equity capital in 2022.
• The scale that MAJORITY is at today.
• Where they are on the journey to profitability.
• Their different sources of revenue.
• Magnus's vision for MAJORITY.

Connect with Magnus on LinkedIn
Connect with Magnus on Twitter
Connect with MAJORITY on LinkedIn
Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

• Tweet me @PeterRenton
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

On today's episode, I'm joined by Christian Maynard-Philipp, Founder & CEO at Pattern.

Christian and I discussed Pattern's origin story, why Pattern is different from some of the investing apps in the market, scalability, and financial advisors, the investing education gap, her time in the public sector, the best fundraising story I've heard, and much more.

A couple of short PSAs:

We are still accepting applications for PitchIt at Fintech Nexus USA 2023, head to (https://www.fintechnexus.com/usa/2023/startups/) Fintech Nexus dot com for details. The link will be in the show notes.

If you want to sponsor an episode, come on as a guest, or sponsor one of our many digital or in-person offerings, please reach out anytime at [email protected].

Without further ado, Christian Maynard-Philipp, Founder & CEO at Pattern. Enjoy the show.

Episode highlights include:

• Christian’s founder story
• Her time at Acorns and Cash App
• The investing education gap
• Consumer advocacy
• Smart scalability
• Financial health and inclusion
• Compliance, Compliance, Compliance
• The gender gap in fintech
• Recommended reading
  • Ride of a lifetime, by Robert Iger
  • Better not Bitter, by Yusef Salaam
• Raising capital
• And much more…

Connect with Christian on LinkedIn
Connect with Pattern Financial on LinkedIn
Connect with PitchIt:

• Tweet me @ToddFintech
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Find previous PitchIt episodes
• Email me at [email protected]

Until next time.

On the news show today we discussed big news from (of course) Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, Goldman Sachs, First Republic, Mercury, NorthOne, Meow, Circle, Tether.to, Stripe, FedNow and more.

Max Levchin is one of the giants of the fintech space. He was a co-founder and CTO of the original fintech, PayPal, and now he leads Affirm, the company that is reinventing how we pay for things at the point of sale.

The buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) space continues to be hot. Consumers love it and so the volume of merchandise funded in this way keeps growing every year. But what is behind that growth and why is BNPL so much better for consumers than credit cards? We delve into a detailed discussion of this and more in the latest episode of the Fintech One-on-One podcast.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The catalyst for the founding of Affirm.
• Why they decided to start in point-of-sale lending.
• Why transparency was integral to their offering.
• Why Max thinks credit cards have a lot in common with payday loans.
• How the CFPB views BNPL.
• The types of loans Affirm offers and the different ways they make money.
• How Peloton became such a big part of their business.
• The key to landing partnerships with both Walmart and Amazon.
• How they are adapting their credit models to drive lower delinquencies.
• Max's thoughts on their recent layoffs.
• How they have engaged with the CFPB.
• Why there has been a bunch of fintech startups by ex-Affirm execs.
• His surprising view on the future of cards as a payment vehicle.

Connect with Max on LinkedIn
Connect with Affirm on LinkedIn
Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

• Tweet me @PeterRenton
• Connect with me on LinkedIn
• Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes