Fintech Nexus

With all the layoffs in the news it would be easy to get the impression that fintech is on the downswing. But nothing could be further from the truth. There has never been a better time to start a fintech company and, as you will find out in this episode, the volume and quality of new fintech companies continues to increase.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Rex Salisbury. He is the founder of Cambrian Ventures and the creator of the Cambrian fintech community. He is one of the most well-connected people in all of fintech and has been supporting early-stage fintech companies for many years. 

In this podcast you will learn:

• The genesis of the Cambrian fintech community.
• What Rex did during his time at Andreessen Horowitz.
• How his co-founder matching service works.
• The size and focus of his first fund.
• Why he doesn't like to be a lead investor.
• How he sources new deals.
• Details of one of his first investments: Keep Financial 
• The most interesting verticals in fintech today.
• What the pre-seed and seed fundraising market is like today.
• Why hiring at early-stage companies is easier than it has ever been.
• The volume of new fintech companies being created.
• What it is like being a solo GP in your own fund.
• Where he is taking Cambrian Ventures and the community.

Connect with Rex on LinkedIn
Connect with Rex on Twitter
Connect with Cambrian Ventures on LinkedIn
Connect with Fintech One-on-One

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On today’s episode, I’m joined by Joe Cianciolo, Founder & CEO of HomePace.

HomePace's mission is to enable homeowners to gain financial flexibility. They do this by allowing homeowners  to unlock the equity in their homes.

HomePace's innovation gives homeowners more financial freedom without taking on more debt and gives institutional investors access to the real estate asset class.

Joe and I talked about where the HomePace idea originated from, his time at SecondMarket and FutureAdvisor, the typical use of funds through this transaction, how the overall real estate market impacts their business, playing football at Penn State, raising capital, and much more.

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, Joe Cianciolo, Founder & CEO of HomePace.. I hope you enjoy the show.

Episode highlights include:

• Joe’s journey to HomePace
• Lesson’s learned from FutureAdvisor & BlackRock
• HomePace’s model
• Correlation to the broader housing markets
• Equity v. Debt
• The education gap for equity housing transactions
• Raising Capital
• His time playing football at Penn State
• Recommend reading for kids: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Ronald Dahl
• Recommend reading for founders: Moneyball by Michael Lewis
• And much more…

Connect with Joe 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.

Making news this week were Stripe, Custodia Bank, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, American Express, Celsius, SoFi, PayPal, Upstart, BM Technologies, #digitalwallets, #digitalidentity and more.

There are few trends in fintech hotter today than embedded finance. There are companies offering to embed different type of financial products within the product flow of banks, fintechs and even brands. This is part of the rebundling of financial services and it is creating opportunities for many new companies.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Roy Ng, the CEO and co-founder of Bond. Today, Bond provides embedded consumer and business credit solutions for a range of different companies, but as you will find out in this episode, they are not stopping with credit.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The founding story of Bond.
• How Roy defines embedded finance.
• Why they moved from a broad offering to doing one thing: credit.
• The target market they are focused on.
• How their process works when they onboard a new client.
• What the partnerships with their partner banks look like.
• How they are working with Adam Neumann's new company, Flow.
• The different areas where they are looking to expand.
• Roy's perspective on the future of embedded finance.

Connect with Roy on LinkedIn

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

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

The right lending infrastructure is what allows lenders to launch new products easily, to adapt products to changing economic conditions or to start an entirely new lending operation.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Eddie Oistacher, the CEO and Co-Founder of Peach Finance. Incubated inside Affirm, Peach has created a new kind of lending infrastructure that is adaptive and flexible and can scale for virtually any lending product (outside of mortgage).

In this podcast you will learn:

• The founding story of Peach.
• How Max Levchin, the CEO of Affirm, supported new companies like Peach.
• The biggest challenges for lenders today.
• How Eddie describes Peach and where they sit in the technology stack.
• What an Adaptive Core is and why it is important.
• The different lending verticals they support.
• Type types of companies that use their software.
• What fintechs should be looking for when launching a new lending program.
• How lenders should think about loan servicing given a possible recession this year.
• What launching right before the pandemic was like.
• How their self-service migration tool works and why it is a big deal for lenders.
• What is next for Peach.

Connect with Eddie 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 Dani Pensack, Co-Founder & CEO of Rightfoot. 

Rightfoot enables developers to add debt repayment to any application.

Founding stories are always unique, but Dani and Rightfoot are thus far the most interesting to date. They moved into a retirement home to test out their initial idea. Yup, a retirement home, and only one out of 150 said yes.

The idea was that high school kids could make good money by helping retirees with technical tasks like coding; the money would then go into a 529 education account.

While the initial idea didn’t pan out, it helped them to figure out their current business and gave them a life experience like no other. Dani is one of the most resourceful founders I’ve met thus far; just wait until you hear the vacation van story.

Dani and I also discussed the core problems associated with debt repayment, how debt impacts households, her time in Southeast Asia, raising capital, and much more.

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, Dani Pensack, Co-Founder & CEO of Rightfoot. I hope you enjoy the show.

Episode highlights include

• Dani’s journey to Rightfoot
• Rightfoot’s founding story
• Dani’s time at IBM in SE Asia
• How Rightfoot’s API works
• Embedded finance
• Financial Inclusion
• The barriers women-led startups face raising capital
• Tips on raising capital
• Recommended reading - The Messenger by Markus Zusak
• And much more…

Connect with Danielle 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 today's show with Todd Anderson and special guest Nicole Casperson we discussed big fintech news from Stripe, Zelle®, Silvergate Bank, Farmington State Bank, Amazon, Foro, Ron Shevlin, French Hill, Gemini, Bolt and more. 

In the fintech space fighting fraud is a never ending battle. And there have been recent developments that is skewing the playing field in favor of the fraudsters. Fintech companies cannot do this themselves, they need the help of experts who are completely dedicated to making fraud as difficult as possible.

My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Kevin Gosschalk, the CEO and founder of Arkose Labs. Kevin has built Arkose Labs to tackle online fraud head on, having built a suite of tools used by fintechs and others operating online.

In this podcast you will learn:

• The simple concept behind Arkose's approach.
• The state of play in the fraud space today as it applies to fintech.
• How Arkose Labs works with fintechs today.
• How much it costs to buy a valid identity on the dark web.
• What Cybercrime-as-a-Service is and why it is a huge issue.
• How fintechs can try to stop Cybercrime-as-a-Service.
• How to balance increasing friction and reducing fraud.
• An explanation of credential stuffing.
• Why they provide a $1 million warranty for credential stuffing.
• Why Arkose Labs created MatchKey to replace CAPTCHA.
• How they will adapt MatchKey to ensure it has longevity against criminals.
• How they are preparing for future fraud attacks.

Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn
Connect with Arkose Labs on Twitter

Connect with Fintech One-on-One:

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