Wharton FinTech Podcast

Zoey Tang sits down with Vinay Nair, founder and CEO of TIFIN, a fintech platform that drives personalization for wealth using AI and investment intelligence. TIFIN operates a collection of fully-owned subsidiaries in wealth and investments that are shaping the future of investor experience. Vinay was also the Founder and Chairman of 55ip, which was successfully sold to J.P. Morgan.

As a serial entrepreneur and investor, Vinay was also a former finance faculty member of Wharton. His teaching focuses on venture capital, private equity, and entrepreneurship. He is also recognized as an expert in the areas of sustainable and responsible investing and has written “Investing for Change”, a book published in 2008 by Oxford University Press.

In the episode, Vinay covers his journey from academics to entrepreneurship, how TIFIN is helping transform Wealth Management for consumers and financial advisors, and how TIFIN is pioneering in the space using Gen AI through partnership with incumbents.

Nate Gee hosts Anthony Scaramucci, Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital, an alternative investment firm with a significant focus on digital assets.

In this episode, they cover:

- Anthony’s partnership with FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried

- What led to FTX’s 30% stake in SkyBridge, and takeaways from FTX’s collapse

- Risk-taking, facing criticism, and moving on from mistakes

- Insights from Anthony’s time as White House Communications Director

- Recent performance and the road ahead for SkyBridge

- Bitcoin, other digital assets, and the future of money

- Anthony’s macroeconomic and geopolitical concerns

- SkyBridge’s SALT Conferences

- And much more!

About SkyBridge

SkyBridge Capital is an alternative asset manager and investment advisor whose holdings include digital assets, public and private equity, and hedge funds. It was founded in 2005 by Anthony Scaramucci, also the founder and chairman of SALT, SkyBridge’s venture studio and networking forum covering public policy, finance, and technology.

About Anthony Scaramucci

Anthony Scaramucci is an investor and entrepreneur whose focus in recent years has included digital assets and related technology at SkyBridge Capital. Scaramucci has also worked in politics, most notably in a brief stint as the White House Communications Director for President Donald Trump in 2017. He was ranked among Cointelegraph’s most influential people in crypto and blockchain in 2022, and in 2016, he was listed among Worth Magazine's 100 most powerful people in global finance. Scaramucci has authored multiple books and speaks on CNBC, Bloomberg, and other media.

Before founding SkyBridge, Scaramucci sold his prior investment business, Oscar Capital Management, to Neuberger Berman in 2001. He began his career at Goldman Sachs and holds a JD from Harvard Law School and a BA from Tufts University.

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In today’s episode, Kailee Costello hosts David Haber, General Partner at a16z. David focuses on technology investments in financial services.David was previously a senior executive in Firmwide Strategy at Goldman Sachs where he helped lead partnerships, new ventures and M&A. Before joining the firm, David was the Founder and CEO of Bond Street, which aimed to transform small business lending through technology, data, and design. Bond Street was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2017.

In this episode you will hear about:

- The outlook for fintech: challenges and opportunities

- How seeing the world from the perspective of an operator, an entrepreneur, and an investor has shaped David’s investing today

- David’s current investing theses

- David’s learnings from Bond Street about the importance of “leading with software”

- How David’s lessons from Bond Street and his time at Goldman Sachs have influenced what he looks for in an investment and a founding team

- David’s rationale for leaving his VC role at Spark Capital to found a startup

- What David liked and disliked about his roles in VC compared to his role as founder and CEO at Bond Street

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Zoey Tang sits down with Mark Fiorentino, partner at Index Ventures. Founded in 1996, Index Ventures is a global Venture Capital firm with offices in San Francisco, New York City, and London. Index Ventures has previously invested in prominent fintech companies such as Adyen, Plaid, Robinhood

As part of the early members of the San Francisco team, Mark is focused largely on fintech and application SaaS. He is especially interested in fintech infrastructure, verticalized payment workflows, and SaaS tools disrupting legacy incumbents. He’s currently invested in RevenueCat, Loop, Catch, Pomelo, and Mercantile.

Prior to Index, Mark helped build and lead business strategy and finance at Stripe from 2015 to 2019, driving key initiatives for sales operations, global growth, and fundraising. He helped the company assess international product market fit, grow from a couple hundred to nearly 2,000 people, and move upmarket into late-stage and enterprise. Before that, Mark was an investor at GI Partners, focusing on vertical SaaS and insurance marketplaces, including the acquisition of MRI Software. He was also an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, and served as a board member of the Stonestown YMCA for three years.

In today’s episode we discuss Mark’s journey into Fintech and venture investing, his investment philosophy for companies in different stages, and his advice for founders in a period of volatility.

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In this episode, Blythe Masters reflects on her career that spans three decades within financial services. She discusses pivotal moments, from navigating through major mergers and market upheavals to becoming a mother at an early age. Addressing the evolving landscape of financial services, she delves into the transformative impact of AI and technology on Motive’s investment thesis, portfolio companies and day-to-day operations. Her experiences and observations provide a unique perspective on the industry's past, present, and future, making this podcast a must-listen for finance professionals and enthusiasts alike.

About Blythe Masters

Blythe Masters joined Motive Partners in 2019 and is a Founding Partner. At Motive, Blythe sources and executes investment opportunities with a focus on strategy and growth for Motive portfolio companies, through her extensive experience as a financial services and technology executive. Blythe is Chair of Motive Ventures, the early-stage investment capability at Motive Partners.

Prior to joining Motive, Blythe was the CEO of Digital Asset Holdings, the leading enterprise blockchain fintech company responsible for the Australian Securities Exchange’s ground-breaking post-trade infrastructure replacement project. Previously, Blythe was a member of the Corporate and Investment Bank Operating Committee and firmwide Executive Committee at J.P. Morgan. Her J.P. Morgan career spanned 27 years, fulfilling several roles including head of global commodities, head of corporate and investment bank regulatory affairs, CFO of the investment bank, head of global credit portfolio and credit policy and strategy, and head of structured credit. Blythe is a graduate and Senior Scholar of Trinity College, Cambridge where she received a B.A. in Economics.

About Motive Partners

Motive Partners is a specialist private equity firm with offices in New York City, London and Berlin, focusing on growth equity and buyout investments in software and information services companies based in North America and Europe and serving five primary subsectors: Banking & Payments, Capital Markets, Data & Analytics, Investment Management and Insurance. Motive Partners brings differentiated expertise, connectivity and capabilities to create long-term value in financial technology companies. For more information, please visit www.motivepartners.com

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In today’s episode, Kailee Costello hosts Nikhil Lakhanpal, Co-Founder at Narmi. Narmi’s mission is to offer financial institutions the best digital banking platform in the industry. Narmi does this through an API-driven platform that layers on top of existing banking infrastructure to give these financial institutions access to Narmi’s products, including digital account opening, consumer and business digital banking, and an admin platform.

In this episode you will hear about:

- Nikhil’s journey from running a financial institution during his undergraduate years at Georgetown to founding a fintech.

- How Narmi integrates with the tech stack for financial institutions to provide a superior customer experience

- How Narmi thinks about segmenting and targeting potential customers

- How Narmi approaches selling to financial institutions (which have typically been risk-averse and slow to adopt new technologies)

- Who Narmi’s main competitors are, and how Narmi distinguishes its value proposition from theirs

- Outlook for the banking sector, including the impact of FedNow and how banks have recently started focusing more on digital and tech spend

- What’s top of mind for Nikhil given that 2023 has been a tumultuous year for the banking sector

- How Narmi approached developing their suite of products, and whether what Narmi looks like today is what Nikhil envisioned when he started working on the company

- Narmi’s short-term goals, and where Nikhil sees Narmi 5 years from now

About Narmi

Narmi offers state of the art digital banking and digital account opening platforms to financial institutions. The platform – built for the enterprise – allows financial institutions to open accounts in less than 2.5 minutes, and then grow that relationship over a lifetime through intuitive mobile and online channels. Every single product at Narmi integrates with leading core banking systems.

About Nikhil Lakhanpal

Nikhil Lakhanpal is the Co-Founder of Narmi. Prior to Narmi, Nikhil ran a financial institution as CEO and also held roles in Investment Banking at Citi.

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In today’s episode, Rhea Advani hosts John MacIlwaine, Co-Founder & CEO at Highnote. They delve into the evolving payments processing space, emphasizing the rise of innovative embedded finance platforms like Highnote. The conversation also unveils insights into Highnote's latest Credit Issuing product.

In this episode, you will hear about:

The complexities of payments processing and regulatory challenges faced by fintech companies.

Highnote's innovative approach as an embedded platform, emphasizing differentiation and flexibility.

Insights into Highnote's latest product, the Credit Issuing platform, and its implications for the market.

The future of issuer processing, where legacy platforms coexist with cutting-edge solutions like Highnote.

Highnote's strategies for navigating the competitive fintech industry and their vision for the evolving market landscape.

About John MacIlwaine

John MacIlwaine is the the CEO and co-founder of Highnote, an embedded finance company setting the new standard for modern card platform management through differentiated payment experiences.

John has over two decades of experience leading in technical and management roles at global financial companies. Prior to founding Highnote, he served as General Manager of Braintree, a leading global payments platform that powers some of the world's most innovative and fast-growing companies, including Uber, Airbnb, and Dropbox. During his tenure at Braintree, John was instrumental in driving the company's global growth and expansion. Before joining Braintree, MacIlwaine served as the Chief Technology Officer of Lending Club, a pioneering online lending platform that connects borrowers with investors. In his role, John laid the groundwork to establish the company’s technical foundation while driving innovation across the organization. Throughout his career, John has been committed to helping businesses move faster and innovate more through differentiated payment experiences. He believes that payments are a critical touchpoint in the customer journey and that businesses must deliver seamless, personalized experiences to stand out in today's competitive landscape.

About Highnote

Highnote is an embedded finance company setting the new standard in modern card platform management. Purpose-built to realize customer loyalty and engagement through embedded card experiences, Highnote’s fully integrated tech stack provides every service needed for innovative companies to launch new ways to use card payments. Utilizing the developer-friendly Highnote platform, product and engineering teams at digital enterprises of all sizes can easily and efficiently embed virtual and physical payment cards (commercial and consumer prepaid, debit, credit, and charge), ledger, and wallet capabilities into their existing products, creating compelling value for users while growing revenue and building a unique and differentiated brand. The company has raised more than $100 million from leading investors and strategic partners and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For additional information, please visit www.highnote.com.

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Nate Gee hosts Jeremy Tsui, co-founder and CEO of Finley, which simplifies and streamlines companies’ debt capital raise and management.

In this episode, they discuss:

-Finley’s inspiration from innovations in consumer credit and equity capital management

-Trends in private credit and Jeremy's original idea for Finley

-Jeremy’s views on AI in fintech and beyond

-The ways Finley helps companies manage their debt

-Jeremy’s experience with Y Combinator and recent venture capital fundraising

-And much more!

About Finley

Finley creates software that provides companies with a range of tools to better manage their debt capital, from automating operations and digitizing credit agreements to providing analytics and performance tracking.

About Jeremy Tsui

Prior to co-founding Finley in 2020, Jeremy worked in Goldman Sach’s Special Situations Group where he invested across a range of industries. Beforehand, he worked as a strategy consultant for financial institutions at Oliver Wyman. Jeremy grew up in Texas and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Kailee Costello sits down with Stacy Greiner, Chief Operating Officer at DailyPay. DailyPay offers an on-demand pay solution that helps employers to improve the financial well-being of their workforce. DailyPay has over 1000 enterprise clients, and over 4 million of these company’s employees use the DailyPay platform.

In this episode you will hear about:

- DailyPay's mission to provide employees with on-demand access to their earnings

- Why DailyPay's target market spans across industries, and why DailyPay didn’t start by focusing on a specific industry

- DailyPay's revenue model

- Stacy's perspective on competitive position, and the importance of truly "earned wage" access

- The future for earned wage access

- The risk for employers that fall behind in the Earned Wage Access movement

- The impact of wage compression in healthcare

- DailyPay's strategic priorities over the coming years

- Stacy's journey from her marketing roles at Dun & Bradstreet and Cisco to COO at DailyPay, and what Stacy’s role looks like day-to-day

About DailyPay

DailyPay is on a mission to build a new financial system for everyone. DailyPay delivers an on-demand pay solution with modern, insight-driven pay strategies that help America's leading employers to activate their workforce and build stronger relationships with their employees, so they feel more engaged, work harder, and stay longer. DailyPay works to ensure that money is always in the right place at the right time for employers, merchants, and financial institutions. DailyPay is headquartered in New York City, with operations based in Minneapolis and Belfast.

About Stacy Greiner

Stacy Greiner serves as Chief Operating Officer, DailyPay. She most recently served as the General Manager of the Sales and Marketing Solutions division of Dun & Bradstreet, where she was responsible for all Profit & Loss. Her experience spans Senior Executive roles at Cisco, IBM, and Accenture where she led globally-diverse Product, Marketing, Engineering, and Data & Analytics organizations. Trained as an Aerospace Engineer at Iowa State University, Greiner also holds an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management. She sits on the board and serves as a member of the Audit Committee of Proto Labs, Inc.

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Rob Straathof, CEO of Liberis - Embedded Finance and Small Business Lending

Trevor Prince sits down with Rob Straathof, CEO of Liberis, an embedded finance platform that partners with companies like Klarna, Barclaycard, and Worldpay to empower small businesses with funding solutions. Through analysis of data on its partners' platforms, Liberis provides small businesses with pre-approved funding offers and streamlined access to capital. To date, Liberis has funded over 50,000 businesses with more than £1 billion in funding.

In this episode, Rob discusses his path from an aspiring astronaut to leading a global FinTech company, Liberis' platform relative to traditional lenders, as well as business funding options and their impact on small businesses. He also discusses his experience and perspective on working with regulators in financial services, GenAI’s applications in business, and much more.

About Rob Straathof:

Rob has served as the CEO of Liberis for over 8 years. Prior to Liberis, he led Corporate Development at Wonga.com and worked in Tech and FinTech M&A at JP Morgan. Rob's career journey began early on in his family's delicatessen and catering business in the Netherlands.

Rob is passionate about creating value and impact for small businesses and their communities. He earned a Master of Science in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam, and enjoys flying as an instrument-rated private pilot.