Wharton Fintech Podcast

In today's episode, Andrew Janssens hosts Alex Johnson, the creator of the Fintech Takes newsletter. Alex has been bringing thoughtful takes and commentary on all topics Fintech for many years, and has most recently been working at FICO, the credit scoring company, and Cornerstone Advisors. Alex publishes Fintech Takes, one of the leading newsletters in Fintech, twice a week, and regularly teams up with Jason Mikula (and others) on the monthly "Fintech Recap" podcast. In this episode we cover a whole host of topics, including: • The growth of the Fintech Takes newsletter • Alex's creative process, and how he dives into new topics • A fintech 2023 rapid fire • How VCs can actually help to promote diversity And much, much more! For more FinTech insights, follow us below: WFT Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech WFT Instagram: instagram.com/whartonfintech Andrew’s Twitter: twitter.com/Adhjanssens Andrew’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/andrew-p-janssens/

Tarang Gupta hosts Nick Chandi, Co-Founder and CEO of ForwardAI. ForwardAI provides a full suite of accounting data solutions for banks, lenders, fintechs, accountants, and small businesses. In this episode you will hear about: - Why most SMEs struggle to get funding from traditional banks - How ForwardAI uses data aggregation to predict clients’ cashflow needs - State of the fintech ecosystem in Canada - Nick’s vision for the next 5 years And much more! About Nick Chandi Nick is the CEO and Co-founder of ForwardAI. Before starting FowardAI, Nick co-founded SlickPie, which provides online accounting software for over 40,000 small businesses. In 2019, Nick had a successful exit from a firm he co-founded called Welcome Networks. Nick has an MBA and a bachelor’s in engineering. He is also Co-chair of the British Columbia Tech CEO Scale C-Council and regularly contributes to the Forbes Finance Council. About ForwardAI FowardAI is a Canada-based fintech startup that provides aggregated accounting and business d

Kailee Costello hosts Jesse Greif, the COO of OneChronos. OneChronos pioneered the technology to run a unique kind of optimization in electronic trading markets; their approach draws from Nobel prize-winning auction techniques and solves for execution quality outcomes rather than just speed. In this episode you will hear about: - How OneChronos ‘takes speed out of the equation’ and instead optimizes for what the majority of users define as great trading execution quality. - How the Nobel Prize-winning ‘smart market’ concept has been applied to enable traders to express indifference and substitutes in the context of equities trading - The SEC’s proposal to increase competition for retail order execution - The challenge of capturing both the supply and demand side of the market to launch a new trading venue - OneChronos’ partnership with the NYSE - And much more! About Jesse Greif Jesse Greif is the COO of OneChronos. Prior to joining OneChronos, Jesse spent 13 years at Goldman Sachs, where he most recentl

Tarang Gupta hosts Sachin Kumar, Co-Founder and CTO of Clear Street. Clear Street uses a tech-first approach to provide financial institutions with clearing, custody, execution, and prime brokerage tools and services. In this episode you will hear about: - What is the prime brokerage market - How Sachin went about building Clear Street’s tech platform - Sachin's opinion on the rise in retail investing apps - Why he is bullish on embedded finance And much more! About Sachin Kumar Sachin Kumar is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Clear Street. Prior to Clear Street, Sachin was the co-founder and CTO at Tolo Technologies, an international derivatives high-frequency trading firm with global presence in China, Japan, and Australia. Before founding Tolo, Sachin co-founded his first company, QED Trading, where he led the development of a high frequency market making platform. Sachin has a B.S. in Computer Science from Michigan University. About Clear Street Founded in 2018, Clear Street is a Series-B

In today's episode, Josh Benadiva sits down with Dovi Frances from Group 11 to discuss the future of Fintech and Venture Capital. Josh and Dovi discuss how Dovi sees Fintech hitting an inflection point in the near future, how venture capital is ripe for disruption and more. Dovi Frances is a financial services entrepreneur and the Founding Partner of Group 11, a venture capital firm based in Los Angeles, California. Over the course of his career, Frances has invested over $550 million in some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent and disruptive financial technology companies, including Tipalti, Navan (fka TripActions), Next Insurance, Papaya Global, HomeLight, Sunbit, Masterschool, EquityBee, Venn, and Lili to name a few. Group 11 invests in revolutionary software companies that are redrawing the landscape of the financial services industry. As FinTech continues to gain momentum and to disrupt the traditional industry value chain, Group 11 has positioned itself as a partner of choice to provide capital and gui

Kailee Costello hosts Kurt Lin, CEO and Co-Founder of Pinwheel, a leading payroll connectivity API provider. Pinwheel’s mission is to create a fairer financial system, by enabling consumers to share their payroll and income data with financial institutions, which then use this data for direct deposit switching, income and employment verification, earned wage access, and more. In this episode you will hear about: - Pinwheel’s vision to help fintechs and financial institutions to build products that will lead to better financial outcomes for customers - How Pinwheel’s API is currently being used for direct deposit and earned wage access, and what the next generation of use cases will look like - Pinwheel’s survey insights on blindspots in the financial services industry - How the current macroeconomic environment has increased the need for real-time payroll data - Pinwheel’s “north star” metric, and key factors that have contributed to Pinwheel’s success - Why Pinwheel brought on the former first-ever deputy

Andrew Janssens hosts Rex Salisbury, General Partner at Cambrian Ventures. Rex recently launched Cambrian, a solo-GP fund, after three years at Andreesen Horowitz establishing their Fintech team. In his last appearance on the podcast he talked about setting up the Cambrian fintech community (formerly Fintech Devs & PMs meetup). Cambrian is a U.S fintech fund investing $500K non-lead checks in Fintechs at the pre-seed and seed level. The Cambrian community allows Fintech founders and operators to connect via their slack channel and regular activities such as bi-annual founder matching. In today's episode we cover: -The evolution of Fintech Devs & PMs into the Cambrian community - Rex's investing philosophy - Rex's fintech predictions for 2023 - And much, much more For more FinTech insights, follow us below: WFT Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech WFT Instagram: instagram.com/whartonfintech Andrew’s Twitter: twitter.com/Adhjanssens Andrew’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/an

Tarang Gupta hosts Pushkar Mukewar, CEO and Co-Founder of Drip Capital. Drip Capital is a California and India-based fintech company, focused on solving the working capital problem for SME exporters using tech. In this episode you will hear about: - Working capital challenges that SMEs face - Differences in how financial services operate across the globe - Starting up in emerging markets - Value that an MBA added to Pushkar’s startup ambitions And much more! About Pushkar Mukewar Pushkar is the Co-Founder and CEO of Drip Capital. In his 13-year career, Pushkar has worked across various geographies and has an in-depth understanding of the global financial services industry. Prior to starting Drip Capital, Pushkar was a venture capitalist at Saama Capital and was involved with several high-growth start-ups in India. He has also been a Consultant with Oliver Wyman and started his career at Capital One, developing credit risk analytics for the subprime consumer loans business. Pushkar holds an MBA degree from T

Tarang Gupta hosts Dee Choubey, CEO and Founder of MoneyLion. MoneyLion is an all-in-one finance app that gives consumers access to a comprehensive suite of products and personalized advice, making it more engaging to bank, borrow, save, invest, and grow. In this episode you will hear about: - Building a culture of innovation within an organization - How to be successful in B2C vs B2B fintech - Challenges of taking a fast growing private company public - Why starting up is easier than it was a decade ago - Where does crypto fit in consumer finance And much more! About Dee Choubey Dee Choubey is the Co-Founder and CEO of MoneyLion. Prior to starting MoneyLion, Dee was an investment banker and had worked at Barclays, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup; he also served as a Vice President at Citadel Securities. Dee holds a BA in Economics with Honors from the University of Chicago. About MoneyLion Founded in 2013, MoneyLion is a public company on a mission to rewire the American banking system to make money more app

Kailee Costello hosts Caesar Sengupta, CEO and Co-Founder of Arta Finance. Arta is a digital family office that offers proprietary AI-Managed Portfolios and gives customers access to alternative asset investments such as private equity and real estate. In this episode you will hear about: - Arta’s mission to give more people access to the ‘financial superpowers of the rich’ and how Arta’s technology differs from other robo-advice and AI/ML personal finance offers - Trust and transparency in financial investing - Caesar’stransition from being a leader at a large tech company to founding a startup, and his advice for anyone looking to start a FinTech company - Arta’s recent acquisition of Money Minx - Trends impacting the personal finance sector - Challenges and learnings from Ceasar’s experience leading Google Pay - And much more! About Caesar Sengupta Caesar Sengupta is the co-founder and CEO of Arta Finance. Prior to Arta, Caesar was at Google, where he was the VP & GM of Payments & the Next Billion Users

Josh Benadiva and Kailee Costello sit down with David Jegen and Abdul Abdirahman from F-Prime Capital to discuss the State of Fintech 2023 Report. Josh and Kailee discuss how David’s lengthy experience in FinTech has informed his perspective on the most recent business cycle, and hear from Abdul about how the Fintech Index got its start and much more. F-Prime Capital is an independent venture capital group that grew from Fidelity Investments. They have been backing entrepreneurs building ground-breaking companies for over fifty years. F-Prime has more than $3B under management and has invested in companies from Alibaba and Prosper to Toast and Flywire.

Tarang Gupta hosts Neal Desai, CEO & Co-founder of Kafene, a fintech company helping consumers with affordable lease-to-own options for furniture, appliances, electronics, tires, and more. In this episode you will hear about - What is lease-to-own (LTO) and how it is different from the BNPL model - Challenges of disrupting and modernizing a legacy industry - Difference between financing companies holding risk on balance sheets vs those that operate as a marketplace - Not letting fear dictate one's decision making process - Value that an MBA added to Neal’s entrepreneurial journey And much more! About Neal Desai Neal Desai is the Co-Founder and CEO of Kafene. Before Kafene, Neal was the CFO at Octane Lending, a fintech unicorn. Neal also has almost 15 years of experience as a portfolio manager and a trader at companies like Alpine Partners, Summit Securities, and Merrill Lynch. Neal holds an MBA from the Wharton School and a B.A. from Princeton University. About Kafene Kafene is a Series B fintech startup t

Tarang Gupta hosts Todd Schwartz, CEO, Executive Chairman, and Founder of OppFi, a fintech platform that helps everyday Americans gain access to credit with digital specialty finance products. In this episode you will hear about - How observing pawn shops inspired Todd to start OppFi - OppFi's partnerships with incumbent banks to provide services to underserved consumers - Alternate data analysis and how OppFi underwrites loans - OppFi's special 'Turn-up' program to help borrowers find lower cost debt options And much more! About Todd Schwatz Todd Schwartz is the CEO, Chairman, and Founder of OppFi. He is also a Principal at Schwartz Capital Group, a dynamic family investment business based in Chicago, IL, and a Partner at Strand Equity, a LA-based growth equity firm investing in consumer brands. Previously, Todd founded the multi-family real estate company Beach Coast Properties in California. He also holds a B.S. in finance from Tulane University. About OppFi Based in Chicago, OppFi provides a fintech pl

Andrew Janssens hosts Michael Gilroy, Co-Head of Growth Investing and Head of Fintech at Coatue. Coatue is a multi-stage technology investor across both private and public markets. In this episode you will hear about: - Michael's investing philosophy - The State of Fintech in 2023 - Coatue's proposed "Rule of 200" for fintech investments - And much, much more! About Michael Gilroy Michael is a thought leader in the fintech space, and recently co-published "Fintech & the Pursuit of the Prize" a widely-cited assessment of the Fintech space that was presented at last year's Money 20/20. Prior to Coatue, Michael was a Partner at Canaan, an early-stage VC fund.

Tarang Gupta hosts David Yang, Partner at Activant Capital, a global investment firm that partners with high-growth companies that are transforming commerce. In this episode you will hear about - Escape velocity and hyper growth from an investor’s point of view - What David enjoys about his role as an investor - How Activant thinks about selecting companies to invest in - Segments within fintech are going to boom And much more! About David Yang David joined Activant in February 2021, and brings nearly fifteen years of tech investment experience across private and public markets. He helps lead the firm’s investment committee and focuses primarily on e-commerce, logistics, and B2C fintech. Prior to joining the firm, David built his investing career at TA Associates, Warburg Pincus, and Access Industries. He received his undergraduate degrees from Wharton and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business. About Activant Capital Founded in 2015, Activant Capital is a global investment firm with offices in G

Tarang Gupta hosts John Paasonen, Co-Founder & CEO of Maxwell, a digital mortgage platform providing tech solutions to mortgage lending institutions across the US. In this episode you will hear about - Complexities creating inefficiencies in the mortgage industry - Why John chose to focus on small to midsize lenders - Maxwell's decision to enter the secondary market for mortgage loans - The rising startup ecosystem in Denver And much more! About John Paasonen John the Co-Founder and CEO of Maxwell. He is a fintech industry veteran with over 8 years of experience at PayPal and American Express. John founded Maxwell in 2015 after being frustrated with the mortgage process, and set about to modernize and inject transparency, equity, and efficiency into the mortgage process. John has a BA from Taylor University and an MBA from the Duke University. About Maxwell Founded in 2015, Maxwell was started to provide a better mortgage process for lenders and borrowers. Maxwell offers solutions that would help local mor

Tarang Gupta hosts Rob Petrozzo, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Rally, a digital platform for buying & selling equity shares in collectible assets. In this episode you will hear about - Rob’s journey from a designer to a fintech entrepreneur - Types of collectibles available on Rally - How Rally selects and price collectibles - Why collectibles must be a part of a 21st century portfolio - Rob’s opinion on NFTs vs physical collectibles And much more! About Rob Petrozzo Born and raised in Brooklyn, Rob was the first in his family to graduate from college. He studied Marketing Communication and Graphic Design at Philadelphia University. After college, he launched a boutique consulting firm and began a prolific career in design. Rob was quickly recognized and began designing for Kayne West, John Legend, Young Geezy, and DJ Drama. Rob regretted missed investment opportunities in fine art and collectibles because he didn’t have access to cash. For Rob, Rally’s mission is to provide access to collectibles

Tarang Gupta hosts Archie Ravishankar, Founder and CEO of Cogni, a digital platform on a mission to provide easy, transparent and accessible banking and lifestyle services. In this episode you will hear about - What sets Cogni apart from other digital banks - Why Cogni decided to enter the Web3 space - How a non custodial crypto wallet works - Importance of sticking to one’s core values in business - One innovator that Archie admires And much more! About Archie Ravishankar Archie is the Founder and CEO of Cogni. Prior to Cogni, Archie was Investment Director at Manor Estate Family Office, Board Member at GP Pacific Engineering and Construction, and Director of Partnerships and Strategy at Hudooku Solutions. Archie is currently a Forbes Finance Council Member, a Board Member of Howard Brain Sciences Foundation, and a Board Member of Centre for Advanced Defense Studies. About Cogni Founded in 2018 with the idea that anyone, anywhere should be able to access personalized financial and lifestyle services, Cogn

Tarang Gupta and Nidhi Singh host Alex Harris, Founding Partner at Fiat Growth and GP at Fiat Ventures. Fiat Growth is a growth shop focused on data backed decision making, innovation, iteration and execution. In this episode you will hear about - Alex’s experience of working at high-growth fintech startups - Fiat's belief in supporting founders from underrepresented communities - Interesting trends in the fintech industry - Why Alex prioritized happiness over money in his career And much more! About Alex Harris Alex is the Founding Partner of Fiat Growth and is a General Partner at Fiat Ventures. Alex possess deep experience as a growth operator, most recently he led Paid Growth and Partnerships at Chime, leading them from Series A to Unicorn status at Series D. At Fiat, Alex has helped many fintech brands grow including Bestow, Sundae, Root, Trellis, Simplist and Greenwood among others. Alex holds an undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley, as well as a Juris Doctorate and MBA f

Tarang Gupta and Nidhi Singh host Miguel Fernandez, CEO and Co-founder at Capchase, a growth partner for SaaS companies providing flexible and non-dilutive funding. In this episode you will hear about - Miguel’s entrepreneurial journey from Europe to the US - Challenges that SaaS companies face with upfront costs - Why Miguel enjoyed his time at Harvard Business School but still chose to dropout - How Capchase is enabling capital access for small businesses And much more! About Miguel Fernandez Miguel is Co-founder and CEO of Capchase, he lives and breathes SaaS and is constantly thinking about how to solve founders’ needs around cash and revenue management. Miguel suffered most of the pains that Capchase is trying to solve while scaling sales, customer success and international at Geoblink, before pursuing an MBA at Harvard Business School and dropping out to start Capchase in early 2020. When not at work, Miguel loves helping founders that are just starting out to help them achieve product market fit as f