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, emph...
Oct 23, 2023•24 min
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 mu...
Oct 12, 2023•31 min
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 w...
Oct 09, 2023•27 min
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...
Oct 05, 2023•42 min
Joshua Benadiva sits down with Arad Levertov, founder and CEO of Sunbit, a pay-over-time, point-of-sale financing solution for everyday expenses such as auto-repair, dental care, vet care, and more. Sunbit offers a no-fee credit card, as well as a point-of-sale lending option available at over 20,000 service locations. In-line with Arad's founding vision, Sunbit approves over 90% of borrowers, and the company was most recently valued at $1.1 billion. In this episode, Arad shares how and why he s...
Sep 28, 2023•47 min
Russell Matambo hosts Anthony Noto, CEO of SoFi, a member-centric one-stop shop for digital financial services in the US. In this episode you will hear about: - SoFi’s trajectory since Anthony took over as CEO 5 years ago - the background to the SoFi stadium naming rights deal - what it will take for SoFi to meet its goal of becoming a top 10 financial institution in the US - how Anthony’s upbringing and varied professional experiences have influenced his leadership style - and much more! About ...
Sep 18, 2023•53 min
Joshua Benadiva hosts Bill Capuzzi, the CEO of Apex Fintech Solutions, a leading provider of custody and clearing services for the financial industry. Apex's powerful brokerage solutions and APIs serve over 300 customers including Betterment, SoFi, and Public.com. Bill is also a partner at PEAK6 Investments, the parent company of Apex Fintech Solutions, and a board member of DTCC, a leading provider of market infrastructure for the global financial services industry. In this episode, Joshua and ...
Sep 12, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Zoey Tang hosts Urvashi Barooah, a fellow Wharton alum and Principal at Redpoint Ventures. At Redpoint, Urvashi specializes in early-stage fintech investments, and her portfolio includes ventures such as Dune Analytics, Offchain Labs, XMTP, Flexe, among others. In our conversation, we delved into various aspects of Urvashi's journey. We discussed pivotal moments in her life, including her transition from consulting to venture capital while at Wharton. Urvashi also shared valuable advice for thos...
Sep 07, 2023•33 min
“We build the monetisation engine for Google. We build the entire stack that moves money and we do it at Google scale. The reason we have to build it internally is (because) at our scale and with all our different business models and products that we support at Google there is not really one product out there that does it all. You have to piece together multiple different things and some of that is very unique to the way Google runs and its scale and reach… billions of users, hundreds of countri...
Aug 28, 2023•39 min
Zoey Tang hosts Kevin Zhang, partner at Bain Capital Venture. At BCV, Kevin partners with inception-stage entrepreneurs at the intersection of business software and financial services, with particular emphasis on finserv enablement, productivity & automation, and data infrastructure. During our conversation, we delved into Kevin's professional trajectory, his initial attraction to fintech, and the transition from operations to investment. We then discussed his specific criteria when it comes...
Aug 24, 2023•43 min
Nate Gee hosts Eric Satz, Founder and CEO of Alto, a self-directed IRA custodian that facilitates individuals’ tax-advantaged investments in alternative asset classes. With the goal of “alternatives for all,” Alto aims to be the world’s premier alternative assets marketplace. In this episode, they discuss: - Eric’s career journey and how Alto came about - Why alternative investments as a means of diversification, and why now - Alto’s growth in a space of increasing competition - Alto’s capabilit...
Aug 21, 2023•42 min
Zoey Tang hosts Gary Hoberman, Founder and CEO at Unqork. Unqork provides a codeless enterprise application platform designed for customers in financial services, insurance, health care, government, and others. Throughout our conversation, we explored Gary's career journey and the motivation behind initiating Unqork. Our conversation delved into how Unqork empowers clients through its no-code application platform, expediting development, amplifying customization, and mitigating technical debt. W...
Aug 17, 2023•38 min
Joshua Benadiva hosts Itzik Cohen, Co-Founder and CEO of PayZen, a patient financing platform for healthcare. PayZen helps hospitals, health systems, and physicians groups of all sizes to offer affordable payment plans to their patients, while funding providers up-front for all billings regardless of a patient’s credit score. PayZen was founded in 2021 by Itzik and his co-founders to fight the healthcare affordability crisis. In this episode you will hear about: - Itzik’s journey from being a se...
Aug 16, 2023•48 min
Kailee Costello hosts Matt Streisfeld, General Partner at Oak HC/FT. Oak is a venture and growth equity firm investing in companies driving transformation in healthcare and fintech. Oak was one of the earliest venture investors in fintech, and now has over $5B in assets under management. In this episode you will hear about: - The M&A environment for fintechs - Opportunities in AI and Machine Learning, and how Matt thinks about identifying “winners” in what is increasingly becoming a crowded ...
Aug 07, 2023•32 min
"Every time we scale, I rethink the problem and how we are solving it…” Listen in as Josh Benadiva hosts Ariel Cohen, CEO and Co-Founder of Navan. This episode is a riveting exploration of Ariel's journey in tackling evolving challenges and driving continuous product innovation as his business scales. Ariel shares his unique approach to product development and organizational alignment. He discusses how he and his co-founder initially reimagined enterprise travel management software with a focus ...
Jul 31, 2023•46 min
Kailee Costello hosts Harsh Sinha and Steve Naudé from Wise. Harsh is the Chief Technology Officer, and Steve is Head of Wise Platform. Wise has built a leading cross-border payments network and processes £9B in cross-border payments every month on behalf of over 16 million customers. Wise’s IPO on the London Stock Exchange took place in 2021. In this episode you will hear about: - Wise’s journey from money transfer service to leading cross-border payments network - How Wise have put an API arou...
Jul 25, 2023•39 min
Nihar Bobba hosts Khalid Meniri, Co-Founder and CEO of Selfbook, a fintech startup bringing modern payments innovation to the world of hospitality. Prior to Selfbook, Khalid built and ran a digital agency, Six, where he and his team combined data architecture, e-commerce infrastructure and digital design expertise to serve clients such as Net-a-Porter, Unilever and Hearst. Today, Selfbook partners with hospitality groups such as Dorchester Collection, Oetker Collection and Auberge Resorts Collec...
Jul 20, 2023•34 min
Joshua Benadiva hosts Chen Amit, the founder and CEO of Tipalti. We deep-dive into Chen's journey, from finding initial success in tech and product management, to his role today as the leader of a billion-dollar company. Chen offers fascinating insights on how to craft the initial solution for significant enterprise problems, and how being an outsider can bring a fresh, innovative perspective. He also speaks candidly about his learnings from starting Tipalti and the critical elements of structur...
Jul 18, 2023•47 min
Kailee Costello hosts Annie Delgado, the Chief Risk Officer of Upstart. Upstart is a leading AI lending marketplace, partnering with banks and credit unions to expand access to affordable credit In this episode you will hear about: - How Upstart’s use of ML has evolved from a binary decision model to what is now a fully-automated loan process for the majority of their borrowers - Why Upstart decided not to become a chartered bank - How Upstart works to prevent bias in ML algorithms - Competitive...
Jul 13, 2023•35 min
Nate Gee hosts Boris Alergant, Ripple’s Head of DeFi. Ripple has operated in the crypto space for over a decade and offers a range of blockchain-based solutions for businesses. In this episode we cover: - Ripple’s original solution addressing cross-border payments inefficiencies - The XRP Ledger on which Ripple builds its products, and how it differs from other blockchains - How Boris views and defines decentralized finance and his role leading DeFi at Ripple - The development of automated marke...
Jul 10, 2023•38 min
Josh Benadiva converses with David Mercer, CEO of LMAX Group, about the evolution of fintech, and his journey in leading a foreign and crypto exchange. A seasoned leader in the derivatives industry, Mercer shares his insights on the essence of continuous product improvement, agility in business structures, and the innovative approaches in Bitcoin and crypto exchanges. Discover how LMAX Group, Europe's leading Multilateral Trading Facility for FX and crypto, is driving transformation in the indus...
Jun 29, 2023•33 min
Tarang Gupta hosts Samara Cohen, the Chief Investment Officer of ETFs and Index Investments at BlackRock. BlackRock is a global asset manager and technology provider and one of the world’s leading providers of investment, advisory and risk management solutions. In this episode you will hear about: - What Samara’s role as the CIO entails - How ETFs have evolved from their early days - Building high performance teams - Different types of investors that invest in BlackRock’s ETFs - Increasing parti...
Jun 26, 2023•44 min
In a collaboration with GGV Capital's "Evolving for the Next Billion" podcast, Joshua Benadiva hosts a fascinating conversation with Hans Tung, widely recognized as one of the best venture investors in the world. Hans is the managing partner of GGV Capital, and has been named to the Forbes Midas List of the world's top venture capital investors for 11 consecutive years. Throughout our conversation, we explore the unique decision-making strategies that have fueled Hans' successful investments. We...
Jun 23, 2023•51 min
Russell Matambo hosts Shivani Siroya, Founder and CEO of Tala, a global technology company expanding access to credit and financial services in underserved markets. They discuss how Shivani’s built Tala on the basis of her microlending activity from her own savings, the importance of trust when lending in Emerging Markets, the socioeconomic impact of credit in Emerging Markets, and much more! About Shivani: Shivani is the Founder and CEO of Tala, a global technology company expanding access to c...
Jun 19, 2023•36 min
Tarang Gupta hosts Mani Mahadevan, the Founder & CEO of Valur, a fintech startup helping democratize access to the tax optimization and asset protection tools of billionaires. In this episode you will hear about: - Increasing complications in the US tax code - Making tax mitigation strategies accessible through tech - Starting a company during the pandemic - Taking the plunge from corporate roles to entrepreneurship And much more! About Mani Mahadevan Mani is the Founder and CEO at Valur. Pr...
Jun 12, 2023•30 min
In this episode, our host, Josh Benadiva, sits down with Tomer Barel, Chief Operating Officer of Melio. They discuss Tomer's takeaways in his early career from start-ups to PayPal, why he views simplicity and ease-of-use as the core of Melio's product, and the future of B2B payments. Tomer shares his insights on Melio's strategic partnerships, the state of B2B payments, and advice for future operators in the fintech space. Tomer Barel is the Chief Operating Officer of Melio. Before joining Melio...
Jun 09, 2023•42 min
Tarang Gupta hosts Tanner Hackett, the Founder and CEO of Counterpart, an insurtech startup using AI to offer management and professional liability insurance products and services for small businesses. In this episode you will hear about: - How insuring SMEs can be tricky - Why Tanner chose to focus on specialty insurance - What makes Counterpart's offerings standout - Counterpart’s recent $30M Series B raise - The disruption brought about by insurtech And much more! About Tanner Hackett Tanner ...
Jun 06, 2023•34 min
Tarang Gupta hosts Junaid Wahedna, the Founder and CEO of Wahed, which is a values driven digital investment platform structured in accordance with established Islamic principles and standards. In this episode you will hear about: - What is riba and its role in halal investing - Structuring ETFs that are complaint with Islamic principles - Launch of Wahed’s physical bank branch and gold-backed debit card - Junaid’s decision to expand globally early-on And much more! About Junaid Wahedna Junaid, ...
Jun 01, 2023•32 min
Tarang Gupta hosts Giuseppe Stuto, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at 186 Ventures. 186 Ventures is a pre-seed & seed stage VC firm investing across fintech, consumer, enterprise, and disruptive tech. In this episode you will hear about: - 186’s investment philosophy and portfolio selection process - Opportunities unlocked by Web3 disruption - Strategically deploying capital in an uncertain market - Anticipated evolution of DApps and Layer 1 chains And much more! About Giuseppe Stuto Prior t...
May 29, 2023•36 min
Tarang Gupta hosts Michele Alt, Co-Founder & Partner, and Jonah Crane, Partner at Klaros Group. Klaros is an advisory and investment firm at the intersection of innovation, financial services, and regulation. In this episode you will hear about: - Sneak peak into the policy making process - Advising fintechs dealing with regulatory uncertainty - Potential M&A opportunities arising from economic downturn - What led to the failure of SVB and its impact on banking and fintech - Their opinio...
May 24, 2023•31 min
