Today, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin to talk through a few recent events that are indicative of the fintech world right now. Brex raised an additional $150 million at a slightly improved valuation vs. its last round just as Monzo is reportedly looking at a 40% down round. Why? Shopify launched bank accounts for its merchants and an Amazon competitor plus Klarna, just as it worked with Facebook to support the launch of Facebook Shops and joined the Libra Association. Lots going on. Lastly, Lex expl...
May 29, 2020•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Radboud Vlaar is the Founding Partner at Finch Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm and one of Europe’s most active series A investors. Prior to starting Finch in 2013, Radboud was a Partner at McKinsey, where he worked for ten years. Finch recently published a fantastic report on fintech in a time of crisis, which forms the basis for our conversation today. The report is available at https://www.finchcapital.com/covid19. For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, ple...
May 26, 2020•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Laurent Le Moal is the CEO of PayU, a leading emerging markets payments company. As CEO of PayU, Laurent has grown annual volumes to nearly $30 billion and overseen close to $1 billion in strategic investments in companies including Citrus Pay and Paysense in India, Iyzico in Turkey and Remitly in the US, where he is also a member of the board. As if that weren’t enough, Laurent and PayU are founding members of Facebook’s Libra project, which we touch on in this conversation. Prior to joining Pa...
May 19, 2020•48 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ohad Samet is the Co-Founder and CEO of TrueAccord, a company using machine learning, behavioral economics and empathy to reimagine the debt collection process. TrueAccord is a fantastic example of fintech's most fundamental promise: using technology and a fresh perspective to create outcomes in financial services orders of magnitude better than traditional approaches, at a fraction of the cost. Ohad is a seasoned fintech founder and executive. The first company he worked for was acquired by Pay...
May 12, 2020•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Rebank co-host Aman Ghei of Finch Capital is joined by Mike Laven. Mike is the CEO of CurrencyCloud, one of the leading FX and payments companies in Europe, powering some of the most successful financial institutions and consumer fintech unicorns. Mike has spent over 25 years in financial technology, with executive roles at a number of large venture backed firms. Mike joined CurrencyCloud in 2011 and has raised over $140m in funding for the company. In this conversation, Mike and Aman dis...
May 05, 2020•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin to discuss recent developments in digital money, including stablecoins, CBDCs and a new Facebook Libra proposal. A digital world needs digital money, and a few influential players are actively working to build it. China’s BSN initiative and Facebook’s Libra embody the East’s public sector led approach to building and owning the internet of value, and the West’s private sector led (and public sector challenged) attempt at cheaper commerce on the web. While the n...
Apr 30, 2020•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we’re joined by Brett King, founder and Executive Chairman of Moven, one of the original digital banks, and Lex Sokolin, Global Head of Fintech at ConsenSys. Lex and I discussed Moven’s recent announcement to shutter its B2C business on episode 170 of Rebank, and we're happy to have the opportunity to connect with Brett directly to discuss the decision in more detail. Of particular interest in this conversation are Brett's learnings from ten years of running Moven about B2C vs B2B as a di...
Apr 28, 2020•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Rebank co-host Aman Ghei of Finch Capital is joined by Silvi Wompa. Silvi is the head of portfolio underwriting at Swiss Re, one of the largest reinsurers in the world with over $30B in revenue. Over the past 18 years, Silvi has built an international executive career in insurance across Life & Pensions, Property & Casualty, Broking and the Lloyd’s Market at companies like Hiscox, Old Mutual and Willis Towers Watson. She also co-founded Ch.AI in 2018, an insurtech start-up based in London...
Apr 22, 2020•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin to discuss the ways in which COVID-19 is influencing consumer and business behavior and what changes are likely to be permanent. Digital is booming in areas where it hasn’t before, both on the consumer and business sides. This genie will not be put back in the bottle. We are in the midst of a quantum leap forward in digital adoption. Fintechs that have long struggled for regulatory acceptance are punching through with solutions for SBA loan and stimulus check d...
Apr 17, 2020•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this special episode, we’re joined by Lex Sokolin for analysis of a few important recent fintech developments. Lex is the author of the Future of Finance newsletter, the CMO & Global Fintech Co-Head at ConsenSys and a genuinely next-level thinker. In this conversation, Lex and I examine the recent SoFi acquisition of Galileo, Moven’s decision to close its B2C digital bank and what if any impact rapid fintech product developments in response to COVID-19 will have on the future of financial inn...
Apr 09, 2020•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we’re joined by Abhishek Gupta, Head of BBVA Open Platform, BBVA’s banking-as-a-service offering. As most people listening this podcast know, BBVA is a leader in financial innovation among incumbent banks, having taken a very proactive approach to the role of technology in banking. The Open Platform is the productized, public facing version of BBVA’s core banking infrastructure, offering bank accounts, cards, payments and KYC via API to fintechs and brands. In this conversation, Abhishek a...
Apr 09, 2020•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The fintech industry has rapidly matured in recent years. Once a collection of aspirational early stage founders catering to tech early adopters, fintech companies are increasingly offering highly respected, professional grade solutions to mainstream consumers and businesses. Challenger banks, online lenders, payments companies and API connectivity layers once competed for fringe customers in a handful of urban centers. Now, they’re pursuing global rollouts, pushing $10 billion valuations and pi...
Mar 28, 2020•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we’re thrilled to be joined by Adrian Nazari, founder and CEO of Credit Sesame. Credit Sesame is a free credit score monitoring and management service. Credit Sesame has 16 million registered users and has raised $120 million since its inception nearly ten years ago. In this conversation, Adrian and I discuss the company’s new banking offering and how it fits into the core business. We also discuss the competitive landscape in retail digital banking in the US and how Credit Sesame intends...
Mar 23, 2020•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we’re thrilled to be joined by Hussein Kanji, a London-based venture capitalist. Hussein co-runs Hoxton Ventures, a firm he started in 2013. Hussein has invested in and/or served on the boards of some amazing companies, including Deliveroo, Babylon Health, DarkTrace, Behavox and many more. Prior to starting Hoxton, Hussein worked on product at Microsoft and then at Accel, one of the world’s premier venture firms. For all of our past episodes and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit ...
Mar 18, 2020•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Rebank co-host Aman Ghei of Finch Capital connects with Steve Toland, founder and CEO of TransFICC, an e-trading technology company providing solutions for fixed income and derivative markets. Steve has over 25 years experience working in the global capital markets. He was previously the Head of LMAX Interbank, led global sales for MarketFactory, and held the positions of Head of FX Sales for EMEA and America at ICAP and Head of Sales for Americas at Thomson Reuters. Aman and Steve start ...
Mar 11, 2020•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Victor Trokoudes is the founder and CEO of Plum, a personal financial assistant that sits atop your existing bank accounts and automates financial success. Plum is a leader in the personal finance management, or PFM, space, and Victor has interesting views on what the future of the segment will look like. For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Victor Trokoudes....
Mar 03, 2020•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Magnus Larsson is the Founder and CEO of Majority, a digital bank for migrants in the US. As anyone who listens to this podcast knows, digital banks are making headlines all over the world. Some people are beginning to see the market as saturated, with seemingly dozens of offerings vying for consumer spending power. Early results suggest digital challengers are struggling to convert customers at scale or to bank them profitably. We’re extremely early in the redesign of the stagnant, centuries ol...
Feb 21, 2020•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, Rebank co-host Aman Ghei of Finch Capital connects with Wayne Marc Godfrey , founder and CEO of Purely Capital , an entertainment finance platform. Wayne is a prolific film producer and financier, having raised over $300 million and produced over 125 films with over $1 billion in production spend. He recently closed a $150 million facility for Purely Capital from a leading institutional lender. Media and entertainment is one of the biggest industries in the world, grossing over $700 billi...
Feb 07, 2020•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Platform banking’s role in the growth of fintech can hardly be understated, with companies including Monzo, N26, Revolut, Chime, Acorns, Betterment, MoneyLion and many, many more starting or expanding on top of regulated third-party banking partners. Similarly, the promise of embedded finance, where non-bank brands and consumer experiences deliver banking and other financial services directly to customers is predicated on the availability of platform infrastructure. Platform banking offerings ar...
Jan 29, 2020•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today we explore the wild and wondrous world of equity primary markets. We’re joined by Anand Sambasivan , Co-Founder and CEO of PrimaryBid , Marcus Stuttard , Head of UK Primary Markets for the London Stock Exchange , and Aman Ghei , Principal at Finch Capital . To get the conversation started, former investment bankers Anand and Aman walk us through the quirky and questionable dynamics of investment bank led IPOs and share sales. We then explore alternatives to that model, including direct lis...
Jan 21, 2020•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Richard Gendal Brown is the CTO of R3 , an enterprise blockchain company backed by a number of high profile strategic investors. R3 has been working on its Corda platform since the early days of blockchain mania and is now actively supporting projects and implementations in syndicated lending, trade settlement, supply chain management and more. In this conversation, Richard reconciles the early hype around blockchain with the current meaningful real world implementations and describes where earl...
Dec 11, 2019•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ned Phillips is the Founder and CEO of Bambu , a white-label roboadvisory platform. Backed by Franklin Templeton , among others, Bambu builds roboadvisory offerings for banks, investments firms and other consumer-facing businesses. In this conversation, we discuss the limitations of current roboadvisory offerings, the reasons banks have trouble designing solutions for customers and where the space goes from here. Prior to founding Bambu, Ned was the Managing Director of Asia for E-Trade and brin...
Dec 03, 2019•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sean Hanafin is the Group President of Greensill, a modern supply chain finance provider that has raised an astonishing $1.5 billion in equity this year alone. Backed by General Atlantic and Softbank, Greensill is aiming to quickly scale its technology-driven supply chain finance offering across the largest markets in the world. On top of that, the company is looking to leverage an approach similar to its B2B financing model to unlock daily salary access for public and private sector employees, ...
Nov 27, 2019•34 min•Transcript available on Metacast Charlie Delingpole is the Founder and CEO of ComplyAdvantage, a global AML, sanctions screening and transaction monitoring company. Backed by Balderton and Index, the latter of which led a $30-million Series B in the company in January, ComplyAdvantage is scaling beyond financial services to deliver real-time compliance monitoring across industries. We’re joined in today’s conversation by Aman Ghei, a Principal at Finch Capital, one of the most active early stage fintech funds in Europe and Sout...
Nov 19, 2019•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kristo Käärmann is the co-founder and CEO of TransferWise, a payments company fighting to break banks’ usurious grip on FX and international transfers. TransferWise is one of Europe’s greatest fintech success stories, most recently valued at $3.5 billion in a secondary offering earlier this year. The company has nearly 2,000 employees around the world, moves $5.5 billion a month between nearly 100 countries and saves customers over $1 billion a year in fees. In this conversation, Kristo and I di...
Nov 12, 2019•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Freddy Kelly is the Founder and CEO of Credit Kudos, a UK company redesigning the credit bureau for the modern age. Unhappy with the inaccuracy, opaqueness and questionable data ethics of the traditional model, Credit Kudos is using Open Banking, machine learning and customer consent in an attempt to create a more transparent, more predictive credit scoring system. In addition to the insights we deliver through our podcast and newsletter, Rebank offers advisory services to fintechs, banks and co...
Oct 30, 2019•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Immad Akhund is the founder and CEO of Mercury , a bank for startups. Mercury, which launched to market in April , has raised $26 million from Andreessen Horowitz and a number of others, including the founder of Silicon Valley Bank, a respected player in the startup banking space. Mercury offers FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts, along with payments, cashflow analytics and API-access to its customers and plans to continue rolling out functionality. The startup banking space is hot, with...
Oct 16, 2019•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Naftali Harris is the Co-Founder and CEO of SentiLink, a synthetic fraud prevention company. Naftali was the first data science hire at Affirm, where he built some of the lender’s first fraud models. For the past couple years, Naftali has been working to solve the problem of synthetic fraud, a surprisingly pervasive and little-discussed source of credit losses for banks. Earlier this year, SentiLink raised a $14 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, in which Affirm's Max Levchin, an...
Oct 10, 2019•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lex Sokolin is the Global Fintech Co-Head at ConsenSys, the leading crypto software development studio and venture builder. As regular listeners know, Lex is one of the world’s leading authorities on the intersection of crypto, disruptive technologies and financial services. In this conversation, we get Lex’s perspective on where crypto is focused today, the emergence of decentralized finance and the practical implications for financial services. In addition to the insights we deliver through ou...
Sep 30, 2019•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joseph Healy is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Judo Bank, an SME challenger bank in Australia. Fresh off a A$400m equity raise from Bain Capital and others, Judo is on track to lend A$1 billion by year end. Prior to starting Judo, Joseph held executive positions at NAB, ANZ, CIBC World Markets, Citibank and Lloyds. From 2008-2014, Joseph ran NAB’s Business Banking unit, the largest business banking division in Australia. Joseph and I discuss the state of business banking in Australia, why he neede...
Sep 10, 2019•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
