Wharton Fintech Podcast

Andrew Janssens hosts Ashwin Kumar, Head of Startups for Banking-as-a-Service at Stripe. Ashwin is the former CEO and co-founder of Y Combinator-backed Sway Finance, and now helps Stripe's customers to use their BaaS APIs to embed financial products. Ashwin’s startup roots help him guide fintech founders as they work with Stripe to solve complex financial problems. He’s designed products from scratch, taught himself to code, won several hackathons to support his entrepreneurial endeavors, and was part of Y Combinator’s S16 cohort. Prior to joining Stripe in 2021, Ashwin was a data scientist for YC Startup School, a product manager/machine learning engineer at Mythic and a software engineer at Autopilot. In this episode you will hear about: -How Stripe is building the infrastructure for embedded finance -How Ashwin won 30 hackathons in a row by working backwards from the pitch -Why calling your company the Uber for X can backfire -And much, much more For more FinTech insights, follow us below: WFT Medium:

Tarang Gupta hosts Andrew Jamison, the CEO and Co-Founder of Extend, an innovative platform that is redefining how credit cards are issued. In this episode you will hear about: - Leaving leadership positions in corporate and start a venture - Navigating the tricky small and medium business segment - Why building relationships is so important in business - How to assess potential investors And much more! About Andrew Jamison A virtual card expert, Andrew was the head of B2B Corporate Payments Products at American Express with a mandate to drive digital payment innovation and adoption. Prior to American Express, he spent 10 years as an SAP consultant. About Extend Founded in 2016, Extend enables credit card sharing amongst non-cardholders via a simple and ubiquitous P2P platform. Extend helps banks, and their customers to capture more business spend on their existing card accounts by connecting account holders and their workforce. For more FinTech insights, follow us on WFT Medium: medium.com/wharton-finte

Andrew Janssens hosts Dimitri Dadiomov, Founder & CEO of Modern Treasury. In this episode we cover topics including: - Dimitri and Modern Treasury's Y combinator journey - Building a culture at a new company - Dimitri's outlook on Real-Time Payments - Modern Treasury's reverse interview of Acquired - And much, much more! About Dimitri Dadiomov: Dimitri founded Modern Treasury in 2018 alongside his co-founders, Matt Marcus and Sam Arons. Prior to Modern Treasury Dimitri was a Principal PM at LendingHome (formerly Kiavi) responsible for building payment operations. About Modern Treasury Modern Treasury is building payment operations solutions to automate the full cycle of money movement and help businesses to implement real-time payments and close their books with continuous accounting. 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 Lin

Tarang Gupta has a conversation with Danielle Cohen-Shohet, CEO and Founder at GlossGenius, one of the quickest growing solutions powering small business owners across the US in the beauty & wellness space with powerful SaaS and fintech functionalities. In this episode you will hear about - How GlossGenius is building fintech solutions for the beauty industry - Why optimizing ease of use for consumers is paramount - Danielle’s experience as a female entrepreneur - Why she recommends people to take more interest in history And much more! About Danielle Cohen-Shohet Danielle Cohen-Shohet is the CEO and Founder of GlossGenius. Prior to starting GlossGenius, Danielle was an analyst at Goldman Sachs and graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University. Danielle was selected as a member of the Fast Company Impact Council, the Inaugural Sephora Accelerate Program, and a member of Techstars NYC. About GlossGenius GlossGenius is one of the quickest growing solutions powering small business owners across the US i

Tarang Gupta sits down with Latif Peracha, General Partner at M13, a venture capital firm investing in enabling technologies that will power the future of work, health, commerce, and money. In this episode you will hear about - The interesting world of Web3 investing - M13’s unique Propulsion Platform for startups - Exciting Web3 startups backed by M13 - What working with Sir Richard Branson was like And much more! About Latif Peracha Latif manages the overall investing strategy for M13 and has led numerous deals across money and health verticals with a large focus on Web3. He was previously the Managing Director at Virgin Group where he led investing in the Americas including investments in Ring, Slack, Virgin Galactic, and Virgin Orbit. Prior to Virgin, Latif worked at Bear Stearns and Ticketmaster and currently serves on the advisory board at the University of Michigan. About M13 M13 is a VC firm with a portfolio of $137 Billion+, including 15 unicorn startups, which focuses on investing in technologies

Andrew Janssens hosts Nik Milanović, Founder of This Week in Fintech, a digest of global FinTech news, and General Partner of The Fintech Fund. In this episode we cover topics including: - How This Week in Fintech evolved from Nik's weekly updates to his teammates and friends - Nik's early start in microfinance and how it has affected his philosophy on fintech - How we can build more diverse communities in fintech - Nik's love of music (specifically DJ-ing) About Nik Milanović Nik Milanovic, is the Founder of This Week in Fintech, and General Partner of the Fintech Fund. Prior to This Week in Fintech and the Fintech Fund, Nik was hire #1 at Funding Circle, led Strategy at Petal and subsequently led BD and Strategy for Google Pay and Google Finance. About This Week in Fintech This week in Fintech is a digest of all things in global Fintech. From a single weekly newsletter it has grown to coverage of fintech news around the world. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: WFT Medium: medium.com/whart

Tarang Gupta has a conversation with Philip Belamant, Co-Founder and CEO of Zilch, a UK-based payment and BNPL provider that is Europe’s fastest-ever company to go from launch to unicorn. In this episode you will hear about - Philip's entrepreneurial journey from Africa to the UK - How Zilch's ad-subsidized payments network is changing the way consumers access credit - Why Zilch decided to take a different approach than conventional “checkout” finance - What it takes to build a 'customer-first' company And much more! About Philip Belamant Philip is a serial entrepreneur who founded fintech companies in developing economies including a mobile payment service and a leading fintech company in Africa, before starting Zilch. Philip graduated Cum Laude from RAU University in South Africa, where he completed both Bsc IT and Bsc IT Honors degrees and he won UK’s Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2021. About Zilch Founded in 2018, Zilch is a UK-based payments and BNPL provider that reached 2 million c

Tarang Gupta has a conversation with Alex Zinder, Global Head of Ledger Enterprise, the B2B division of Ledger, a leader in crypto-asset management. In this episode you will hear about: - Ledger’s pioneering offerings in Web3 hardware and software - Witnessing the dotcom bubble and the evolution of internet companies - What's it like working at NASDAQ vs at a high-growth startup - How to get involved in Web3 if you are not from a tech background And much more! About Alex Zinder Alex joined Ledger Enterprise in March 2021 after spending almost two decades in capital markets technology. Alex was previously at NASDAQ where he was the Director of Global Software Development and held the role of Assistant Vice President, Enterprise Architecture. Alex has more than 15 years of experience in driving the adoption of emerging technologies in financial services organizations and for the past seven years he has focused on distributed systems and digital assets. About Ledger Enterprise Ledger Enterprise, the B2B divis

Andrew Janssens hosts Mark Higgins, Co-Founder and Chief Analytics Officer of Beacon, an end-to-end development platform for financial markets that allows traders and quants to build and share code and applications across the front and back office. In this episode you will hear about: - How Mark went from his PhD in physics to the world of finance - How Goldman's Sec DB contributed to their trading edge - Whether finance and FinTech are still appealing for today's PhDs - Some of the latest applications of AI and machine learning in modern trading About Mark Higgins Mark Higgins (PhD) is a veteran of the finance industry, and a true technologist with a PhD in astrophysics. Before co-founding Beacon with Kirat Singh in 2014, Mark spent eight years at JP Morgan, launching and delivering the Athena project, and co-heading the quantitative research group for the investment bank. Prior to JP Morgan he spent eight years at Goldman Sachs where he worked on Goldman's legendary SecDB. About Beacon Beacon is a devel

Tarang Gupta has a conversation with Robert (Bob) Pitti, Partner at Liquid Stock, an investment firm providing liquidity to employees and stockholders of privately held companies. In this episode you will hear about: - How Liquid Stock is enabling liquidity for shareholders of pre-IPO companies - How companies can leverage tax arbitrage to retain talent - Robert's outlook on the recent economic uncertainty - Liquid Stock’s growth and expansion plans About Robert (Bob) Pitti Robert is a founder of Liquid Stock and possesses more than 25 years of wealth management and advisory experience. Prior to Liquid Stock, Robert was a founder and Managing Partner at VSL Partners and before that he worked at Thomas Weisel Partners. Robert pursued an undergraduate degree in business from George Washington University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. About Liquid Stock Founded in 2019, Liquid Stock is a pioneer in private company liquidity solutions that provides employees with financing to help option exercise,

Andrew Janssens hosts Joe Robinson, Co-Founder and CEO of Hummingbird, a regtech helping banks and fintechs fight financial crimes with better communications and platforms to investigate Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC) incidents. In this episode you will hear about: - How Joe came to found Hummingbird after experiences at Square and Circle - How fintechs can stay ahead of the newest forms of financial crime - How banks and fintechs are navigating the crypto universe and financial crime - Building a distributed team and what's next for Hummingbird About Joe Robinson Joe Robinson is the co-Founder and CEO of Hummingbird. He started his career in product management within FinTech and has held roles including VP of Risk and Data Science at Circle, and Senior Product Lead at Square. About Hummingbird Hummingbird is a platform that enables fintechs and financial institutions to conduct their investigations into potential financial crime. For more FinTech insights, follow us below:

Tarang Gupta has a conversation with Ben Verschuere, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Treasure Financial, a cash management platform designed to help businesses transform idle cash into revenue. In this episode you will hear about: - What motivated Ben to launch a fintech startup - How good treasury management can help companies become more profitable - Why banks are disincentivized to offer attractive yields on deposits - His opinion on the next revolution in banking About Ben Verschuere Ben has more than 15 years of experience in the financial services industry, starting his career with Morgan Stanley followed by 10 years at Peter Thiel’s hedge fund and family office, after which he co-founded Treasure. Ben earned a BS in Economics and a MS in Finance from UCL(Belgium), a MS in Statistics from the University of Chicago and was a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. About Treasure Financial Founded in 2018, Treasure is a platform offering treasury as a service. With the Treasure Reserve a

Tarang Gupta has a conversation with Lizzie Chapman, Co-Founder & CEO of ZestMoney, India’s largest EMI financing and Buy Now, Pay Later Network. In this episode you will hear about: - What fascinates Lizzie about the Indian fintech industry - Her experiences as a female entrepreneur - Her outlook on the future of the global buy now, pay later industry - Why Lizzie is excited about the Global Fintech Fest 2022 And much more! About Lizzie Chapman Lizzie started her career as an equity research analyst with Goldman Sachs in London. After a 5-year stint at Goldman Sachs, she moved to the buy-side as an investor at Wellcome Trust. In 2011, she moved from UK to India to spearhead operations for digital lender Wonga and in 2014, she led the launch of ‘Digibank’, India’s first mobile-app-only bank. She was recognized as among the Top 100 women in fintech globally by the Fintech magazine. About ZestMoney Founded in 2015, ZestMoney is India’s largest and fastest-growing Digital EMI/Checkout Finance platform. ZestMo

Tarang Gupta has a conversation with Nelson Chu, Founder and CEO of Percent, a disruptor unlocking exclusive access to private credit investments for accredited investors. In this episode you will hear about: - What inspired Nelson to launch Percent - How Percent manages risk-return for investors - Credit default swaps for the private market - Importance of culture in building a thriving organization And much more! About Nelson Chu Nelson is a serial entrepreneur with years of experience at Bank of America and BlackRock. Prior to Percent, Nelson founded a strategy consulting firm helping companies build products and raise capital for growth, creating over $1B in equity value. He also serves as an advisor to an ultra-high-net-worth family office and is an angel investor with investments in BlockFi, Cadre, Clover Health, and Tala. About Percent Founded in 2018, Percent leverages proprietary technologies, integrations, and data to bring first-of-its-kind transparency and efficiency to lenders and credit trans

Tarang Gupta sits down with Steffen Pauls, Founder and CEO of Moonfare. Moonfare is a platform that is democratizing Private Equity, an asset class traditionally accessible to a select few individuals and organizations, by lowering investment minimums, conducting due diligence on funds, and eliminating barriers to entry for retail investors. In this episode you will hear about: - The inspiration behind starting Moonfare - Evolution of the global private equity market - Strategically approaching international expansion And much more! About Dr. Steffen Pauls Dr. Pauls began his career at the Boston Consulting Group, where he led project teams covering strategic and operational projects at publicly listed European companies. He brought his experience as a consultant to KKR, where as a managing director he was responsible for the German market. Dr. Pauls also holds advanced degrees from the University of Trier, Harvard University, and the University of Mannheim. About Moonfare Moonfare is a platform that is re

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Victor Fimbres, Co-Founder and CTO of Forage, a third-party payments processor which helps grocers accept Electronic Benefit Transfers, or EBT, online. Forage is on a mission to create a world where all families with any budget can afford a meal. Today over 42 million people receive EBT benefits or food stamps. This is government support to pay for groceries. 14% of all grocery spend is paid with EBT, but only 5% of this was online. When Forage first started there were less than 20 merchants who could process EBT online. Today there are close to 100 merchants — and Forage is just getting started. In this episode you will learn all about how Forage was started during the COVID-19 pandemic when going to a grocery store was impractical, specifically in food deserts across the country. You will also learn about the obstacles Forage overcame to build its current API, how they successfully completed the Y-Combinator accelerator last summer, and all about Victor’s and hi

Tarang Gupta has a conversation with Anat Guetta, Chairwoman of the Israel Securities Authority. The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) is the national securities regulator of Israel. Established by law in 1968, which defines the ISA's role "to protect the interests of the public investing in securities." ISA is active in two main areas: protecting investors; developing the regulatory infrastructure, tools and products for an advanced, diverse, competitive and innovative public capital market. In this episode you will hear about: ­-What makes Israel such an innovative country ­-Use and adoption of blockchain in capital markets ­-Open banking regulations in Europe and Israel And much more! About Anat Guetta Anat Guetta is the Chairwoman of the Israel Securities Authority. Anat is a serial entrepreneur who started her career in the banking industry, managing credit risk products and project finance. She then founded and led Arko Holdings; a public company listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Anat is also t

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Steve Fredette, President, Co-founder and a Director of Toast. Toast is an all-in-one point-of-sale and restaurant management platform for businesses in the food service and hospitality space. Since its inception in 2011 it has helped clients delight their guests, do what they love and thrive. In this episode you will hear about: - Toast’s humble beginnings - What new features better served Toast clients during the pandemic - What innovation Steve is excited about for the restaurant industry - All about Toast’s culture - And much more! About Steve Fredette Steve Fredette is President, Co-founder and a Director of Toast, where he leads product and innovation initiatives. Prior to Toast, he worked on mobile app development before the iPhone came out, creating the first Flickr and Shoebuy.com apps. At Endeca, now Oracle, he co-founded their mobile commerce business, building the product team and driving sales, marketing, and services to over $10 million in revenue in t

In today's special episode, Anirudh Singh sits down with classmates and fintech founders Gaby Campoverde, John Garner, and Nate Soffio. They discuss their rising startups, Miren, Card Curator, and Portabl, as well as the impact the Wharton MBA has had on their respective companies. Gaby Campoverde: Gabriela Ariana Campoverde is CEO and Founder of Miren. She is currently an MBA candidate at The Wharton School and Masters in Computer and Information Technology at Penn Engineering. Prior to her graduate studies she worked at a WPP agency, American Express and Goldman Sachs. She is passionate about building products for working-class, immigrant communities across the US and is a proud New Yorker. She studied Art History and Linguistics at Swarthmore College. Website: https://www.getmiren.com/ John Garner: John Garner is the CEO and co-founder of Card Curator, a credit card rewards optimization app. Prior to starting Card Curator, John spent 5+ years as a volatility trader for Merrill Lynch, and left his Wall St

Anirudh Singh sits down with Brad Bernstein, Managing Partner at FTV Capital. Brad has been a growth equity investor at FTV Capital for over 18 years, leading investments in enterprise technology & services and financial services. In today's episode, they discuss what drives FTV Capital's success, investments in Enfusion, Plate IQ, Paddle, LoanPro and EBANX, and much more! Brad Bernstein: Brad is managing partner and has been a growth equity investor at FTV Capital for over 18 years, leading investments in enterprise technology & services and financial services. Brad has over 25 years of private equity experience. Prior to FTV, Brad was a partner at Oak Hill Capital Management and its predecessors where he managed the business and financial services group. He began his private equity career with Patricof & Company Ventures and started his professional career in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch in New York. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedI