July summary — Voice of FinTech

Photo by ActionVance on Unsplash

In case you missed out on the July episodes of the Voice of FinTech podcast, here is the monthly summary! You can listen to all the episodes on the Episodes pages of this website or when you subscribe to your favorite podcast apps under Subscribe.

AI-powered SMB Lending with Prashant Fuloria, CEO of Fundbox

Prashant Fuloria, CEO at Fundbox, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about leveraging AI to help SMBs with their working capital needs more efficiently. Prashant is also a lecturer at Stanford, Cornell and Berkeley, where he teaches MBAs on building consumer internet businesses.

Here is what they talked about:

• Prashant’s backstory: from Google, Yahoo and Facebook to Fundbox
• Why have you decided to start your own company?
• What is Fundbox? What is the problem you are solving?
• Why have you created Fundbox? Many people would agree that incumbents often fail SMBs, but why do we need another SMB financing provider?
• How have you started with your venture? What were your very first steps?
• Target customers
• How does Fundbox make money?
• Geographic coverage
• Tips for SMBs in a cash crunch
• The future of SMB lending
• Fundbox’s journey so far and ambitions going forward
• Best way to reach out

Contextual banking with Gerti Dervishi from Flybits

Gerti Dervishi, Chief Growth Officer at Flybits, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about why contextual banking is the future of banking and how to get it right.

Here is what they talked about:

• Gerti’s background and motivation to join a start-up
• What is Flybits and the problem they are solving: helping banks to build better connections with their clients using context, improving their mobile experience
• There is a lot of buzz around contextual banking. Yet, people are also more and more aware of how their data is used by companies and maybe vary of their data used for banking services proposals. How does Flybits resolve the tension between relevance and privacy?
• Target customers: B2BC business
• Business model, unit economics, and scale
• Canada and internal presence
• A critical piece of advice to Gerti’s your younger self
• Favorite non-fiction books: The Undoing Project, Shoe Dog, The Hard Thing about Hard Things or The Zero Marginal Cost Society
• What are trendy hobbies on the Toronto start-up scene?
• Status check of Flybits’ entrepreneurial journey
• Best way to reach out

Americas Series with David Yakobovitch: BaaS & embedded banking with Y-Combinator backed Decentro’s founder & CEO Rohit Taneja

David Yakobovitch spoke to Rohit Taneja, founder and CEO of Decentro, an automated API platform for banking integrations, based in India and Singapore, backed by United States’ Y-Combinator about Banking a service, embedded and decentralized Finance.

How is India shaping up as a FinTech destination?

• What’s exciting about India?
• Are regulators making regulations easy for FinTechs to thrive?
• If yes, how? Or if not, what kind of regulations is the community expecting?

How are banks adapting to these fast-paced changes?

• How has opening up their APIs changed things for banks?
• Why Is BaaS as revolutionary as it promises?

Decentralizing FinTech & making it great, again — Decentro

• How did Decentro come into being?
• What were the pain points faced which inspired the solution?
• What do Decentro’s offerings mean, especially in BaaS?
• Product suite & offerings
• Case studies and clientele
• Prominent customers & solving their use-cases
• What’s new!

Conclusion

• Any FinTech or Neobank in the US or beyond hoping to widen their horizon to India can reach out to us. We’ll help them to overcome the key cross-border challenges and launch here. If you know someone in your network who could benefit from this, send them along our way! We’d be happy to chat. Also, if there’s any particular Financial Institution that we could partner up with and take on a burning use-case, we’re all ears!

Sustainable Finance: Challenge and the opportunity for the Swiss Financial Center with Christoph Baumann from SSIF

Christoph Baumann, Deputy Head Insurances & Risks at State Secretariat for International Finance SIF (SSIF), spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about how Switzerland sees sustainable Finance as a major opportunity for the Swiss financial center.

Here is what they covered:

• Christoph’s journey from the banking and start-up world to the government
• Why Green FinTech and Sustainability?
• Christoph is Deputy Head Insurances & Risks at SSIF, Initiator & Secretary, Green Fintech Network, Head of Swiss Delegation, G20 Sustainable Finance Study Group, Co-Chair WG Disclosure, and Swiss Sherpa IPSF and Swiss Sherpa at Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate action, Swiss Rep. workstream on Climate Disclosures at FSB — what are the key elements of Christoph’s mandates and how they are linked together?
• Sustainability has generally gained importance in the financial sector. Various financial centers are committed to sustainable finance, which may lead to competitive pressure on the one hand and to further potential regulatory disparities on the other. Which measures are being taken in Switzerland?
• According to a recent study by Swiss Sustainable Finance, the market for sustainable investments has increased by over 30%. What does it mean more in terms of sustainable approaches?
• There is more scrutiny regarding sustainability reporting. Where do you see the role of government in this? There are more and more third-party certifications available, but what about the country or global standards?
• Where are climate change and sustainability disclosures in Switzerland and globally from an accounting perspective?
• Where are the most significant opportunities for innovative technology as an enabler for sustainable finance?
• Recommended further reading on Sustainable Finance: Climate Change: What Everyone Needs to Know
• What’s the best way to find out more about Switzerland’s activities regarding Sustainable Finance? SSIF, Swiss Financial Center (Finance Swiss), Swiss Sustainable Finance

Voice of FinTech Africa Series with Patrick Awori: Digitizing transport payments in Africa with Mary Mwangi from Data Integrated (DIL)

Patrick Awori, Founder and CEO at Imaginarium, a Kenyan-based FinTech behind the Circle, a virtual savings platform, hosted another episode of Voice of FinTech: Africa Series. Patrick spoke to Mary Mwangi, CEO and founder of Data Integrated (DIL) about digitizing payments in the transport sector across Africa.

Here is what they covered:

• For our audience, what is your background in Fintech in general?
• What is Data Integrated’s core business? What other business is DIL engaged in?
• As an organization that is very active in digitizing transport payments in Kenya, what is your outlook on the trends in other African countries, especially in the advent of the COVID 19 pandemic? I.e., Do you predict a significant shift towards digital, or Is it more of the same?
• What is the regulator’s position on the digitization of payments in the transport sector? Have any interventions been supportive of your initiatives, or have the existing regulations hindered your progress?
• What sorts of partnerships is DIL reliant on to deliver on objectives?
• Are you raising any capital? What does your organization look for in investors? How would you quantify your business opportunity?
• As a member of the Board of the newly established Association of FinTechs in Kenya, could you share some of the merits of consolidating at the association level and any strategies that AFiK has in place to mobilize the participation of Kenyan FinTechs?
• How do you propose regulations can improve to foster growth in Africa’s payment space?
• In your view, what gaps or opportunities still exist for other fintech actors in the African payments space in general?
• Beyond just financial inclusion, how else do you suggest that the fast-growing payments industry in Africa continues to be a key pillar of economic development on the continent?
• Any advice for listeners considering a similar career as employees or entrepreneurs

Investing in FinTech well before it was fashionable with Speedinvest’s Olga Shikhantsova

Olga Shikhantsova, Principal at Speedinvest, focused at FinTech and Forber 30 under 30, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about believing and investing in European FinTech and redefining VC.

• Olga’s backstory: FinTechs and VCs, from Russia to Germany
• What is Speedinvest? Globally present, European focused early-stage VCs with FinTech, DeepTech, Industrial Tech, Networks, Health investment teams
• Speedinvest’s roots in Vienna, Austria and founder Stefan Klestil
• Speedinvest III — the latest fund’s focus
• Any stage preference/sub-vertical preferences when investing?
• Deal sourcing
• Engagement with other ecosystem players
• Investment approach, operational knowledge transfer — Platform +
• Speedinvest select portfolio examples: Wefox or Open and many more
• FinTech’s prospects in Europe post-Covid
• Olga’s favorite non-fiction books: The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz or The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer, an INSEAD Professor
• Best way to reach out to Olga and Speedinvest

Asia Pacific Series with Chia Jeng Yang 谢征阳: Building an investment app for retail investors in Vietnam with James Vuong, CEO and founder of Infina.vn

In this episode of Voice of FinTech: Asia Pacific Series, Chia Jeng Yang, Principal of Saison Capital based in Singapore, spoke to James Vuong, founder and CEO of Infina Vietnam, about his journey from Vietnam to the US and back, his entrepreneurial journey and his latest venture, Infina, providing investment opportunities to retail investors, similar to Robinhood in other markets.

Here is what Chia asked James:

• Hi James, it is great to have you! You’ve had a long career as an engineer, operator, investor and now founder. Tell us a little about yourself and what makes you passionate.
• You have been in the Vietnamese startup ecosystem for a very long time, as a VC, VP of Investments at IDG Ventures, since 2008, and then CEO of Lana Group until it got acquired. How has the ecosystem changed, what are some of the key milestones, and what has you most excited about the Vietnamese ecosystem? Could you tell us a bit about what investing in Vietnam was like back then?
• Tell us a bit about Infina, what made you pursue this particular opportunity, how you got started, and where you are now.
• The Vietnamese consumer is, of course, very different from other markets. What are some of the nuances you’re discovering about consumer investment patterns, the Vietnamese market and regulations?
• What has been one of the most surprising things you’ve learned while building Infina?

Startups are hard.
Work life balance won’t work.
Startup is a series of tests.

• What are the largest gaps in understanding when founders or VCs look at Vietnam? What things would you say are key things to look at that might otherwise be overlooked, as opposed to Singapore, Indonesia or India? What geographies do you look to as the likely or aspirational model for Vietnam?

FinTech partnerships and investments with Neha Wattas from JP Morgan

Neha Wattas, Executive Director, Innovation & FinTech Partnerships at J.P. Morgan in New York, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about why and how J.P. Morgan likes to partner with FinTechs or invest in them globally.

Here is what they covered:

• J.P. Morgan’s approach to working with start-ups: why J.P. Morgan wants to be the partner of choice for start-ups
• Neha’s your team’s mandate (Wholesale Payments)? Strategic focus or financial gain?
• FinTech themes in focus: super apps (what are their superpowers?)
• How do your deal sourcing and onboarding work?
• What do you focus on most when considering partnering, investing or acquiring a start-up? Product market fit and cultural fit
• What’s the range of potential engagement with start-ups?
• How does JPM collaborate with others in the ecosystem
• How does the monitoring of your collaborations work
• Key piece of advice for the founders
• An example of an investment made by the team: Trovata, an open banking platform helping companies managing their cash flow
• Best way to reach out

Africa Series with Stacey Japhta: Personalizing customer service with Aneesa Ameer, Head of Innovation at ABSA Life

In this episode of Africa Series, Stacey Japhta, Head of Strategic FinTech Partnerships at Talent in the Cloud, an emerging markets FinTech executive search firm and host of Talking success podcast, sat down with Aneesa Ameer, Head of Innovation at ABSA Life in South Africa.ABSA Life offers a comprehensive range of life insurance options which include: disability, death, critical illness cover and income protection.

Aneesa discusses all things FinTech, personalizing customer service and encouraging your kids to think outside the box.

If you have suggestions for topics or guests on the show or have ideas about how to make this podcast better for you, please e-mail us at info@voiceoffintech.com. Alternatively, you can also leave a voicemail here.

Keep safe!

Sincerely,

Rudolf Falat