Voice of FinTech: September summary!

Photo by Damian Patkowski on Unsplash

In case you missed out on the September 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.

Improving Financial Inclusion Through Data-Driven Lending

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, spoke to Tim Nuy, founder and CEO at Finclusion Group and Matsi Modise, its Non-Executive Chair about how to improve financial inclusion through using alternative credit score data, Finclusion’s mission, Matsi’s governance experience and more!

Predictive analytics for trading with Aisot’s CEO and co-founder Stefan Klauser

Stefan Klauser, co-founder and CEO of Aisot, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about how to make traders’ performance better using new technology.

Here is what they talked about:

• Stefan’s interest in entrepreneurship even though he started working as a diplomat at the Swiss Embassy in the US and then a researcher at ETH
• Very first steps of Aisot
• Why do we need predictive analytics for trading
• How good is the technology today
• How does it relate to or differ from algo trading
• Who are Aisot’s target customers?
• Business model
• Where are you on your journey in terms of product development, geographic reach, funding, hiring? Any numbers you can share?
• Key milestones ahead of Aisot, Stefan and his team
• The best way to reach out

Americas Series with David Yakobovitch: How FinTech can make retail purchases more inclusive with Katapult’s CEO, Orlando Zayas

In this episode of the Americas Series, David Yakobovitch spoke to Orlando Zayas, CEO of Katapult about how pandemic has changed the way we shop, Katapult’s role in the value chain, alternative credit scoring and BNPL and ongoing public with the SPAC Finserv.

• The pandemic transformed the way we shop forever:

eCommerce rapidly expanded; it would have taken 5–10 years to reach its point today without the pandemic. Online shopping and BOPIS (buy online and pick up in-store) is a purchasing trend expected to become permanent. What people are buying has changed also; people are spending more money on electronics, home goods, and appliances while clothing and apparel decreases.

• Buying power also changed during the pandemic:

Buying power changed overnight, lenders immediately tightened up, and even prime customers were denied financing. Beyond the pandemic, non-prime consumers don’t have the same buying power as prime consumers; they need options. For prime consumers, when lenders tighten up, you need to have other options.

• AI & Machine Learning:

AI & ML are forever changing all of the technology, including fintech. We can gather a massive amount of data, and after analyzing, we continue to optimize our behavior model (Katapult’s proprietary scoring model). Our Katapult score continues to outperform the fraud point score by a third-party-the-shelf model. The ability to now gather data with AI & ML enhances the user experience and allows lenders to assess risk models better.

• BNPL is growing as rapidly as eCommerce:

BNPL has expanded amid the pandemic as people found they needed additional financing options and retailers needed to capture a new segment of customers. Katapult focuses on the nonprime customer, which is one of our differentiating factors from Affirm, Klarna, etc.

• Going public via a merger with SPAC Finserv: The decision to go public now and what the process has been like from a virtual perspective.
• Orlando’s approach to revenue growth:

Orlando joined the company in 2017 when revenue was at 17M and closed 2020 at almost 200M. Hiring the right people, make sure you have a CFO you can trust, keeping the “dumb” list of all the things to stop, having a vision is great, but you need to have a foundation and strategy to achieve your vision.

The art of pitching right with Donna Griffit, corporate storyteller and pitch alchemist for start-ups

Donna Griffit, corporate storyteller and pitch alchemist for start-ups, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about why it pays off to pay attention to your storyline when you pitch for funding, what to include and what to avoid and a lot more!

Here is what you will learn:

• Donna’s backstory: from acting to corporate storytelling
• What is corporate storytelling? How not to be boring in business!
• Why is it important?
• How should a good storyline look like?
• How do you build it?
• How do you deliver it?
• Focusing on the founders, what do investors talk about after the pitch?
• What does it mean, fundraising Silicon Valley-style?
• What are the few biggest mistakes start-ups make in their pitches? What must be in the pitch deck?
• What’s different if you are fundraising as a woman?
• Check out further resources from Donna on her website here.
• What’s the best way to reach out?

Building regulated digital market infrastructure with SDX (SIX Digital Exchange)’s General Counsel, Nathan Kaiser

Nathan Kaiser, General Counsel at SDX (SIX Digital Exchange) in Zurich, Switzerland, spoke to spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about his thoughts on building infrastructure for digital assets, utilizing blockchain, SDX’s initiatives internationally and CBDCs.

Here is what they covered in more detail:

• Nathan’s background and journey to the digital assets space?
• SDX mission — the problem that SDX is solving. Relationship to SIX.
• Nathan’s mandate at SDX
• SDX just got the license from FINMA. What does it mean? What services is SDX providing and when?
• Target clients — SIX members and more
• What kind of asset classes can be traded using SDX infrastructure now and in the future
• SDX entered into a Singapore-based joint exchange venture with SBI Holdings. What are SDX’s international ambitions?
• Why do we need CBDCs?
• How is SDX involved in CBDCs development? SNB, BIS and BdF test
• The best way to reach out and find out more about SDX

Building an institutional business in blockchain with Blockchain.com’s Dan Bookstaber

Daniel Bookstaber VP of Markets at Blockchain.com, leading global provider of crypto and digital assets services, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast about the evolution of blockchain, latest developments, ways to build an institutional business in blockchain, long terms predictions and more!

Specifically, here is what they covered:

• Dan’s background and journey to the blockchain / digital assets space
• Blockchain.com’s mission and activities: from blockchain browser to the digital wallet to lending and derivatives today
• Dan’s mandate at Blockchain.com: building institutional business
• Blockchain.com’s key clients and how their needs differ
• What’s different about Blockchain.com’s digital wallets?
• Trading and lending services — how is Blockchain.com funded and regulated
• What kind of asset classes can be traded on Blockchain.com?
• Thoughts about NFTs
• Blockchain.com recently acquired AiX — it seemed like a capability play. How does Dan think about organic vs. inorganic growth?
• Blockchain.com’s international ambitions
• Dan’s long-term prediction — will we have only a handful of crypto winners that we already know or a new player will emerge and push everyone to the side?
• The best way to reach out

Asia Pacific Series with Taneia Bhardwaj: Building financial planning platform for women in India with Priti Rathi Gupta, founder of LXME

Taneia Bhardwaj, Head of India Consumer Business at Nium, spoke to Priti Rathi Gupta, founder, LXME (financial platform for women). Finance is a feminist issue. And if there’s one person who gets it — it is Priti Rathi Gupta — founder of financial planning platform LXME. So much so that she founded LXME intending to bridge that gap between women and Finance. In this episode of Voice of Fintech, we chat with Priti, to understand how she is inspiring a wave of financially fearless women in India.

Here is what Taneia asked Priti:

• Why did you think that there was a need for a gender-based investment platform? What is the problem that LXME is trying to solve?
• Community first, product later approach. You are solving a behavioral issue There’s no denying that women’s financial lives unfold differently than men. How is LXME designed differently — what is your value proposition?
• LXME is building a community of thousands of like-minded women — how big are it and any learning along the way?
• A lot of people turning to social media for investment advice. In the last two years, new platforms have created a business out of making investments simpler, quicker, and friction-free- we’ve even seen gamification for motivation — of financial services is touted as the new frontier for millennials
• What is your business model?
• Plans for LXME

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