Fintech One•On•One #389: Christine Kenna of IGNIA
A decade ago, to say the Latin American fintech industry was nascent would have been an overstatement. While there were a handful of enterprising startups, no one had achieved much scale and there was very little funding available to help. And yet, these bootstrapping entrepreneurs were at the forefront at what would soon be a thriving industry.
Today, Latin American fintech is hot, although like the rest of the fintech world it has cooled down somewhat in 2022. My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Christine Kenna, a partner at IGNIA, a Mexican VC firm, where she has spent more than a decade. During that time, she has witnessed and participated in the explosive growth of the fintech industry.
In this podcast you will learn:
- How Christine came to Mexico and to IGNIA.
- What it was like being an investor in Mexico a decade ago.
- When they first started paying attention to fintech.
- How IGNIA has responded to the changing investing environment.
- What it means to entrepreneurs to have big name American VCs in the region now.
- The different environments for early stage and later stage investment.
- The most interesting areas of fintech today in Latin America.
- Why cash is still so prevalent in Mexico today.
- Why Christine is bullish on crypto long term.
- Why LatAm entrepreneurs are always looking cross border.
- The stage of companies IGNIA focuses on.
- The quality of the entrepreneurs approaching her today.
- What Christine is most excited about for the future of LatAm fintech.
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