Fintech Leaders Greg Krasnov, Founder/CEO at Tonik & Ukrainian Serial Entrepreneur – Lessons from 20+ Years of Building Fintechs & Staying innovative in a Remote World
In this Fintech Leaders edition, I sit down with the great Greg Krasnov, Founder & CEO at Tonik, the first and largest neobank in the Philippines, which officially started operating in 2021 and has since reached almost $150M in consumer deposits and is backed by Mizuho, Sequoia, Point72, Insignia, and many more.
It’s worth mentioning Greg is a Ukrainian serial entrepreneur and about a decade ago he built Platinum bank in Ukraine and sold it once it became the third-largest consumer bank in the nation.
We recorded this episode on Tuesday, Feb 22, 2022 – roughly 24 hours before Russia invaded Ukraine. Today Ukraine is under attack and during these horrific and difficult times for Greg’s country, my heart goes out to him, Tonik’s Ukrainian team, and their families. They are a resilient nation with incredibly talented people, and Greg and Tonik represent these values.
If you are looking for ways to provide any type of support to the Ukrainian people, I’ve included a couple of vetted links below.
1. Ukraine: Relief for Children & Vulnerable in Kyiv - https://bit.ly/3MaNlql
2. Donate to the Ukrainian Red Cross - https://bit.ly/3tbey3i
3. Real ways you can help Ukraine as a foreigner - https://bit.ly/3HuOCF2
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In this episode, we discuss:
- What Greg learned in over two decades of building banks and fintech businesses
- Tonik’s approach to credit risk and how they are using their customer’s digital footprint and predictive analytics to expand access to the financial system
- Staying innovative in a remote environment and how companies can balance internal cooperation and conflict to stay innovative
- Why it’s crucial for fintech founders to pick the right investors who actually understand their industry… and a lot more!
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Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4Z