Wharton FinTech Podcast

Anirudh Singh sits down with Amias Gerety, Partner at QED Investors. The two discuss the recent cryptocurrency executive order, QED's success over the past two years, investments into Tint, Atomic, and Ntropy, and much more. Amias Gerety: Amias joined QED as a Partner in 2017 focusing on supporting the portfolio and finding new investment opportunities with a focus on back office technologies and infrastructure companies. Amias brings a deep background in financial markets, compliance, and RegTech to the QED team. Most recently, Amias served as the President’s nominee and as Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In that role, he was the lead advisor to the Secretary on policies affecting financial institutions. He also oversaw a number of programs focused on supporting small business lending and community development. He previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Financial Stability Oversight Council, an interagency group of financial regulators charged with monitoring and mitigating potential threats to financial stability. Prior to Treasury, Amias was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman. He also served in a number of policy roles and worked in East Africa for Save the Children. Amias is a recipient of the Alexander Hamilton award, the Treasury’s highest honor. Amias graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard with a BA in Social Studies. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Anirudh Singh sits down with Adam Nash, CEO of Daffy. The two discuss Adam's career at Wealthfront, being a successful product manager, his motivations behind founding Daffy, the importance of choosing the right revenue model for your business, and much more. If you're interested in signing up for Daffy, you can use the below promo code to claim $25 for a charity of your choice. Promo Code: https://daffy.org/adamnash/invite For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Blair Silverberg, Founder and CEO of Hum Capital, a funding platform connecting great companies with the right capital for their growth. Hum believes that every qualified company should be able to raise the capital they need to flourish without bias or friction. On Hum’s Intelligent Capital Market, companies are evaluated on fundamentals and performance, not on who they know. In this episode, you will learn all about: - The platform that Blair and his team are building - How Hum builds an efficient two-sided marketplace - The current issues companies face when attempting to access capital - Blair’s journey from investor to founder - And much more! About Blair Silverberg Blair Silverberg is the Founder and CEO of Hum Capital. Prior to launching Hum, he was an investor at Draper Fisher Jurvetson. He is passionate about using data to identify great businesses. He studied Product Design at Stanford University. About Hum Capital Launched in 2019, Hum is turning the tables on the traditional fundraising process. The platform strives to make fundraising more efficient, transparent and data-driven. To learn more about Hum, visit humcapital.com. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela’s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

Anirudh Singh sits down with Rishi Khanna, CEO of Stocktwits. The two discuss Rishi's lessons learned as a serial entrepreneur, the benefits of social trading, international expansion at Stocktwits, meme stocks, NFTs, and much more. Rishi Khanna: Rishi Khanna is the CEO of Stocktwits, the original social platform for individual investors and traders with 6M registered members. Before Stocktwits, Rishi was Managing Director at SS&C GlobeOp at SS&C Technologies Holdings Inc, where he had overall responsibility for sales, product, operations and strategic direction of a number of businesses serving the alternative assets industry. In 2007, Rishi co-founded and served as President of Novus, a global portfolio intelligence platform company that invented the art of portfolio intelligence, solving unique data and analytics challenges facing capital allocators and fund managers across liquid and illiquid investments. Prior to co-founding Novus, Rishi was responsible for the development of the technology and product platforms for Gerson Lehrman Group. Rishi holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Cornell University. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

In today's episode, Ally McCloskey sits down with Ganesh Rao, Managing Director and Head of Financial Technology and Services at Thomas H. Lee Partners ("THL"), the $16B+ private equity firm. THL invests in middle market growth companies exclusively in three sectors: Financial Technology & Services, Healthcare, and Technology & Business Solutions. Since its founding in 1974, THL has raised more than $34 billion of equity capital, invested in over 160 companies, and completed more than 500 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $210 billion. Specifically within Financial Technology & Services, THL has invested $5.7 billion in 28 companies. Some notable exits you may know include: BlackKnight, FIS, FirstbanCorp, and MoneyGram, among others. Ganesh, has been with THL for over 20 years, coming from Morgan Stanley's FIG group and after completing his MBA at Harvard Business School. He is currently a director of AbacusNext, Black Knight, Dun & Bradstreet, ServiceLink Holdings, Ceridian HCM Holding Inc., AmeriLife Group, Auction.com, Hightower Advisors, and Insurance Technologies, and a board observer at Guaranteed Rate. Ally and Ganesh discuss: • The ways in which Private Equity has changed over the past 2+ decades • How THL is structured, where its latest $5.6 billion fund will be deployed, and the 5 Identified Sector Opportunities Ganesh focuses on within Financial Technology & Services • THL's sourcing and relationship building process with target partner companies • THL's role after a deal is inked • Ganesh's forward-looking theses on Vertical Software with Integrated Payments and Insurance Tech & Services • His most memorable deal and spending an atypical 13 years with that company before exiting • And a whole lot more -- About Ganesh Ganesh B. Rao is a managing director at Thomas H. Lee Partners. Prior to joining Thomas H. Lee Partners, Mr. Rao worked at Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated in the Financial Institutions Group. Mr. Rao is currently a director of AbacusNext, Black Knight, Dun & Bradstreet, Ceridian HCM Holding Inc., AmeriLife Group, Auction.com, Hightower Advisors, Insurance Technologies, Nextech, Odessa and a board observer at Guaranteed Rate. His prior directorships include Comdata, Nielsen, MoneyGram International, Optimal Blue, ServiceLink Holdings and Ten-X Commercial. Mr. Rao holds a B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics from Duke University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. About THL THL invests in middle market growth companies exclusively within selected Identified Sector Opportunities (ISOs) in three industry groups: Financial Technology & Services, Healthcare and Technology & Business Solutions. The firm couples deep domain expertise with dedicated internal operating resources to transform and build great companies of lasting value in partnership with management. Since 1974, THL has raised more than $34 billion of equity capital, invested in over 160 companies and completed more than 500 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $210 billion. Its global investor base includes some of the world's leading public and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, endowments and high net worth families, which THL considers to be a valuable asset, providing additional co-investment capital as well as insight and relationships useful to its portfolio companies. Since 2015, the firm has raised approximately $15 billion for its Flagship, Continuation and Automation Funds and over $5.5 billion of LP Co-investment vehicles. -- As always, for more Fintech insights and opportunities to collaborate, please find us below: Blog: medium.com/wharton-fintech Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ Suggest a Guest: airtable.com/shrdbokQPxAJzgVh7 Ally's Twitter: twitter.com/AllyMcCloskey Ally's Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/allyraemccloskey/

Anirudh Singh sits down with Deven Parekh, Managing Director at Insight Partners. The two discuss what makes Insight such a successful investment firm, the evolution of fintech investing over the past 10 years, investments in Slice, GCash, Pomelo, and much more. Deven Parekh: Deven Parekh is a Managing Director at Insight Partners. Since joining Insight in 2000, he has made more than 130 investments in enterprise software, data, and consumer internet businesses globally, including in North America, Europe, India, Israel, China, Africa, Latin America, and Australia. Currently, Deven serves on the Boards of Directors for Appriss, Calm, Candy, Checkout.com, Chrono24, Community Brands, CoreLogic, Diligent, DistroKid, DriveWealth, Ellkay, Fanatics, iad, PDI, TetraScience, Vinted, WeWork, and Within3. Other companies within his portfolio include Chargebee, FTX, Thunes, Splitwise, 1stdibs, Slice, Saks.com and Saks OFF 5th, BharatPe, and Automattic (WordPress). In addition to his work at Insight, Deven currently serves as a Board Member for the Council on Foreign Relations, NYU Langone, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the Tisch New York MS Research Center. He was also confirmed by the United States Senate to serve on the Board of Directors for the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Prior to joining Insight, Deven was a Principal at Berenson Minella & Company, a New York-based merchant banking firm, where he served on the M&A Committee. He also worked for Blackstone on M&A and other investment activities. Deven has a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Anirudh's Twitter: twitter.com/avsingh_24

Greg Schvey, CEO of Axoni, discusses his introduction to bitcoin, the benefits of blockchain technology, public vs. private blockchains, and challenges in capital markets infrastructure. He explores the advantages of blockchain, including automated accuracy and immutable audit trails, and the blurring line between public and private blockchains. The podcast also includes a rapid-fire Q&A session with the guest.

In today's episode, Ally McCloskey sits down with two-time guest Dan Westgarth, COO at Deel. Deel makes growing remote and international teams effortless by simplifying international hiring, compliance, and payments all on one platform. This means businesses can hire anyone, anywhere as independent contractors or full time employees compliantly, in minutes, and with the ability to pay them in over 120 currencies and cryptos starting with USDC. The company has raised over $631mm from the likes of a16z, Spark Capital, Y Combinator, Coatue, Elad Gil, Nat Friedman, Alexis Ohanian, Daniel Gross, and others, most recently closing their $425mm Series D this past October. Dan joined Deel in 2020, after spending what he calls his "postgraduate education" at Revolut. For more on that chapter of his life, check out the link below to his 2019 WFT Podcast debut. In this conversation, Ally and Dan discuss: • Dan's time at Revolut and his lessons learned leading the early U.S. expansion • Meeting the founders of Deel and building conviction that they'd be the team to tackle global hiring and payroll • How Deel replaces long email chains, generic contracts, individual wire transfers, and foreign subsidiaries and instead enables quick and compliant hiring of employees living anywhere in the world • The effects of the pandemic on demand for foreign talent • How Deel thinks about company culture when it has 450 employees working in more than 50 countries • Why Dan values investor diligence as it relates to his own technical operations • And a lot more About Dan (twitter.com/Dan_Westgarth) Fintech enthusiast Dan Westgarth currently serves as Chief Operating Officer at Deel, where he manages Deel's Business, Operations, Legal, and Compliance teams. Before joining Deel, Dan was one of challenger bank Revolut's earliest employees, most recently in the role of General Manager for North America. Outside of his day to day at Deel, Westgarth spends his time making early-stage angel investments into interesting technology companies and helping them scale. Dan's 2019 WFT Podcast debut: https://soundcloud.com/wft/dan-westgarth-north-america-general-manager-for-revolut About Deel Deel is a global payroll solution that helps businesses hire anyone, anywhere. Using a tech-enabled self-serve process, companies can now hire independent contractors or full-time employees in over 150 countries, compliantly and in minutes. Today, Deel serves 6,000+ customers from SMBs to publicly traded companies, including Coinbase, Shopify and Dropbox, among others, and just recently announced that customers can now fund their payroll in crypto. For more on its journey, check out What's the deal with Deel? -- As always, for more Fintech insights and opportunities to collaborate, please find us below: WFT Blog: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech WFT Home: www.whartonfintech.org WFT LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ Suggest a Podcast Guest: airtable.com/shrdbokQPxAJzgVh7 Ally's Twitter: twitter.com/AllyMcCloskey Ally's Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/allyraemccloskey/

Gabriela Ariana Campoverde sits down with Ram Palaniappan, Founder and CEO of Earnin, which gives people access to their pay directly from their smartphones. No hidden fees, no penalties, no waiting—just access to your hard-earned cash right when you need it. With each transaction users are given the opportunity to pay what they believe is fair. In this episode, you will learn all about how: - Ram started Earnin by lending his own money to his colleagues - Earnin addresses the Earned Wage Access gap - 66% of users see an increase in their ability to pay bills with Earnin’ - The lending landscape is changing - And so much more! About Ram Palaniappan Ram Palaniappan, is the Founder and CEO of Earnin. He is passionate about building a financial system for the people, by the people. He is a graduate of the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, where he earned his MMS, and Purdue University Krannert School of Management, where he earned his MBA. About Earnin Earnin gives people access to their pay directly from their smartphones, whenever they need it. Launched in 2014, Earnin is driving consumer-empowered finance through mobile technology by breaking open more than $1 trillion held up in America's pay cycle. Current funding partners include Andreessen Horowitz, Matrix Partners, Ribbit Capital, Felicis Ventures, March Capital Partners, Trinity Ventures, Thrive Capital, and Camp One Ventures. To learn more about Earnin, visit earnin.com. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Gabriela’s Twitter: twitter.com/byGabyC Gabriela’s LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gcampoverde

In today's episode, Olamide Williams catches up with Professor Chris Brummer of Georgetown Law to discuss fintech regulation, balancing that with innovation, the unique connection between fintech and rap, as well as his top five rap artists of all time. Professor Brummer is the host of the Fintech Beat Podcast, which features the latest trends, movers and shakers, ideas, and policies in fintech. He sits on the boards of Fannie Mae, K2 Integrity, public.com and is the Scholar in Residence at Paradigm, the $2 billion crypto fund. He is also the host and organizer of DC Fintech Week. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/ WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech