Wharton FinTech Podcast

Miguel Armaza is joined by Kelvin Teo, Co-founder of Funding Societies (Modalku in Indonesia), the largest SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia, licensed in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, and backed by Sequoia, Softbank, and many more. In four years, Funding Societies has helped finance over 2 million business loans with over $1 billion in funding. About Kelvin Kelvin Teo is the co-founder of Funding Societies. Selected as one of the Top 200 FinTech Influencers in Asia and appointed Co-Chairperson for the Marketplace Lending Committee of Singapore FinTech Association, Kelvin has spoken at major conferences such as LendIt Shanghai, Boao Hainan and Money20/20. He has also been featured on Bloomberg, BBC and Business Times. Prior to this, Kelvin served as a consulting professional at KKR, McKinsey and Accenture. Kelvin graduated from Harvard Business School and National University of Singapore, and is a certified Chartered Accountant. About Funding Societies Funding Societies | Modalku is the largest SME digital financing platform in Southeast Asia. It is licensed in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, and backed by Sequoia India and Softbank Ventures Asia Corp amongst many others. It provides business financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which is crowdfunded by individual and institutional investors. In 4 years, it has helped finance over 2 million business loans with over $1 billion in funding. It was given the MAS FinTech Award in 2016, the Global SME Excellence Award at the United Nations’ ITU Telecom World in 2017, Brands for Good in 2019, and recognized by IDC as amongst the 5 fastest growing FinTechs in Singapore in 2020.

In today's episode, Ines Gonzales Del Mazo sits down with Vinny Lingham, CEO of Civic. Civic is a personal identity protection and management service that allows banks, financial institutions, and other merchants to confirm the usage of social security numbers with the true owner of that number before creating new accounts. Vinny is a South African Internet entrepreneur who is the co-founder & CEO of Civic. He was previously the founder and CEO of Gyft (acquired by First Data Corporation in 2014 for over $50m) & Yola, Inc. He is also the co-founder of SiliconCape, an NGO based in South Africa that aims to turn Cape Town into a technology hub. Vinny was named one of the Top 500 CEOs in the world by Richtopia in 2015.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Tarek El Sheriff, Founder and CEO of Zinobe, a Colombian fintech specialized in online lending. Founded in 2012, Zinobe has made almost 1.3 million loans and uses technology to develop online credit products for consumers and small businesses. Zinobe has developed a data-centric credit model to help target underserved markets in Colombia. In 2020, Zinobe was the highest-ranked Colombian company on the FT's fast-growing companies ranking with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 100%.

In our latest episode of the Wharton Fintech podcast, Anchit Gupta (WG’21) is joined by Jared Hecht, Co-founder & CEO of Fundera, an online marketplace that matches SMB to lenders. Fundera is a financial-services marketplace for small businesses, helping connect business owners with the right lenders. Fundera is helping thousands of SMBs right now to help them navigate the chaotic Paycheck Protection Program application process. Since inception, Fundera has facilitated close to 3Bn USD financing for thousands of customers. Back in 2010, Jared also founded GroupMe, a popular group messaging app. GroupMe was a massive success with over 1 Mn users within a year and was eventually acquired by Microsoft and Skype. Prior to GroupMe, Jared worked as an early employee at Tumblr. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Columbia University Entrepreneurship Organization and is an investor and advisor to startups such as Codecademy, SmartThings and TransferWise. In this interview, Jared shares: - His background and journey across 2 very different entrepreneurial ventures - The challenges faced by Small and Medium Businesses to access financing in the United States - The various ways in which Fundera is helping solve these issues and creating a suite of financial service solutions for SMBs - The impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Fundera as well his opinion on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) - His experience launching a viral messaging product (GroupMe) during the early days of smart phones - Advice to young entrepreneurs hustling through this crisis

In our latest episode of the Wharton Fintech podcast, Miguel Armaza is joined by Sebastian Kanovich, CEO of dLocal, a 360 payments technology company which handles payins and payouts in emerging markets for some of the largest global e-commerce and marketplace companies, including Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, and Google. As the CEO of AstroPay, prior to dLocal, he grew the company into a premier cross-border payment-card provider that processed millions of transactions daily. Sebastián holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from Universidad ORT Uruguay. He also studied Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Management of Technology at Tel Aviv University, and completed a prestigious Endeavor Innovation and Growth Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He continues to be fascinated with how payments work around the world.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Alex Lazarow, Investment Director at Cathay Innovation, Kauffman Fellow, Professor, and recent author of Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs - from Delhi to Detroit - Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley (HBR Press). Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs - from Delhi to Detroit - Are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley In recent memory, the concept of entrepreneurship has been popularized by the explosive success of Silicon Valley startups. While the Valley's framework of building lean startups that "move fast and break things" has done wonders in their ecosystem, this model hasn't necessarily translated to outside the Valley. In his book, Alex Lazarow explores the framework of dozens of successful entrepreneurs and investors from around the world, acknowledging that entrepreneurship is never a one size fits all approach. Out-Innovate comes out at an especially relevant time as the COVID-19 crisis threatens VC investing volumes in emerging markets. Armed with data and real-life examples, Alex presents a compelling case to invest in emerging market ecosystems with startups that look a lot more like Camels rather than Unicorns -built for sustainability and resilience to navigate frequent shocks and survive droughts. Mr. Lazarow also reminds us that some of the best technology innovations increasingly come from outside of Silicon Valley. In fact, average returns for emerging-market VCs have outperformed their peers in traditional entrepreneurial hubs over the last fifteen years. By the same token, some of the most relevant fintech startups were born outside of the US. Nubank, a Brazilian company, is the largest independent digital bank in the world, and Ant Financial, a Chinese company, is considered the largest private fintech company worldwide. Out-Innovate is a must-read for any investor, entrepreneur, and aspiring builder interested in learning about some of the most resourceful founders around the world who are building lasting companies and improving their communities in the process. Alex Lazarow Alex Lazarow has worked at the intersection of investing, innovation, and economic development across the public, private, and social sectors for more than a decade. He is a venture capitalist with Cathay Innovation and was previously with Omidyar Network. He is a Kauffman Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations term member, and an adjunct professor specializing in social impact investment and entrepreneurship at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of Manitoba.

In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) sits down with Charlie Delingpole, the CEO and Founder of ComplyAdvantage. ComplyAdvantage is a FinTech start-up disrupting the compliance space using AI and machine learning to detect money laundering. In 5 years, Charlie has grown the company from 5 people in a garage to 250 employees with 500 customers in over 50 countries. Charlie is a successful serial entrepreneur, with this being his third venture. In this interview, Charlie shares: - The genesis of ComplyAdvantage and the opportunity that Charlie saw for a streamlined compliance experience - How ComplyAdvantage uses AI and ML to monitor bad actors and financial crime more effectively than traditional solutions - How bad actors are engaged in an "arms race" to change behavior in response to new innovations to stop them - The future vision for ComplyAdvantage - Lessons learned from Charlie's experience successfully scaling 2 previous ventures Prior to founding ComplyAdvantage, Charlie successfully founded two companies, MarketFinance and The Student Room. He also spent several years in investment banking at JP Morgan. He holds degrees from the University of Cambridge and London School of Economics and Political Science.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Maelis Carraro, Director of Catalyst Fund and the Impact Ventures Practice at BFA Global. The Catalyst Fund is an inclusive fintech accelerator supporting early-stage inclusive startups with flexible capital, bespoke venture building support, and connections to investors and corporate innovators. Maelis Carraro is the Director of Catalyst Fund and the Impact Ventures Practice at BFA Global. She spent her career working alongside fintech startups, investors, banks and donors to pioneer tech and data-enabled solutions for underserved communities in emerging markets. She runs global accelerator-Catalyst Fund, supported by JP Morgan Chase & Co and the UK Department for International Development, and helped over 30 early-stage fintech startups create innovative and affordable solutions for underserved populations in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Previously, Maelis worked at the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group), advising financial institutions on digital innovation and responsible financial inclusion strategies across fragile and emerging markets, as well as the OECD and the Grameen Bank, where she researched micro financing schemes for climate adaptation in South Asia, and impact fund- Global Partnerships, where she designed impact investing strategies to support tech-enabled businesses across Africa. Maelis also co-founded RemitMas, an inclusive fintech startup focused on remittances for savings for Latino immigrants in the US. Maelis is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a dual MBA and Master in International Affairs from Columbia Business School and the School of International and Public Affairs. She received her B.A Cum Laude from University College London in Political Science and Development Economics. About BFA Global BFA is a global consulting firm striving to build inclusive economies for a sustainable and equitable world. Together with partners and clients, BFA works at the frontier of applied research and innovation using finance, data, technology and behavioral science to build solutions for underserved populations. About Catalyst Fund Catalyst Fund is BFA’s flagship inclusive fintech accelerator, supported by The UK Department for International Development (DFID), JPMorgan Chase & Co and previously the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Catalyst Fund accelerates early-stage inclusive fintech startups with flexible capital, bespoke venture building support and connections to investors and corporate innovators. It also accelerates the ecosystem by fostering networks of fintech investors, corporates and talent organizations, to spur more fintech innovation for the world’s 3 billion underserved.

In today's episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Anchit Gupta sits down with Cathrine Andersen, Co-Founder and CEO of Roger.ai. Founded in 2017, Roger's accounting and finance automation technology help organizations automate time-consuming and expensive manual tasks like bookkeeping and expense management. Before Roger, Cathrine also founded Assemblage, which offered developers a solution to add real-time collaboration apps such as shared whiteboarding to their products. Assemblage was acquired by Cisco in 2014, where Cathrine then worked for 3 years in Innovation and Emerging Product Development. Cathrine holds a bachelor's degree from Copenhagen Business School and a Masters from University of Copenhagen. Cathrine was named to inc. magazine's Top 100 Female Founders in 2019.

In our latest podcast, Peter Jankovsky (WG'20) is joined by Mike Vaughan. Mike is currently an Executive in Residence at Oak HC/FT, a leading venture capital firm investing in early to growth-stage companies in healthcare and fintech with ~$2 B in AUM. Prior to this role, Mike was the COO of Venmo, scaling the business from the ground floor to 40 M active users, a $300 M revenue run rate, and $100 B in payments in 2019. In this episode, Mike shares: - His background and why he jumped into entrepreneurship after graduating from Wharton - Lessons learned from the early days of Venmo - The key decisions that enabled Venmo to scale over time - Mike's focus at Oak HC/FT and his view on where the next wave of innovation will be in FinTech - Advice for those starting their careers in FinTech Over more than two decades, Mike has developed successful businesses across multiple industries, including three exits totaling >$1 B in market value. He currently serves as an independent board member and active advisor to several early and growth-stage enterprise and consumer tech companies. Mike graduated with an economics degree from Wharton.