Fintech One•On•One

In Mexico there is a huge need for banking services. It is one of the most unbanked economies in the world as most consumers stay in the cash-based informal economy. But as the fintech ecosystem develops, there are compelling reasons for people to join the formal economy, and Kueski is at the heart of those efforts.Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Adal Flores, the CEO and Co-Founder of Kueski. They have been doing consumer loans for many years but their BNPL product Kueski Pay, is starting to get serious traction as Kueski is looking to build a complete financial ecosystem.In this podcast you will learn:The story behind the founding of Kueski.How the company has evolved since they started in 2013.How they encourage people to move away from the cash economy.What is behind the growth of BNPL in Mexico.How they underwrite people who are only using cash.Details of their small pilot with physical stores for BNPL.Why they are building a financial ecosystem.Why the growth of BNPL in Mexico is very different to the USA, Australia of Europe.How the Mexican regulators view fintech innovations like BNPL.Why CoDi, the digital payments system, has not taken off in Mexico.The scale they are at today.Adal's vision for bringing more people into the formal economy.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Today, we discussed big fintech news from FTX, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, Ramp, J.P. Morgan, Zelle®, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Coinbase, Andreessen Horowitz, Bank of America, Seedrs and more.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

A myriad of documentation is needed for lenders to make an accurate lending decision. This becomes even more complicated in the case of auto loans where an entirely new category of paperwork enters the picture. Lenders need to be able to process this unstructured data quickly and easily.Our next guest on the Fintech One-on-One podcast is Justin Wickett, the CEO and Co-Founder of Informed.iq. They have tackled this challenge head-on and are able to automate verifications in real-time with 99% accuracy.In this podcast you will learn: How Justin's time at Lyft and Credit Karma helped solidify the idea for Informed.Details of the Informed core product.How the automated verification process works.How the gig economy has complicated income verification.The kinds of documents they are processing.How they are using AI and Robotic Process Automation.What they are doing when it comes to fraud prevention.Why they decided to start with auto loans.The core target market for Informed.What their partnership with Origence (formerly CU Direct) means.How they work with credit unions, where there are limited tech capabilities.Justin's vision for the future of Informed.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

On the show today we discuss big fintech news from the Federal Reserve Board, Apple, Visa, Mastercard, Affirm, Galaxy Digital, BitGo, Silvergate Bank, Signature Bank, Customers Bank and more.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

This week on the news show we discussed big news stories from Plaid, Wise, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, Tornado Cash, Figure, Digit, Coinbase, Marqeta, Upstart and more.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Before the pandemic, very few banks were interested in small business loans, those sub-$100,000 loans that are the lifeblood of millions of small businesses. But when forced into action with the Paycheck Protection Program banks found (often with the help of fintechs) that they could not only underwrite these loan sizes, they could do it online. That has been a game changer.My next guests on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast are Brock Blake, CEO and Founder, and Denada Ramnishta, Chief Growth Officer, of Lendio. They enabled hundreds of thousands of PPP loans and were integral in helping hundreds of banks become online lenders. Now, they are taking it to the next level.In this podcast you will learn:How people should think about Lendio today.How the PPP has changed small business lending forever.What is the state of small business lending today.The idea of the three Capital C's of lending.The different types of data that are important in underwriting today.The rich data Lendio has internally across so many different businesses.Why the critical piece here is open data.How they help small business owners decide on the best loan product.What has to happen to make capital-on-demand a reality.The different types of lenders they work with.The impact of higher interest rates on small businesses.What is most exciting about the future of small business.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

If you go back just nine months, you will remember a time when fintech founders were raising capital with ease. Nine-figure funding rounds were the norm, and a new fintech unicorn was minted almost every day at ever higher valuations. Today, the pendulum has swung in the completely opposite direction where any funding round is a surprise with down rounds and layoffs now the norm.To make sense of all this craziness, we invited Logan Allin, the founder and managing partner at Fin Capital, to the podcast. His recent Navigator deck caught my attention, it is packed full of advice for founders and thoughts on the industry, and he has made it publicly available for everyone.In this podcast you will learn:Logan's background and the founding story of Fin Capital.How he first got into fintech and what attracted him to itThe gaps in the industry that were not being addressed by traditional VC.What he means when he talks about SaaS Plus businesses.A breakdown of their three private funds and their different focuses.The six sub-sectors of fintech where they invest.The quarterly Navigator deck that they share with their founders and now the industry.Logan's specific advice for founders looking to ride out this downturn.How founders should think about valuation multiples today.When Logan thinks the IPO window for fintech companies will reopen.What a normal fintech valuation market looks like and when we will get there.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

On this week's Fintech Nexus News show we discussed big news stories from Coinbase, BlackRock, Robinhood, PayPal, SoFi, CFTC, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Equifax, #superapps, #consumercredit, #cryptohacks and more.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

When it comes to Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) consumers continue to spend. They love the product in all of its varieties. While those of us in the fintech space lament the huge drop in valuations with many of the BNPL leaders, consumers don't care. They just continue to use the product.The BNPL pioneers all focused on the merchant model, where they do deals with large brands to offer their BNPL solutions to consumers. But there is more awareness today (thanks to Apple) of the direct to consumer model.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Al Periu, the CEO of Zilch USA. Zilch began in the UK and built a successful direct to consumer BNPL business very quickly and they have recently launched in the US.In this podcast you will learn:How Al first connected with the Zilch team.Why his experience at Funding Circle was just what Zilch needed.A description of Zilch's UK business.How their product works in the US.Who their typical customer is.How they are trying to get to top of wallet with the consumer.Why they decided to go direct to consumer instead of focusing on merchants.Al's thoughts on Apple's entry into the BNPL space.What the BNPL pioneers provided to the market that helps Zilch.Details of their business model.Where the capital is coming from to fund the Pay-in-4 loans.How lawmakers should be thinking about BNPL.His thoughts about Klarna's recent down round.How Zilch was able to close a funding round at a flat valuation.Where BNPL is going to go over the next decade.Their plans for Zilch in the US.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes

Those companies that are no longer small businesses but not yet large corporations occupy what is called the "middle market." When it comes to lending to these companies, it is very relationship-driven and not exactly a tech-forward operation. So, this spells an opportunity for a fintech-centered approach to middle market lending.My next guest on the Fintech One-on-One Podcast is Meredith Carter, the CEO of Context Business Lending. They are an asset-based lender (ABL), and you can tell they are a little different because they have trademarked the term: Consider ABL Disrupted.In this podcast you will learn:How Meredith became aware of Context Business Lending (CBL).The state of the middle market asset-based lending market.How transactions get done in this market.The different industries they focus on.The typical companies that come to CBL for a loan.Range of loan terms and interest rates.How they are bringing automation to the underwriting process.The average length of time from initial contact to funded loan.How they fared during the pandemic.Why they decided to lean in and continued during that time.The capital markets advantage of being backed by a single family office.How they work with banks when co-funding the loans.What they do to monitor their loan portfolio.The scale they are at today.Meredith's vision for CBL.Connect with Fintech One-on-One: Tweet me @PeterRenton Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous Fintech One-on-One episodes