Rebank: Fintech Analysis

Today, we're joined by Viktor Nebehaj, Co-Founder of Freetrade, a free stock trading platform in the UK. Founded in 2016 and launched to the public in 2018, Freetrade has grown to over 500,000 users in just over two years in the UK alone. For the full backstory, check out our episode with Founder Adam Dodds from February 2019, available at bankingthefuture.com. In this conversation, Viktor takes us behind the scenes at Freetrade over the past few weeks, during the Reddit-fueled runups in Gamestop, AMC and others, as the company struggled with partner-imposed trading halts and FX throttles. We also discuss payment for order flow, margin lending, rapid user growth and Viktor's views on the good, bad and ugly of free stock trading. If it seems like I care deeply about this subject, it's because I do. Investing is one of the most important things people can do to support their long-term financial well-being, but the industry is characterized by unnecessary complexity, conflicts of interest and information asymmetry that can make it hard for people to get the best outcomes. Companies like Freetrade, Robinhood and others have a tremendous opportunity to break up entrenched industry dynamics and bring access, education and tools to the masses now that they're mainstream in their respective home countries.

Welcome to our much anticipated first episode of 2021, and what a start to the year it has been. Last week was a trainwreck as Gamestop, which was initially bid up by Redditers in an attempt to punish Wall Street, crashed back to earth when the very free brokerage platforms that purport to democratize investing for the 99% shut off trading in the most active stocks, benefitting hedge funds at the expense of retail investors. As wild as the events of the week were, they are merely a symptom of something much deeper: latent hatred for Wall Street and the traditional financial system that repeatedly and seemly unfairly rewards a small number of people at the top. Precisely because of this feeling that the system is broken and doesn't serve the people, fintech is flying. Robinhood, Chime, Cash App, Coinbase, Affirm and Klarna have built insane user bases, because they are catering to huge swaths of Americans left behind by the incumbent industry. These companies are the future of retail finance in America for sure. What will their impact be? I'm joined by Lex Sokolin to discuss these topics. Check out all of Lex's work at fintechblueprint.com For all of our past episodes, and to sign up for our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Lex Sokolin.

Today, is a special episode, of great personal importance to me. I have been learning and studying and training in fintech for years, both as a founder and through this podcast, where I'm able to have conversations with the most visionary and impactful founders, CEOs and VCs in the world of fintech. For the past year, I've been channeling all of this experience and insight into a new company, called BELLA, that is leading with digital banking in an effort to create positive change in the world. BELLA launched in the US on November 30th, and everything has been a blur since then. Taking a new consumer company into the world for the first time has to be one of the most thrilling experiences that exists. In today's conversation, I'm joined by Angelo D'Alessandro, CEO of BELLA and my co-founder, but more importantly close friend and mentor, to talk about what we're building. We cover our backstory, Angelo's approach to building teams and brands, BELLA's vision and offering, the influence of Rob LoCascio and LivePerson, the state of the world in 2020 and the implications for startups and brands going forward and more. For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Angelo D'Alessandro.

Andrei Cherny is the Co-Founder and CEO of Aspiration, a socially conscious bank challenging the traditional banking industry ethos. Prior to founding Aspiration, Andrei worked as a speechwriter for Bill Clinton, authored books on public policy and war history, served as Assistant Arizona State Attorney General, held senior positions at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Center for American Progress, and more. In 2013, Andrei co-founded Aspiration, a socially conscious banking and investments provider that lets users set their own fees. Aspiration has raised $200 million in funding and attracted over 1.5 million users. In this conversation, Andrei and I discuss the factors that have contributed to Aspiration's success, the takeaways for the industry, the company's future plans, and more. To subscribe to the Rebank newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Andrei Cherny.

Today, regular contributor Lex Sokolin and I are joined by Anne Boden, Founder and CEO of Starling Bank, one of the original wave of app-only digital banks in the UK. Starling has built a diversified bank and achieved profitability for the first time in October, a rarity for digital banks. Originally a retail-only offering, Starling has built out business banking and banking-as-a-service offerings and now serves a wide varied of customers. In this conversation, Anne, Lex and I discuss Starling's path to profitability, lessons for other digital banks, marketing and customer acquisition, and Anne's new book on Starling's first seven years. For all of our past episodes, and to sign up to our newsletter, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. To subscribe to Lex's amazing newsletter, please visit www.fintechblueprint.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Anne Boden.

Ali Niknam is the founder and CEO of bunq, a fully licensed digital bank based in the Netherlands and available in 30 countries across Europe. Prior to starting buns, Ali founded TransIP, the largest domain name and web hosting provider of the Netherlands. Ali is the sole investor in bunq, having invested €80m in the company to date. As of July 2020, the bank had €650 million of user deposits. In this conversation, Ali and I discuss the economics of digital banking, the decisions bunq has made around economic sustainability and scale, takeaways for the broader digital banking industry and more. To subscribe to the Rebank newsletter, including insights, essays and written transcripts of all new episodes, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Ali Niknam.

Pierpaolo Barbieri is the Founder & CEO of Ualá, an Argentinian consumer fintech taking South America by storm. Founded just three years ago, Ualá has already amassed more than two million customers in its native Argentina and recently expnanded to nearby Mexico. Unlike consumer banking offerings in many developed markets, which compete with incumbent banks, Ualá's main competitor is cash in markets in which as many as half of adults are unbanked. Ualá has raised just under $200 million since launch, from leading investors including Soros, Point72, Goldman Sachs, Tencent and SoftBank. As if building the modern financial infrastructure for Latin America weren't enough, Pierpaolo is a Harvard and Cambridge educated Historian and Economist, published author, macroeconomic advisor and regular contributor to publications including Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal and more. To subscribe to the Rebank newsletter, including insights, essays and written transcripts of all new episodes, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Pierpaolo Barbieri.

Ryan Gilbert is General Partner at Propel Venture Partners, a Bay Area venture capital firm backed by BBVA. He is also as of very recently CEO of Olympus Acquisition Corp, a $750 million SPAC that listed on the Nasdaq in August. In this conversation, we look at why SPACs are coming back in fashion, pros and cons of SPACs versus traditional fundraising and listing routes, Ryan's plans for the future of Olympus and more. To subscribe to the Rebank newsletter, including insights, essays and written transcripts of all new episodes, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Ryan Gilbert.

Today, Rebank co-host Aman Ghei is joined by Seb Wallace, an investor at Triple Point, an early stage UK venture capital firm that has invested in companies including LendInvest, Credit Kudos, CountingUp and many more. In this conversation, Aman and Seb discuss strategies for remote seed investing, the skew they're observing in terms of how venture money is flowing, startup opportunities Seb sees in insurance and capital markets and more. To subscribe to the Rebank newsletter, including insights, essays and written transcripts of all new episodes, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Seb Wallace and Aman Ghei

We're joined by a pair of fintech analysts, Max Friedrich of ARK Invest and Lex Sokolin of ConsenSys, to break down Ant Group's highly anticipated IPO. Ant, a spinout from Alibaba and the parent of Alipay, one of China's leading payments companies, filed papers to IPO in Shanghai and Hong Kong. In this conversation, Max, Lex and I break down Ant's business, from the origins to today, discuss growth opportunities and potential headwinds and explore the multi-faceted relationships between Ant and other big tech companies and national governments. To subscribe to the Rebank newsletter, including insights, essays and written transcripts of all new episodes, please visit www.bankingthefuture.com. To subscribe to Lex's amazing newsletter, please visit www.fintechblueprint.com. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome, Max Friedrich and Lex Sokolin