Fintech Leaders
Learn from today’s global leaders building the organizations that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.
Episodes
Nubank’s Co-Founder on Winning 140M Customers & Expanding to the US
Send us Fan Mail I sat down with Cristina Junqueira, co-founder of Nubank and CEO of Nubank’s U.S. operation, one day after Nubank officially launched in the United States. Founded in 2013 in a house in São Paulo, Nubank now serves over 140 million customers, 64% of Brazil’s adult population, and they have just launched their US operations.We talk about why product-led growth is a necessity rather
Taktile’s CEO Raised $190M Betting Most Bank Jobs Won't Exist in 10 Years
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Maik Taro Wehmeyer, co-founder and CEO of Taktile, an agentic decision platform that helps financial services companies automate their highest-stakes decisions: credit underwriting, fraud detection, and compliance. Maik and his co-founder built the company from a failed first product and 99 rejected banks into a business that just closed a $110 million round led by
Harshil Mathur, Razorpay CEO: Building India's Dominant Payments Company
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Harshil Mathur, Co-Founder and CEO of Razorpay, one of India’s most important fintech and tech companies. Razorpay moves hundreds of billions of dollars in annual payment volume and powers about 85% of the country’s largest tech companies. They are also reportedly preparing for a large IPO on the Indian Stock Exchange.Harshil started coding at age 12 and began build
Mikhail Lomtadze, Kaspi CEO - From Super App to Everyday AI Assistant
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza flew to Almaty, Kazakhstan to sit down with Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO and Co-Founder of Kaspi, for their second conversation in two years. It is hard to explain how dominant and loved Kaspi is in this market: in a country of 20 million people, more than 15 million use the app daily, and it handles two thirds of Kazakhstan's e-commerce. What started as a traditional b
Rain, Farooq Malik - The $2Bn Company Building the Infrastructure for Stablecoins and Tokenized Money
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Farooq Malik, CEO & Co-Founder of Rain, a $2Bn company that’s building infrastructure for Stablecoin-powered products, including card issuing, payments, wallets, and much more for businesses like Western Union, Slash and Nuvei. In 2025 they grew 30x and they recently raised a $250m round led by ICONIQ Capital. Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Finte
How Slash Grew From $10 to $300 Million in 2+ Years. Victor Cardenas, CEO & Co-Founder of Slash
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Victor Cardenas, Co-Founder and CEO of Slash, one of the fastest growing fintechs in America that went from $10M to $300M in annualized revenue in 24 months And just crossed a $1.4 billion valuation after a $100M Series C led by Ribbit Capital, Khosla Ventures and Goodwater Capital. The company powers over $30Bn in annualized payment volume across wires, ACH, stable
Max Levchin - Building Affirm, PayPal, and Why He Only Starts Network Businesses
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Max Levchin, Co-Founder and CEO of Affirm and one of the living legends of tech and fintech. He co-founded PayPal with Peter Thiel and Elon Musk, invented anti-fraud technology that's still foundational today, and has spent the last 14 years building Affirm into one of the largest publicly traded fintechs in the world with a mission to replace credit cards with
Rob Heyvaert, Motive Partners Founder: Investing Billions to Build the Future of Finance
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Rob Heyvaert, Founder and Managing Partner of Motive Partners, a fintech-focused private equity firm with over $6Bn in AUM, 80 portfolio companies representing over $15 trillion of assets in the wealth management space. Rob is a serial entrepreneur who started his first company at 24, sold it to IBM, and later founded Capco and sold to FIS to hundreds of millions of
Renaud Laplanche on Building Upgrade to a $7.3Bn Giant, Reinventing the Credit Card, and Shipping AI-Native Products
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Renaud Laplanche, Co-Founder and CEO of Upgrade, a consumer fintech valued at $7.3 billion. Since 2017, Upgrade has originated over $45 billion in credit to 7.5 million customers, crossed $1 billion in annualized revenue, and has been cash flow positive for years. Renaud also founded Lending Club and took it public in what was the largest US tech IPO of 2014. He is
The Trader Who Builds Billion-Dollar Companies: Tom Sosnoff on Thinkorswim, Tasty, and What Comes Next
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Tom Sosnoff, one of the most successful entrepreneurs in financial services. Tom spent 19 years on Chicago’s CBOE trading floor and then left to build Thinkorswim, the first online broker specialized in options, which he sold to TD Ameritrade for $600 million. He then built Tastytrade and sold it nine years later for a billion dollars to IG Group. He is now building
Is Finance Technology? How Founders Can Avoid the Mistakes That Kill Fintech Companies
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Andrew Endicott, fintech entrepreneur and my co-founder at Gilgamesh Ventures. Andrew is also the author of the recent book "Is Finance Technology?", a practical guide for founders, operators, and investors in financial services. The book covers everything. From the common mistakes that kill fintech companies, to how to think about risk, fraud, and regulat
Lesaka - Building Africa's Leading Fintech as a Publicly Traded Company, with Ali Mazanderani
Send us Fan MailI sat down with Ali Mazanderani, Chairman of Lesaka, a nasdaq traded, leading fintech in Southern Africa with over $400 million in revenue and 2 million active customers. Ali is a fintech veteran investor and builder, who’s been closely involved with several multi-billion dollar fintechs in emerging markets, including Stone, Pine Labs, Kushki, Thunes and is also a co-founder of Tey
Sequoia's George Robson: An Inside Look at Sequoia and What it Takes to Build Generational Companies
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews George Robson, Partner at Sequoia Capital, one of the most legendary venture firms in the world. Founded in 1972 by Don Valentine, Sequoia has backed some of the most successful tech and fintech companies in history including Nvidia, Apple, Google, Nubank, and Stripe. Sequoia-backed companies make up over 25% of the Nasdaq's market cap, and add up to $
Michael Calvey: The Investor Behind Multiple $20+ Billion Companies
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza sits down with Michael Calvey, one of the most successful and legendary emerging markets investors of our time. Mike moved to Moscow at age 27 in the early 90s and built Baring Vostok into a powerhouse with $10+ billion invested in Russia. They backed now-decacorns like Yandex, Revolut, Tinkoff, and Kaspi at their earliest stages. Yandex alone was a 450x return for th
Why Zero Hash Rejected a $2Bn Offer to Build the Future of Financial Infrastructure - Edward Woodford, CEO
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza welcomes Edward Woodford, founder and CEO of ZeroHash, to Fintech Leaders for a candid, insightful conversation on the future of blockchain infrastructure and the lessons learned from nearly a decade of building in crypto.Edward offers a unique perspective as a London-born, MIT-educated entrepreneur who’s seen ZeroHash grow into one of the most critical and least visi
Uzum, from 0 to $1.5Bn in Four Years. Building Uzbekistan's First Tech Unicorn. Nikolay Seleznev, Co-Founder
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza sits down with Nikolay Seleznev, Co-Founder of Uzum, Uzbekistan’s first tech unicorn rewriting the playbook for e-commerce and fintech in Central Asia. From Moscow to Tashkent, Nikolay Seleznev brings global banking experience and entrepreneurial grit to a country leapfrogging straight into the digital economy.In this episode, Nikolay Seleznev shares the origin story
How Deel Built a $17 Billion Company in 7 Years - Dan Westgarth, COO
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews returning guest Dan Westgarth, COO of Deel, the company that's redefining how businesses hire and pay talent anywhere in the world.Deel has grown into one of the most valuable private tech companies on the planet. In 2025, they crossed one billion dollars in revenue, achieved a $17 billion valuation, and paid out $22 billion in payroll globally. Dan ov
FinTech's Multi-Billion Comeback: Steve McLaughlin (FT Partners), From Darkest Days to Record Deals
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza recorded this episode at FinTech Nerdcon in Miami with Steve McLaughlin, Founder and CEO of FT Partners, the largest fintech-focused investment bank. Since 2001, Steve has built a 250-person firm that's advised on landmark deals including Coinbase's $4.3 billion Deribit acquisition and Revolut's multi-billion dollar raises. FT Partners works with everyo
How René Lacerte Built Bill.com into a Multi-Billion FinTech Powerhouse that Processes 1% of US GDP Annually
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza sits down with René Lacerte, founder and CEO of Bill, one of the fintech industry’s most successful and enduring leaders. From building PayCycle in the 1990s to now leading a publicly-traded company powering the “Fortune 5 Million”—the SMBs that are the backbone of America—René brings nearly three decades of hands-on experience in financial operations, product innovat
Nigel Morris, Capital One & QED Co-Founder - Transforming Financial Services for a Billion People
Send us Fan Mail[Original air date, November 19, 2024] Miguel Armaza travels to Alexandria, Virginia for an in-person interview with a fintech legend: Nigel Morris, Co-Founder of QED and Capital One. QED is a global fintech venture capital firm that has backed numerous amazing companies, including Credit Karma, Nubank, Avant, SoFi, and Klarna. They currently have over $4.0 billion in AUM.Prior to
Valon's CEO Sold $100M Without a Sales Team. Now They're Building a Multi-Billion Mortgage Platform
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza sits down with Andrew Wang (CEO) and Linda Du (COO) of Valon, the AI-native infrastructure platform transforming mortgage servicing in America. They have quietly built a top-10 national mortgage servicer with over $100 million in revenue and more than one million loans under management, all while achieving profitability. Valon is now selling their battle-tested platfo
How Addi Reached $200M ARR with Better Margins Than Nubank, Affirm, and Klarna
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza sits down with Santiago Suárez, Co-Founder & CEO of Addi, one of Colombia’s fastest-growing fintech and commerce platforms. With a background that spans global finance and a track record of driving innovation in Latin America, Santiago shares a candid, in-depth look at lessons from scaling Addi to over $1.3 billion in annualized GMV, serving 2.5 million customers,
Clair CEO - From Swiss Fencing Champion to Fintech Founder
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza sits down with Nico Simko, CEO and co-founder of Clair, for an inside look at the journey, pivots, and insights behind one of the most innovative companies in earned wage access and embedded fintech.From his early days as a competitive fencer on the Swiss national team—where he learned the mental agility and resilience needed for entrepreneurship—to his high-impact st
50 Years Of VC: Lessons From Howard Morgan and Alan Patricof
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Alan Patricof and Howard Morgan, two of the most influential figures in the venture capital industry. From the early days of just 50 annual deals to today’s 10,000 opportunities, they’ve helped shape the industry’s explosive growth over the last five decades.In this episode, Alan and Howard share lessons from navigating multiple crises, their vision for the
The Brex Growth Strategy: From Startup to Multibillion Fintech
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Art Levy, Chief Business Officer of Brex. Brex has scaled to over $100 billion in processed transactions while becoming one of the most influential multibillion-dollar fintechs in the world. In this episode, Art shares the strategies behind Brex’s hypergrowth comeback, its extreme focus on three core products, and the culture that continues to produce found
Shift4 CEO on Building an $8B Empire
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews the CEO of Shift4. Shift4 has been at the forefront of the global payments industry for 26 years—and they’re only getting started. In this episode, CEO Taylor Lauber reveals the strategies that have kept the company ahead in a competitive, fast-moving market.Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favo
From Zero to $120M: How Cashea Rebuilt Credit And Trust in Venezuela
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews the CEO of Cashea. In a country where credit vanished, Cashea built a new system from scratch. CEO Pedro Vallenilla shares how they scaled BNPL to 3% of Venezuela’s GDP, through trust-based lending, merchant financing, and a bold vision for national impact.Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favori
Steve Stagner on Building Crete's $500 Million AI Roll-up to Modernize Accounting
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Steve Stagner, CEO of Crete, an AI-powered roll-up deploying $500+ million to modernize the accounting industry. Backed by Thrive Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, and others, Crete is acquiring US accounting firms and transforming them with OpenAI-powered tools. Steve brings battle-tested insights from building Mattress Firm from a single $1,300 franchis
Jack Zhang, Airwallex CEO - A $6 Billion Powerhouse Solving Global Payments for Companies
Send us Fan Mail[Original air date, April 9, 2024] Miguel Armaza interviews Jack Zhang, CEO & Co-Founder of Airwallex, a global payments and treasury giant that moves $7 billion in monthly transaction volume and serves 100,000+ clients, including Brex, Rippling, and SHEIN.Founded in Melbourne in 2015, Airwallex was last valued at $6.2 billion and has raised over a billion dollars from Sequoia
Eynat Guez, Papaya Global CEO - From 1,000 Rejections to $34 Billion in Annual Payments
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Eynat Guez, CEO and Founder of Papaya Global. She has built an HR and payroll platform that has transformed how companies manage and operate global teams across 180 countries. After having faced over 1,000 rejections from VCs, Papaya has now grown to process $34 billion in payments annually and they've raised significant funding from Insight Partners,
Chen Amit, Tipalti CEO - A $100 Billion Opportunity, Why 'Once-in-a-Decade' Crises Now Happen Every 6 Months, Achieving 99% Revenue Retention
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Chen Amit, CEO and Co-Founder of Tipalti, a global fintech platform processing billions in payments and serving over 4,000 mid-market companies worldwide. By focusing on the underserved mid-sized companies, Tipalti has achieved 99% gross revenue retention over 15 years and secured licenses across 50+ jurisdictions.We discuss:Navigating "once-in-a-decad
Anré Williams, American Express – From Intern to Bank CEO, a 35-Year Journey at a Global Powerhouse
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza sits down in NYC with Anré Williams, Senior Executive Advisor at American Express. Anré has spent over 35 years at Amex, rising from summer intern to, most recently, CEO of American Express National Bank (which represents ~60% of the company's revenues). Under his leadership, Amex transformed its banking business into a top 25 US bank by assets.Amex is one of the
Eduardo Chedid, CEO of PicPay: 60M Users, $1B Revenue, From Brazil’s Digital Wallet to a Banking Giant
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza travels to Sao Paulo for an interview with Eduardo Chedid, CEO of PicPay, a Brazilian fintech giant that has quietly become one of the most important financial companies in Latin America.With 60 million customers and handling 11% of all Pix payments transactions in Brazil, PicPay has achieved profitability while maintaining hyper-growth—posting 61% revenue growth and
Yoshi Yokokawa, CEO of Alpaca – 5 Million Accounts in 40 Countries, A Vision for Borderless Investing, Decision Frameworks & The API Sandwich Strategy
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza stops by the New York Stock Exchange to interview Yoshi Yokokawa, CEO & Co-founder of Alpaca, an API-first brokerage infrastructure company that has raised over $100 million to serve more than 200 financial institutions across 40 countries, with 5 million brokerage accounts on their platform.In this episode, we discuss:Balancing data-driven decisions with entrepre
Daniel Vogel, CEO of Bitso – Serving 12 Million Customers and Building a Crypto Giant Through Innovation, Transparency, and a Curious Mind
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Daniel Vogel, CEO & Co-Founder of Bitso, one of Latin America's leading cryptocurrency platforms serving over 12 million customers across Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Brazil. Bitso processes over 10% of the remittances flowing from the US to Mexico ($6 - $7 Billion), and is pioneering the use of stablecoins for cross-border transactions through
Bam Azizi, CEO of Mesh Connect - From Credit Card Debt to $130M, Building the Rails for a $37T Market, Executing a Wild Pivot
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Bam Azizi, Co-Founder and CEO of Mesh Connect, a fintech infrastructure company that has transformed from a consumer-focus to a fast-growing B2B platform serving hundreds of corporate clients including Revolut, and Coinbase. After raising nearly $130 million, including a Series B closed in just one month, Mesh is now focusing on serving the stablecoin ecosy
Johnny Ayers, CEO of Socure - Building a Giant that Protects Billions of Identities, and How to Turn a Crisis into an Advantage
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Johnny Ayers, CEO and Co-Founder of Socure, a leader in digital identity verification that has transformed the industry using machine learning and graph databases. From surviving a major risk event in 2014 to becoming a trusted partner for the largest financial institutions, consumer businesses, and government agencies, Socure now processes over 15 billion
Shensi Ding, Merge Co-Founder - Lessons for First-Time Founders, $75M to build API Infrastructure in an AI World, The Truth About Fundraising
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Shensi Ding, Co-Founder of Merge, an integrations infrastructure platform that has quickly grown from serving early-stage startups to powering integration layers for some of the largest financial services companies in the world including Revolut, Airwallex, Ramp, Brex and many more. They have raised a total of $75 million from great investors including NEA,
David Magerman, Differential Ventures - How to Fix the Internet, Risks of GenAI, Pioneering Quant Trading
Send us Fan Mail[Original air date, February 6, 2024] Miguel Armaza sits down with David Magerman, Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Differential Ventures, an early-stage fund that invests in data-focused entrepreneurs building enterprise technology.In a past life, he spent 22 years in leadership roles at Renaissance Technologies (RenTech), a legendary hedge fund with over $100 billion in AUM an
Ryan Graciano, Credit Karma Co-Founder - Scaling to 140 Million Users, Turning Crisis into Opportunity, Leading Product Innovation From CTO to CPO
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Ryan Graciano, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of Credit Karma, one of the most successful fintech companies serving over 130 million customers. Credit Karma was bought by Intuit for $7.1bn in 2020, marking one of fintech’s largest acquisitions ever. Ryan began his journey as CTO after a brief stint at IBM and helped build Credit Karma from the ground
Jackie Reses, Lead Bank CEO - Lessons from Tech Titans, Why Regulators Might Finally Be Ready for AI, Building Modern Financial Rails
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza welcomes back Jackie Reses, CEO and Co-Founder of Lead Bank, a pioneering bank reimagining modern financial infrastructure and fintech partnerships. Jackie previously held leadership roles at Square and Yahoo, and served on the board of Alibaba, working alongside visionaries like Jack Dorsey and Jack Ma.In this episode, we discuss:How Lead Bank achieved instant produc
John Waldmann, CEO of Homebase - Serving 3.8M SMB Workers, Why AI Will Create More Small Business Owners, Importance of High-Velocity Decision Making
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews John Waldmann, Founder & CEO of Homebase, a company on a mission to help modernize local business teams in the US. Since launching in 2014, Homebase has grown to support over 150,000 businesses and 3.8 million workers, processing hundreds of millions of shifts annually.In this episode, we discuss:Why founders should have more courage and conviction in t
Howard Lindzon: The Rise of the Degenerate Economy, Why Markets Are Rigged, Web2 Failed, and It’s still a Great Time to Invest
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Howard Lindzon, a seasoned investor, entrepreneur, and founder of StockTwits, the largest social network for investors and traders. Howard is also the founder of Social Leverage, a venture capital firm that has backed great companies like Robinhood and eToro.Often called "The Larry David of Finance" for his candid, no-nonsense takes on markets and
Ali Hamed, Founder of Treville - From Cold Emails to $2B AUM, How Michael Ovitz Taught Ali to Move Mountains, Rejecting Work-Life Balance
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Ali Hamed, Co-Founder of Treville (formerly CoVenture), a $2 Billion investment firm that's breaking traditional asset class boundaries. Hamed has built one of the most distinctive firms in the industry, combining venture capital, credit, and asset-backed strategies with a uniquely rigorous approach - all starting from cold emails during his college da
Savneet Singh, CEO of PAR Technology - The $3B Turnaround: Transforming a Failing Company into a Tech Leader
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Savneet Singh, CEO of PAR Technology (NYSE: PAR), a company he helped transform from a struggling legacy hardware with a small market cap into a thriving restaurant technology leader now worth nearly $3 billion in the public markets.When Savneet joined PAR's board in 2018, he found a company facing multiple crises - from DOJ investigations and activist
Best of 2024 - From the Leaders of Kaspi, Xero, dLocal, Addepar, QED, Zip, and Airwallex
Send us Fan MailWe bring you a compilation of some of the best and most popular episodes of 2024. The guests of this episode have either founded or held key leadership roles in companies with a $200 Billion combined market cap, including Capital One, Kaspi, Mercado Libre, and Xero.It was an amazing year for Fintech Leaders with 42 new guests from 13 countries. Our interviews were viewed almost 3 m
Adam Nash, CEO of Daffy – The Future of Charitable Giving, Lessons for CEOs, & Staying Bullish on Consumer Fintech
Send us Fan Mail[Original air date, March 21, 2023] For this Christmas Eve episode, I revisit my 2023 interview with Adam Nash, Co-Founder and CEO of Daffy, a special fintech platform that encourages charitable giving.Giving to charity is a powerful way to create change; even a small contribution to the right cause can transform lives and it’s a chance to make a real difference. As the year comes
Daragh Murphy, CEO of Imprint - $200M to Disrupt Co-Branded Credit Cards with a Customer-First Approach
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Daragh Murphy, CEO & Co-Founder of Imprint, a fast-growing and leading fintech in the co-branded credit card space that has raised $200 million from Thrive Capital, Ribbit, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Stripe, and a many more great investors.In this episode, we discuss:Challenges and lessons building Imprint, including pivoting and finding product-
Kamran Zaki, ICONIQ Growth Partner - From Building a $50Bn Global Payments Giant to Fintech Investor
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Kamran Zaki, Partner at ICONIQ Growth and former COO of Adyen. ICONIQ growth is a multi-billion fund that has backed dozens of amazing companies, 27 of which have IPOd and together comprise a market cap of over $1.5T. Some of their fintech investments include Adyen, Chime, Ramp, Robinhood, Monzo and Bill.com.In this episode, we discuss:What it means to be a
Josh Reeves, CEO of Gusto – Building a $9.6 Billion Company to Serve Small Businesses
Send us Fan Mail[Original air date, October 10, 2023] Miguel Armaza sits down with Josh Reeves, CEO & Co-Founder of Gusto, one of the largest HR & Payroll companies in the US, focused on serving small and medium-sized businesses. In addition to HR, payroll, and benefits, Gusto is a strong player of embedded fintech solutions and in 2023 announced a very large partnership with JPM Chase.Fo
Alan Patricof – Tech & VC Legend. 90-Years-Old: Fit, Focused and Closing Deals
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Alan Patricof, Co-Founder of Primetime Partners, Greycroft, and Apax Partners. It’s hard to explain just how important Alan has been for tech and VC. He’s one of the true pioneers in venture capital worldwide, having started his first VC firm in the 1970s, Alan Patricof and Associates, which later became Apax Partners and currently has over ~$80Bn AUM.We sa
Nigel Morris, QED and Capital One Co-Founder - Transforming Financial Services for a Billion People
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza travels to Alexandria, Virginia for an in-person interview with a fintech legend: Nigel Morris, Co-Founder of QED and Capital One. QED is a global fintech venture capital firm that has backed numerous amazing companies, including Credit Karma, Nubank, Avant, SoFi, and Klarna. They currently have over $4.0 billion in AUM.Prior to QED, Nigel co-founded Capital One in 19
Howard Morgan - From Ham Radio to GenAI: A Remarkable Journey in Tech
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Howard Morgan, Chair at B Capital, and also co-founder of Renaissance Technologies and First Round Capital.Howard and Miguel sat down live on stage at Barclays Rise in NYC for the Gilgamesh Ventures Summit, an annual meeting with over 150 Limited Partners, Founders, and Investors for a series of events and discussions about the future of tech and financial
Jouk Pleiter, CEO of Backbase – Bootstrapping to €2.5 Billion, Scaling Worldwide, Simplifying Banking Technology
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Jouk Pleiter, CEO & Founder of Backbase, a global fintech that’s modernizing software and infrastructure for banks around the world.Founded in 2003, Backbase was bootstrapped to €200M in annual revenue until they raised a single Private Equity round of €120M from Motive Partners in 2022, valuing the company at €2.5B. They have now grown to over €300M in
Benjamin Fernandes, CEO of NALA - From Africa to the World, The Power of Perseverance, From TV Host to Fintech Founder
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Benjamin Fernandes, CEO & Founder of NALA, a global, cross-border payments company that helps customers send money in and out of Africa.Founded in 2018, NALA today is profitable and has raised over $50 million from Accel, Acrew, Amplo, Bessemer, DST, and NYCA.We discuss:Why NALA built their own infrastructure and stopped relying on local African incumbe
Richie Serna, CEO of Finix - The Key to Great Products, Fundraising Stories, Building a Payments Powerhouse
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Richie Serna, CEO & Co-Founder of Finix, a US full-stack payment processor and infrastructure provider that processes billions of dollars a year for software platforms, marketplaces, retail, and e-commerce businesses.Founded in 2015, Finix has raised over $135 million to date and is backed by ActOne Ventures, Homebrew, Bain Capital Ventures, Insight, Vi
Pedro Arnt, CEO of dLocal – From MELI CFO to Leading a Multi-Billion Dollar Giant, Lessons from a Serial Builder
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Pedro Arnt, CEO of dLocal (NASDAQ:DLO), a multi-billion dollar payments company that specializes in cross-border and local payments in emerging markets. Founded in Montevideo, Uruguay, dLocal today operates in 40 markets across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.Pedro has an impressive background and you’ll learn a lot from him. Prior to his appointment as dLo
David Fortunato, CEO of Wealthfront - $70Bn AUM & Climbing, From Engineer to CEO, Relentless Focus on Automation, The Future of Wealth Management
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza travels to San Francisco for an interview with David Fortunato, CEO of Wealthfront, an asset management giant with $70+ billion in assets under management and over a million clients.Founded by Andy Rachleff almost 15 years ago, Wealthfront is now one of the most defining financial brands for millennials and Gen Zers. David joined the company in 2009 as a junior softwa
Abdon Nacif, Co-Founder of Nexu - Building a Profitable Fintech, The Power of Servant Leadership, Developing Mental Toughness
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Abdon Nacif, Co-Founder of Nexu, the leading auto financing and dealership software platform in Mexico and one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in the Americas.Nexu is growing fast, approaching $50 million in net annual revenue, and has been profitable for nearly two years. They have raised just over $30 million in equity and over $150 million in de
Rujul Zaparde, CEO of Zip - Building a $1.5B SaaS, Velocity as a Core Value, How to Validate a Big Business Idea
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza travels to SF for an interview with Rujul Zaparde, CEO & Co-Founder of Zip, a leading SaaS & Fintech platform recently valued at $1.5 Billion that’s focused on bringing smarter procurement and spending software for small and large enterprises.Founded in 2020, Zip today serves hundreds of clients, including giants like Snowflake, Coinbase, Reddit, Canva, Databr
Michael Tannenbaum, CEO of Figure - From SoFi to Brex to Figure: Lessons from a Fintech Leader Who Knows Founder Mode
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Michael Tannenbaum, CEO of Figure, one of the largest US fintech platforms building infrastructure and embedded products. Founded in 2018 by Mike Cagney, also the founder of SoFi and past guest of the show, Figure is now the largest non-bank originator of Home Equity Lines of Credit in the US having done $11 billion in AAA securitizations.Every time I talk
Diya Jolly, CPO & CTO of Xero - $22Bn and Growing. Leading Product and Tech for a Global Fintech Giant
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Diya Jolly, Chief Product and Technology Officer at Xero (XRO.AX), a $22Bn tech giant that offers accounting and CFO management services for small businesses worldwide.Xero is one of the largest fintechs in the world. Their latest total annual revenue was $1.6Bn and they’ve doubled in size over the last three years.Prior to Xero, Diya was the Chief Product
Raimundo Morales, CEO of Yape - The SuperApp for 16 Million Peruvians Redefining Financial Inclusion
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Raimundo Morales, CEO of Yape, the dominant fintech app in Peru and certainly one of the biggest consumer fintechs in the world. Yape has 16 million users in Peru, which represents 80% of the country’s total population. On average, they process 550+ million payments a month and are doubling in volume on a yearly basis. They are big and extremely important f
Darian Shirazi from Gradient Ventures - Empathy, Curiosity, and the Immigrant Mindset
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Darian Shirazi, General Partner at Gradient Ventures, an early-stage venture fund focused on AI and data-rich companies, with Google as its major LP.Prior to Gradient, Darian founded and sold Radius, a B2B Customer Data Platform. He is also an early investor in companies including Lyft, Udemy, Carbon Health, Palantir, and Niva. Fun fact, he was Facebook’s f
Dynasties in the Making: 15 Companies Cultivating Tomorrow’s Fintech Leaders
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, I sit down with Andrew Endicott, who’s my co-founder at Gilgamesh Ventures and who also previously built Petal, a New York fintech company.Andrew and I discussed a research report we recently published in collaboration with the Wharton School of Business. We examined the incredible impact that 15 leading fintech companies are having on the broader fintech ecosystem
Battling Billion-Dollar Scams: 5 Leaders Reveal the Future of Fraud-Fighting & Digital Identity
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza brings you a deep dive into one of the most pressing issues facing the financial industry today: consumer fraud prevention and identity verification.Over the last couple of years, Miguel has interviewed some of the top leaders in identity management and fraud-fighting, and in this episode you’ll hear a summary of the most interesting takeaways from five of the most ex
Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed – Unlocking Fintech’s Potential Across the Americas & Balancing Priorities in Venture Capital Investing
Send us Fan Mail[Original air date, March 28, 2023] Miguel Armaza interviews Mercedes Bent, Partner at Lightspeed, a global venture capital firm founded in the year 2000. Over the last 23 years, they have secured over $18 billion in committed capital and backed over 500 companies, including Snap, Affirm, Faire, Grubhub, Carta, Blend, and a long list of great firms.In this episode, we discuss:Inves
Alex Konrad, Forbes Senior Editor - Covering the Pulse of Tech, Fintech, and Venture Capital
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Alex Konrad, Senior Editor at Forbes, where he covers venture capital and startups. Alex also edits and curates the famous Midas List and The Forbes 30 Under 30 VC category. He is a central figure in the world of Venture Capital, Tech, and Fintech and I suspect you’ll enjoy hearing what he has to say.We discuss:A behind-the-scenes look of the Forbes Midas L
Melissa Guzy, Arbor Ventures Co-Founder – Global Fintech Investing, Generating Liquidity for LPs, What Makes Emerging Market Founders Special
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Melissa Guzy, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Arbor Ventures, a global fintech-focused fund with offices across Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US. Founded in 2012, some of their portfolio companies include Tabby, TrueAccord, Grab, and Fundbox.We discuss:Melissa’s early days as a VC investor at VantagePoint Capital where they navigated the dot com
David Haber, a16z General Partner - Building Fintech Giants, Leading With Software, What Makes a Truly Great VC
Send us Fan Mail[Original air date, May 9, 2023] Miguel Armaza sits down with David Haber, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the largest Venture Capital funds in the world, founded in 2009 by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.Based in NYC, David focuses exclusively on investing in global fintech. Before a16z, he founded Bond Street, a NY fintech that aimed to transform small bus
Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, Managing Partner at Team8 - Building Massive Companies, The Future of Fintech, Transforming a Company Culture
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, Managing Partner at Team8, a global Venture-Creation and VC Fund with over a 1 billion dollars in AUM, that creates and invests in companies focusing on Fintech, Cybersecurity, Data & AI, and Digital Health. Since launching in 2014, Team8 has built 20 companies and achieved over two billion dollars in exits.Prior to Team8, Rakef
So You Want to Raise Venture Capital? 9 Founders Who've Raised $1.8 Billion in Collective Funding Share Lessons
Send us Fan Mail[Original air date, July 4, 2023] Miguel Armaza brings you a curated selection of the best lessons, stories, and candid reflections about raising venture capital. You’ll hear directly from some of the strongest fintech entrepreneurs around the world spanning four continents. The founders featured in this episode have built revolutionary companies. Many of them multi-billion-dollar
Anthony Denier, Webull President - Building a $7Bn Disruptor, Expanding US Markets Access Globally, What Makes a Great Trader
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Anthony Denier, Group President of Webull Corporation, a global digital investment platform serving 20 million users in over a dozen countries worldwide.We discuss:What it takes to be a great trader on and off the trading floorHow technology, client demands, and regulation transformed the trading industry in the last two decadesWhy Webull decided to expand
Mikhail Lomtadze, Kaspi.kz CEO - Building a $24Bn Tech Titan, From Kazakhstan to the World
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Mikhail Lomtadze, CEO of Kaspi.kz (NASDAQ:KSPI), one of the largest publicly traded fintechs in the world and the leading tech platform in Kazakhstan. Kaspi is traded on the Nasdaq and has a current market cap of $24 billion dollars.They also have incredible numbers. They serve 15 million customers, in a country with a population of 20 million; 2/3 of their
Blake Hall, CEO of ID.me – From Battlefields to Boardrooms, How Combat Gave This Veteran the Drive and Experience to Build a Tech Giant
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Blake Hall is the CEO & Co-Founder of ID.me, one of the leading US companies in identity verification with over 130 million users. Founded in 2011, ID.me has raised around $300 million in equity from BoxGroup, Blu Venture, Moonshots Capital, Capital G, Morgan Stanley, Viking Global, and a long list of impressive funds and angels.Blake is also a decorate
Vishal Garg, CEO of Better.com - Tough Lessons, Rebuilding a Company Culture, Pioneering the One Day Mortgage
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Vishal Garg, CEO & Founder of Better.com (NASDAQ: BETR), a publicly traded online mortgage lender that has funded more than $100 billion in mortgage volume in the last decade. Prior to going public in 2023, they raised capital from a long list of VCs, including Activant, Softbank, AmEx, Citi, and Goldman among others.We discuss:How Better’s business vol
Charles Moldow, Foundation Capital – Data: The New Gold in FinTech, Secrets Behind Successful VCs, Importance of Founder-Market-Fit
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital, a 30-year old venture capital firm with $3+ billion in AUM. Charles joined Foundation in 2005 and over the last two decades has led early-stage investments for many companies, 14 out of which either went public or were successfully acquired. Some of his investments include Lending Club, DOMA, Rappi, Rov
Oliver Hughes, Leader at TBC Bank and ex Tinkoff CEO - Building The Most Profitable Digital Bank Worldwide and the Future of Personal Banking
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Oliver Hughes, Head of International Business at TBC Bank, a Central Asian leading bank that’s publicly traded on the LSE with a $2B market cap. Oliver is also a true fintech leader - in the past, he was the CEO of Russia’s Tinkoff bank, where he built the operations from scratch to become the most profitable digital bank in the world, eventually reaching a
Rodger Desai, CEO of Prove - The Billion Dollar Firm Building the Future of Identity Verification Using Smartphone Data
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Rodger Desai, CEO & Founder of Prove, one of the leading global companies in identity verification and fraud reduction. Founded in 2008, Prove serves over one thousand corporations, including 9 of the top 10 US banks, and has raised around $200 million from Wellington, Oak HC/FT, Apax Digital, Mass Mutual, AmEx, Capital One, Verizon, and a long list of
Doug Ricket, CEO of PayJoy – The $300 Million Revenue Global Juggernaut with a Mission to Empower a Billion Clients Around the World
Send us Fan MailMiguel Armaza interviews Doug Ricket, CEO & Co-Founder of PayJoy, a global fintech with $300+ million in annualized revenue that provides credit to over 10 million customers across Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia.Founded in 2015, PayJoy reached profitability in 2023 and has raised almost $200 million in equity financing from USV, Core Innovation, Greylock, Invus, and
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