Podcasts about citi ventures

This week's Espresso covers news from Fintalk, Belvo, Bancoldex, and more!Outline of this episode:[00:30] – Magalu raises $130M from the IFC[00:45] – Fintalk raises $1M to expand conversational AI platform[00:53] – Nuvia raises $1.7M to Scale AI Agents for B2B Sales[01:05] – Coalize raises $570K seed round[01:15] – Belvo raises $15M to launch new products[01:34] – Bancóldex and Ruta N invests in Simma Fintech+[01:51] – Yeda Health raises $ 300K pre-seed roundResources & people mentioned:Startups: Magalu, Fintalk, Nuvia, Coalize, Belvo, Yeda HealthVCs: International Finance Corporation, HiPartners, NXTP, Gilgamesh Ventures, Quona Capital, Kaszek, Kibo Ventures, Future Positive, Citi Ventures, Y Combinator, Bancoldex, Simma Capital, OurCrowd LATAM Labs.

In this episode, we speak with Jason Guss, Co-Founder and CEO of Octane, a financing platform assisting fast and confident powersports purchases by making financing as easy as cash and creating access through fair credit products. Under Jason's leadership, Octane has raised both debt and equity amounting to approximately  $2.6 billion.  Prior to Octane, Jason worked at Capital One in Corporate Strategy.  Since 2014, Octane has partnered with dozens of manufacturers and thousands of powersports dealerships to help drive more sales with their platform. They are backed by Valar Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, IA Ventures, DreamIt Ventures, FinTech Collective, Third Prime Ventures and Citi Ventures. Jason supports Baby2Baby. To learn more about this organization click here. I am your host RJ Lumba.  We hope you enjoy the show.  If you like the episode click to follow.

Arvind Purushotham, head of Citi Ventures, shares where he and his team see opportunities and how they vet tech startups.

Fireside with a VC episode #100 speaking with Vibhor Rastogi, Global Head of AI investments at Citi Ventures, discussing how to determine startup valuations and how much capital a startup should raise. How much to raise should be driven by enough time runway to achieve the next key milestone to unlock the next funding round - be that product, revenue, users or other measurable business milestone KPIs. How the market is changing. Expect to need at least enough time 1) to reach the next business milestone and 2) to raise the next funding round. Expect at least 2 quarters to raise the next funding round in today's market. How much dilution should a startup expect to take from each funding round ranging from pre-seed to late seed, Series A, B, C, D? How to tie expected exit valuations to today's valuation? What can a realistic exit be in a good scenario and a bad scenario? What are expected exit multiples and discounted to today's valuation with the consideration of dilution from future funding rounds? How to calculate future dilution or reserve strategies for various ownership target percentages. Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) best practices at Citi Ventures – Citigroup. How to manage conflicts of interest as a strategic investor compared to a pure financial investor. How Citi Ventures can add value to startups across industry verticals.   Find the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/T7yffG5sJ3E.   Find this and all full episodes for Fireside with a VC on your favorite podcast platform here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/FiresideVC   https://www.citi.com/ventures/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/vibhorrastogi/   https://www.7bc.vc/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/romans/   Join the conversation, leave comments, and tell us what you think about these topics and this episode. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/firesidevc/message

Learn how to thrive in a dynamic business environment Creating your own category in business is all about carving out a unique niche or market segment that hasn't been fully explored yet. It's about being the trailblazer and setting yourself apart as a leader and innovator. But here's the catch - this approach requires playing the long game. You have to think beyond immediate gains and be willing to make strategic investments and sacrifices to accelerate growth and establish a dominant position in the market. Joining me today is Edrizio De La Cruz, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, and co-founded Arcus,a fintech company that raised $20M from Y Combinator, Initialized, Citi Ventures, SoftBank, and a16z. Edrizio has secured 19 Million in funding, has raised 100 employees, and worked with over 100 clients as well with most of them as big as Walmart and 7-Eleven. Edrizio shares his wisdom and the principles outlined in his book, "The Underdog Founder," which provides guidance on rising above racism, poverty, imposter syndrome, and various startup obstacles. Key Takeaways: A mindset of believing that things will get better can drive you to find ways to make it better Surrounding yourself with exceptional people can have a profound impact on your success Overcome imposter syndrome by recognizing your unique journey and the value you bring Build relationships and collaborate with others to accelerate your growth Create a category for your business and become the leader in that space Recognize the value of education and the opportunities it can provide Find a peer group where you are not the smartest one and learn from each other Transition from founder-led sales to team-led sales to scale your business effectively All this and more, on this week's episode of Beyond 7 Figures. Stay tuned next week because I will be talking with Christian “Boo” Boucousis. So, don't forget to subscribe to the show to get that episode as soon it gets released. Until then, be profitable. Links: edriziodelacruz.com amazon.com/Underdog-Founder-How-Unseen-Unstoppable-ebook/dp/B0CH9D22YH linkedin.com/in/edrizio-de-la-cruz-2b8ab75

In this episode of the Road to Growth podcast, we are pleased to introduce you to Edrizio de la Cruz. Edrizio is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and the first Latino Y-Combinator Visiting Partner. He is most known for selling FinTech startup, Arcus to MasterCard, in its first Latin America acquisition. In 2013, Edrizio founded Arcus, a payments-as-a-service platform, secured $19M in funding from Y-Combinator, Ignia, SoftBank, and Citi Ventures, and grew the company to 100+ employees and 100+ clients, including Walmart, 7-Eleven, Santander, BBVA, and Rappi, before selling the business in 2021. Background wise, Edrizio is a Dominican immigrant who grew up in Harlem. To make ends meet, he dropped out of college to work as an aircraft technician, but he later returned to get his degree, worked on Wall Street, and earned an MBA from The Wharton School. Edrizio is extremely passionate about supporting other founders of color to win in Silicon Valley and has established himself as one of the thought leaders on helping aspiring entrepreneurs fundraise and succeed. He has written a book titled Underdog Founder, which will be published in September. It is a practical, no-nonsense playbook for entrepreneurs that lays out seven key principles for rising above racism, poverty, imposter syndrome, and every imaginable and unimaginable startup obstacle.   Learn more and connect with Edrizio de la Cruz by visiting him on   Twitter: https://twitter.com/EdrizioCruz?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor       Be sure to follow us on Twitter: Twitter.com/to_growth on Facebook: facebook.com/Road2Growth   Subscribe to our podcast across the web: https://www.theenriquezgroup.com/blog Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2Cdmacc iTunes: https://apple.co/2F4zAcn Castbox: http://bit.ly/2F4NfQq Google Play: http://bit.ly/2TxUYQ2 Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKnzMRkl-PurAb32mCLCMeA?view_as=subscriber   If you are looking to be a Guest on Podcasts please click below  https://kitcaster.com/rtg/  For any San Diego Real Estate Questions Please Follow Us at web: www.TheEnriquezGroup.com Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKnzMRkl-PurAb32mCLCMeA or Call : 858 -345 - 7829 Recently reduced properties in San Diego County * Click **** bit.ly/3cbT65C **** Here* **********************************************************************

BIO: Steve Faktor is a former Fortune-100 executive—turned entrepreneur, futurist author of Econovation, and podcaster. As Managing Director of IdeaFaktory Innovation, he helps tech, financial services, and consumer goods clients see and build the future.STORY: Steve joins the My Worst Investment Ever podcast again, this time sharing advice on how investors can see and build their investment futures.LEARNING: Try to understand the future by differentiating between noise and legitimate signals. Don't let others impose on your story. Act in principle. “I would like to see more people acting in a principled way because even if you win, but you do it without principle, you will have lost because those same unprincipled methods will come back to haunt you.”Steve Faktor Guest profileSteve Faktor is a former Fortune-100 executive—turned entrepreneur, futurist author of Econovation, and podcaster. As Managing Director of IdeaFaktory Innovation, he helps tech, financial services, and consumer goods clients see and build the future.Steve is a LinkedIn Influencer with over 750,000 followers and has been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He's a popular keynote speaker at major events and numerous corporations.The McFuture Podcast features Steve's provocative predictions and prescriptions, as well as guests like Larry King, comedian Jim Jefferies, Governor Jesse Ventura, Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz, former ACLU President Nadine Strossen, Megachurch Pastor AR Bernard, and many more.Previously, Steve launched multiple $150m+ loyalty, payments, and e-commerce products & services as head of the American Express Chairman's Innovation Fund, SVP at Citi Ventures, VP of Strategy & Innovation at MasterCard, and management consultant at Andersen.Steve joins the My Worst Investment Ever podcast again, sharing advice on how investors can see and build their investment futures. Listen to his previous episode: Take the Risk and Pursue Your Dreams.Understanding the future as a long-term investorIf you want to invest in three to ten-year opportunities, Steve says you need to know what the future will look like or at least have an idea of what that might be. However, as we try to understand the future, Steve says most of what we are reacting to is noise. You therefore, need to learn how to filter out what is signal and what is noise. Once you've identified which opportunities are legitimate signals and not noise, ask yourself where they could go. You'll never know for sure. But again, that's where you assign probabilities and say, this is likely to happen or more likely than something else. Now that you have an idea of where these things might go and what this future might look like, ask yourself how you'll act in that future.Steve adds that there's another equal danger to listening to noise, which is deafness. So there's the hearing of everything that may not be relevant or important, and then there's complete deafness. Steve says the vast majority of people are deaf. And so they're not even hearing and understanding the signals or the noises. Such people are complete pawns in...

We discussed a few things including:  1. Your corporate and entrepreneurial journey2. Investment banking lessons - Arcus insights3. Y Combinator insights4. State of the funding and accelerator markets5. Future trends domestically and globallyEdrizio is a former Y Combinator visiting partner. A Dominican immigrant raised in Harlem, Edrizio dropped out of college and joined the U.S. Air Force, becoming an aircraft technician to make ends meet. He later returned to college, worked on Wall Street, and earned his MBA from the Wharton School.In 2013, Edrizio co-founded Arcus, a fintech company that raised $20M from Y Combinator, Initialized, Citi Ventures, SoftBank, and a16z. In 2021, Arcus was sold to Mastercard, in its largest Latam acquisition ever.  #podcast #AFewThingsPodcast

In The Underdog Founder. Edrizio De La Cruz shares his odyssey as a Dominican immigrant who grew up in Harlem, dropped out of college and the US Air force, to become aircraft technician and help makes ends meet. He later returned to college, worked on Wall Street, and earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, Edrizio co-founded Arcus, a fintech company that was backed by Y Combinator, Citi Ventures, SoftBank, and Ignia. In 2021, the company was ultimately sold to Mastercard.We discussed the importance of understanding what fuels one's entrepreneurial spirit. As Edrizio wisely puts it, "Ideas may change, teams may change... But what doesn't change is what drives you." Being in the company of smarter individuals, the significance of cultivating grit, and the role of sheer perseverance in the startup world are key highlights of our conversation.A captivating moment from our talk was Edrizio's recollection of rejecting a stable job at Citi for a more uncertain future. His conviction shines through when he says, "Sometimes you have to burn the bridges, and the only way to move forward is to have nothing to go back to."Listeners can expect an infusion of motivation, drawing from Edrizio's own experiences, and the assurance that every obstacle can indeed be transformed into a massive opportunity.Key Takeaways: The unparalleled power of understanding what drives you. "Cultivate grit, startups become a game of stamina." Surrounding yourself with smarter people can elevate your game. The pivotal role of tenacity in startup success.

From selling guavas in a barrio in Santo Domingo as a child, to selling his startup to Mastercard in Silicon Valley, Edrizio De La Cruz shares his inspirational entrepreneur journey. Edrizio is the author of the new book "The Underdog Founder - How to Go from Unseen to Unstoppable". Show notes page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/490-edrizio-de-la-cruz-entrepreneurship/ Edrizio is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and the first Latino Y-Combinator Visiting Partner. He is most known for selling FinTech startup Arcus to MasterCard, in its first Latin America acquisition. In 2013, Edrizio founded Arcus, a payments-as-a-service platform, secured $19M in funding from Y-Combinator, Ignia, SoftBank, and Citi Ventures, and grew the company to 100+ employees and 100+ clients, including Walmart, 7-Eleven, Santander, BBVA, and Rappi, before selling the business in 2021. "Underdog Founder" shares Edrizio De La Cruz's improbable odyssey from selling guavas in a Dominican barrio to co-founding his startup, Arcus, in Silicon Valley. Arcus was recognized by Forbes as one of the most successful startups of 2021 and was later sold to Mastercard. This no-nonsense playbook is for the entrepreneurial dark horse, a memoir and business narrative that presents seven key principles to rise above racism, poverty, imposter syndrome, and every imaginable and unimaginable startup obstacle. Henry Lopez is the host of The How of Business podcast – helping you start, run and grow your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com  

LifeBlood: We talked about how to get to the point where you can feel and know “I am unstoppable,” the qualities which are necessary for success as a startup Founder, deciding to be a victor instead of a victim, and how to shape your perspective to your benefit with Edrizio De La Cruz, former Y Combinator Visiting Partner who sold his company to MasterCard.        Listen to learn the two things that make Edrizio different! Ex-Y Combinator Visiting Partner shares 7 principles on how to turn obstacles into opportunities in his new book   In The Underdog Founder. Edrizio De La Cruz shares his odyssey as a Dominican immigrant who grew up in Harlem, dropped out of college and the US Air force, to become aircraft technician and help makes ends meet. He later returned to college, worked on Wall Street, and earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, Edrizio co-founded Arcus, a fintech company that was backed by Y Combinator, Citi Ventures, SoftBank, and Ignia. In 2021, the company was ultimately sold to Mastercard.   You can learn more about Edrizio at EdrizioDeLaCruz.com, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Thanks, as always for listening! If you got some value and enjoyed the show, please leave us a review here: ​​https://ratethispodcast.com/lifebloodpodcast You can learn more about us at LifeBlood.Live, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook or you'd like to be a guest on the show, contact us at contact@LifeBlood.Live.  Stay up to date by getting our monthly updates. Want to say “Thanks!” You can buy us a cup of coffee. https://www.buymeacoffee.com/lifeblood

In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Daniel Wild, Gründer und Aufsichtsrat von Mountain Alliance. Daniel bespricht die Finanzierungsrunde von Payjoy und Storyprotocol.PayJoy, ein gemeinnütziger Anbieter von Finanzlösungen für Smartphones mit Sitz in San Francisco, hat kürzlich eine Kapitalerhöhung in Höhe von 360 Millionen US-Dollar abgeschlossen. Die Finanzierung setzt sich aus 150 Millionen US-Dollar Eigenkapital der Series C und 210 Millionen US-Dollar Fremdkapital zusammen. Angeführt wurde die Eigenkapitalfinanzierung von Warburg Pincus. Zudem beteiligten sich Invus, Citi Ventures sowie die früheren Hauptinvestoren Union Square Ventures und Greylock. Die Fremdfinanzierung wurde von Citi angeführt und umfasste weitere Investoren sowie den hausinternen Fonds von PayJoy. StoryProtocol, ebenfalls in San Francisco ansässig, hat eine Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von über 54 Millionen US-Dollar abgeschlossen. Angeführt wurde die Runde von a16z crypto, mit Beteiligung von weiteren Investoren wie etwa Hashed, Endeavor und Samsung Next. Das Unternehmen plant, die Mittel für die Erweiterung seiner Geschäftstätigkeiten und Reichweite zu nutzen. Story Protocol ermöglicht es Autoren und Künstlern, den Lebenszyklus der Entwicklung ihres geistigen Eigentums zu verwalten. Durch das Framework können sie die Herkunft ihrer Werke nachverfolgen und gleichzeitig den Wert ihrer Beiträge erfassen. Das Projekt unterstützt das Ökosystem von Drittentwicklern durch verschiedene Dienstleistungen wie Crowdfunding, Kapitalbildung, Lizenzierung und mehr.

Money, as they say, makes the world go round, and investments in financial services grew forty-fold in the decade between 2011 and 2021, from around $6bn to nearly $240bn. That is a huge leap, but according to today's guest, Arvind Purushotham, head of Citi Ventures, it is only the beginning. The post Arvind Purushotham: Citi Ventures appeared first on CVC Unplugged.

In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Daniel Wild, Gründer und Aufsichtsrat von Mountain Alliance. Daniel bespricht die Finazierungsrunde von Endowus sowie die Übernahme von Delt.ai durch Albo.  Die mexikanische Neobank Albo hat das Fintech Delt.ai für 20 Millionen US-Dollar erworben. Mit dieser strategischen Übernahme will Albo seine Position im Finanzdienstleistungssektor Mexikos stärken, indem es "die einzige Neobank wird, die Debit- und Kreditprodukte sowohl für Verbraucher als auch für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen anbietet". Delt.ai bietet eine Plattform für Unternehmenskredite und Ausgabenmanagement für KMUs in Mexiko, während Albo persönliche und geschäftliche Finanzdienstleistungen wie Debitkonto, Geschäftskonto, Kredite, Gehaltsabrechnung, Spar- und Kryptowährungshandel anbietet. Die Singapurer Vermögensverwaltungsplattform Endowus hat in einer neuen Finanzierungsrunde 35 Millionen US-Dollar eingesammelt, wobei neue Investoren wie Citi Ventures und MUFG Innovation Partners beteiligt waren. Insgesamt hat das Unternehmen bisher 95 Millionen US-Dollar aufgebracht. Die Finanzierung wird dazu verwendet, in den Hauptmärkten Singapur und Hongkong zu expandieren, wo Endowus derzeit über 100.000 Kunden bedient und insgesamt mehr als 5 Milliarden US-Dollar an verwaltetem Vermögen hat. 

This week on The #MiamiTech Podcast the hosts chat with Edrizio De La Cruz.Edrizio is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor and occasional stand up comic :-)He's a Dominican immigrant who grew up in Harlem. He dropped out of college to work as an aircraft technician to help make ends meet. He ultimately went back to college, worked on Wall Street and earned an MBA from The Wharton School.In 2013, he co-founded Arcus, a fintech company. He worked with an incredible team to build the company from scratch to 100+ employees, 100+ clients and raised $19M in funding from Y-Combinator, Ignia, Softbank and Citi Ventures. In 2021, the company was sold to Mastercard.Topics on Deck:- Hitting Rock Bottom & Persevering- Wining 200K with Visa Everywhere Initiative- Getting Acquired By Mastercard- His Time As A Partner At Y Combinator- Writing A Book To Help Underdog Founders- And More!Learn more about Edrizio: https://www.edriziodelacruz.com/Follow Edrizio on Twitter:https://twitter.com/EdrizioCruz @EdrizioCruzLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edrizio-de-la-cruz-2b8ab75/ Learn more about Arcus: https://www.arcusfi.comFollow the Hosts:Brian Breslin @BrianBreslinMaria Derchi @MariaDerchiIf Interested in being on the podcast please email: Miamitechpod@gmail.comPlease Like + Subscribe + Rate + Review!#miamitech #miamitechpod #crypto #nft #technology #startup

Miguel Armaza sits down with Salman Syed, CEO of Fidel API, a global financial infrastructure platform that helps build programmable experiences at the moment a transaction occurs on any payment card. They are backed by Bain Capital Ventures, Nyca Partners, QED, Citi Ventures, and Commerce Ventures. Prior to Fidel API, Salman spent over a decade in leadership roles at Mastercard and Marqeta.We discuss:How Fidel API is unlocking new products and technologies by accessing and leveraging real-time transaction dataKey trends that are shaping the future of financial servicesChallenges and advantages of building a global firm with employees and customers around the world… and a lot more!Want more podcast episodes? Join me and follow Fintech Leaders today on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app for weekly conversations with today's global leaders that will dominate the 21st century in fintech, business, and beyond.Do you prefer a written summary, instead? Check out the Fintech Leaders newsletter and join 57,000+ readers and listeners worldwide!Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.Miguel on LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3nKha4ZMiguel on Twitter: https://bit.ly/2Jb5oBcFintech Leaders Newsletter: bit.ly/3jWIpqp

This Week's Guests: Futurist - Steve Faktor Comedian - Dan Naturman The World's Famous comedy Cellar presents "Live From America Podcast" with Noam Dworman and Hatem Gabr. The top experts and thinkers of the world and the best comics in the Nation get together weekly with our hosts to discuss different topics each week, News, Culture, Politics, comedy & and more with an equal parts of knowledge and comedy! Steve Faktor is a recovering Fortune-100 executive— turned founder of IdeaFaktory Innovation, futurist author ofEconovation, and problematic host of The McFuture Podcast. As Managing Director of IdeaFaktory Innovation, Steve helps tech, financial services, and consumer goods companies with future scenario planning and building products and services for that future. Steve is an original LinkedIn Influencer (now Top Voices) with over 750K followers and has been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Radio, MSNBC, among others. He's a popular keynote speaker at major events for CFO Magazine, Harvard, PDMA, Frost & Sullivan, New Media Expo, and numerous corporations. The McFuture Podcast identifies big trends that will shape the future and challenges the beliefs that shape them. The show has featured distinguished guests including Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz, legendary broadcaster Larry King, former President of the ACLU Nadine Strossen, Comedian Jim Jefferies, Megachurch Pastor AR Bernard, Governor Jesse Ventura, Brown University Professor Glenn Loury, and many others Previously, Steve launched multiple $150M+ loyalty, payments, and ecommerce products & services as head of the American Express Chairman's Innovation Fund, SVP at Citi Ventures, VP of Strategy & Innovation at MasterCard, and management consultant at Andersen. Follow Live From America YouTube www.youtube.com/channel/UCS2fqgw61yK1J6iKNxV0LmA Twitter twitter.com/AmericasPodcast www.LiveFromAmericaPodcast.com LiveFromAmerica@ComedyCellar.com Follow Hatem Twitter twitter.com/HatemNYC Instagram www.instagram.com/hatemnyc/ Follow Noam Twitter twitter.com/noamdworman?lang #AIVSHUMANITY #ArtificialIntelligence #LIVEFROMAMERICAPODCAST

“Life's too short to play games,” says Arvind Purushotham, Head of Citi Ventures, our guest in our latest episode of Investing in Integrity. Arvind traces an impressive career arc from engineering leadership at Intel to making high-stakes investment decisions and advising founders & business leaders at Citi, unpacking how strong technical and product knowledge can equip future investors to make smarter decisions. For those curious about different approaches to venture capital (e.g. the differences between Citi Ventures and firms like Sequoia), and the role finance can play in driving innovation, Arvind offers a first-hand perspective comparing and contrasting how different firms operate. Throughout the conversation, he emphasizes the importance of transparency, ethics, and integrity in leadership positions, and doing right by the company, investors, and clients.  And tempered with wisdom from working through the Dot-com Bubble, Arvind contextualizes present macroeconomic concerns and unpacks timeless qualities that investors should look for–from operational discipline to principled-decision making.  Tune into this episode for advice on how to “face the music and be out there,” as Arvind muses, in making difficult decisions and navigating uncertainty, whether as a student, operator or investor. 00:00 - Intro/Career 06:11 - Values 08:43 - Keys to Success 11:19 - VC vs. CVC 16:13 - Value Proposition 23:31 - Principled Leadership 26:10 - Rapid Fire

PitchIt is back and better than ever for its 9th year!PitchIt, a competition for fintech startups, provides selected finalists unparalleled access to industry experts and invaluable exposure, branding, and more.16 semifinalists. Best and Brightest VCs. 1 chance to Change your Future.Semifinal round 2AscentCalqueUplinqNeofinDebbieGlideLamaAIThe People's CardVC Judges include - Citi Ventures, JAM FINTOP, Team8, Prosus, BankTech Ventures, CMFG Ventures, Sutton Bank.Connect with PitchIt: Tweet me @ToddFintech Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous PitchIt episodes Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com Until next time.

PitchIt is back and better than ever for its 9th year!PitchIt, a competition for fintech startups, provides selected finalists unparalleled access to industry experts and invaluable exposure, branding, and more.16 semifinalists. Best and Brightest VCs. 1 chance to Change your Future.Semifinal round 1Boss InsightsConductiv, Inc.FinGoalGrounded TechnologiesMomntPaperstackVC Judges include - Citi Ventures, JAM FINTOP, Team8, Prosus, BankTech Ventures, CMFG Ventures, Sutton Bank.Connect with PitchIt:Tweet me @ToddFintechConnect with me on LinkedInFind previous PitchIt episodesEmail me at todd@fintechnexus.comUntil next time.

PitchIt is back and better than ever for its 9th year!PitchIt, a competition for fintech startups, provides selected finalists unparalleled access to industry experts and invaluable exposure, branding, and more.16 semifinalists. Best and Brightest VCs. 1 chance to Change your Future.Semifinal round 1Boss InsightsConductiv, Inc.FinGoalGrounded TechnologiesMomntPaperstackVC Judges include - Citi Ventures, JAM FINTOP, Team8, Prosus, BankTech Ventures, CMFG Ventures, Sutton Bank.Connect with PitchIt: Tweet me @ToddFintech Connect with me on LinkedIn Find previous PitchIt episodes Email me at todd@fintechnexus.com Until next time.

In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Otto Birnbaum, General Partner von Revent. Otto hat die Finanzierungsrunde von Greenworkx sowie die Übernahme von GoHenry durch Acorns kommentiert. Acorns, ein in den USA ansässiges Startup für Spareinlagen und Investitionen, hat GoHenry übernommen, das sich auf die Bereitstellung von Geldmanagement- und Finanzbildungsdienstleistungen für 6- bis 18-Jährige konzentriert. Die Übernahme ist von großer Bedeutung, da sie Acorns eine globale Expansion ermöglicht, beginnend mit der Präsenz von GoHenry in Großbritannien, Frankreich, Italien und Spanien. Der Wert des Unternehmens und weitere finanzielle Details der Übernahme wurden nicht bekannt gegeben. Die beiden Unternehmen werden zusammen fast 6 Millionen Abonnenten haben. Die Investoren von GoHenry, darunter Edison Partners, Revaia, Citi Ventures, Muse Capital und Nexi, werden alle ihre Anteile an dem Unternehmen abgeben. Greenworkx, ein in London ansässiges Startup im Bereich Bildung, hat eine Pre-Seed-Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 600.000 Pfund abgeschlossen, um einen digitalen Weg zu entwickeln, der den Zustrom von Fachkräften in grüne Arbeitsplätze fördert. Die Runde wurde von Mangrove Capital Partners geleitet, mit Beteiligung von Ada Ventures und mehreren Angel-Investoren aus dem Klima- und Edtech-Sektor, darunter die CEOs von Multiverse, MyTutor und Octopus Electric Vehicles.Das Team hat sich zum Ziel gesetzt, eine Plattform und digitale Tools zu entwickeln, die das Bewusstsein für grüne Arbeitsplätze schärfen und Arbeitssuchende mit den entsprechenden Möglichkeiten in der schnell wachsenden grünen Wirtschaft zusammenbringen können. Das 

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Yann Barbarroux, CEO and co-founder of OTONOMI, an InsurTech startup dedicated to mitigate supply chain risk. Yann shares insights about himself, his successes, and the recent fundraising round of USD $ 3.4 million he and his team finalized during very uncertain times. KEY TAKEAWAYS Around 2003 – the onset of the internet bubble in the tech industry – I redirected myself toward financial services. I moved to the US and got a job on Wall Street in New York, and I never left. I've spent my entire career in the capital market, risk management, and technology at several financial institutions and brokerage firms. From 2013-2020 I joined CitiGroup in downtown Manhattan doing risk management for structured credits and emerging markets, but more interestingly, in 2017, with the ramp-up of the digital asset era that we encountered, I got involved with emerging tech, deep tech, and blockchain within Citi Ventures' innovation arm and I got incubated as a startup within their innovation lab. I'm not the earliest adopter of blockchain, but 5-6 years of experience in this space feels like decades compared to other industries. Transitioning into entrepreneurship, what became very visible is a lot of the operations, pricing models, and pricing procedures and processes within financial services became very obsolete and very heavy-handed in terms of regulation, and there was a need for new, fresh products in the space. I was working on those items while I was in the innovation lab at CitiGroup ventures. While I was working there, I also came across deals in InsurTech and FinTech, which was very exciting for me. That's where I came across the fascinating space of parametric insurance – the equivalent of financial derivatives or other binary products in financial markets but in the insurance space. What we bring with OTONOMI is a binary event contract for the supply chain space. We fund-raised in 2021 for our pre-seed or the first tranche of our seed round. This raise was pre-product, pre-revenue. This year we expected to struggle tremendously considering the market circumstances: rampant inflation trends, the political climate between Ukraine and Russia, and the East side of the globe. You would expect an early-stage startup would be struggling enormously for funding, but it turned out our fundraising campaign was more productive this year, and we managed to close it out in 3-4 months. £3.4million raised, and we're very, very grateful for it. The starting point for us in 2021 was the rippling effect of the global supply chain breaking down. But for us, a few months beforehand, there were two events that were very critical and instrumental. The first was the snowstorm in Texas which was a 1 in 100-year event which has a lot of climate and weather components of parametric that ripple down into transportation. That created such traumatic volatility in the market that it became visible that cargo players, freight, and logistics while being at the forefront of trying to operate as fast as possible, were constrained with huge financial liabilities that they couldn't recoup from any traditional insurance contract. The second event was a few weeks later in the Suez Canal. Everybody saw it and talked about it. Again, the supply chain couldn't function properly, and insurance and financial contracts were not transparent enough to serve those players in due time. What was interesting for us was not just the parametric aspects but the binary delay of a potential delay/ interruption of supply chains (which we cover) and also the facilitation of operations and payments.  BEST MOMENTS ‘I'm a nerd at heart but a financial engineer by trade.'‘The turning point for us was when we actually visited Austin, Texas, in person. We were in touch with several VC teams virtually, but the mere fact that we actually went to this conference, handshaking, having coffee, and having in-person chemistry actually created much more interest for our raise, and the VCs sent us a terms sheet two weeks after. This was a tremendous difference from the previous two years during the pandemic.'‘The Insurance sector wants to take the leap of faith now with several projects in the space, us included.'‘We believe that if we have the right infrastructure to collect premium, manage collateral and settle compensation payments within this very much ring-fenced and consistent infrastructure for digital payments, then essentially we can be creating very streamlined processes.' ABOUT THE GUEST Yann Barbarroux is CEO and co-founder of OTONOMI, an InsurTech focused on transforming the transportation and cargo insurance industry. He was born and raised in Marseille (France), went to grad school (graduated with an MS in Computer Engineering) in Paris, found his first job in Wall Street back in 2003, and never left NY.  He wants OTONOMI to become the one-stop-shop operating layer for parametric insurance policies (data-activated insurance smart contracts), with applications in air freight, marine, trucking, weather, and device coverage. First and foremost, alleviating the customer's pain points of going through the lengthy claim adjudication process: OTONOMI compresses resolution time from 45 days to 45 minutes. OTONOMI aims to be the de facto “detect, active, and pay” infrastructure InsurTech for all data sources that can be used to create parametric products: database server APIs, logistics analytics, and IoT sensors. For that, it works with data partners such as Chainlink, which provides security and integrity to its event triggers. Website: https://www.otonomi.ai/  Email: yann@otonomi.ai  ABOUT THE HOST Sabine is a corporate strategist turned entrepreneur. She is the CEO and Managing Partner of Alchemy Crew, a venture lab that accelerates the curation, validation, and commercialization of new tech business models. Sabine is renowned within the insurance sector for building some of the most renowned tech startup accelerators worldwide, working with over 30 corporate insurers, and accelerating over 100 startup ventures. Sabine is the co-editor of the bestseller The INSURTECH Book, a top 50 Women in Tech, a FinTech and InsurTech Influencer, an investor & multi-award winner.  Twitter: SabineVdL LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden Instagram: sabinevdLofficial Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial TikTok: sabinevdlofficial Email: podcast@sabinevdl.com Website: www.sabinevdl.comThis show was brought to you by Progressive Media

Omid Malekan, the former Crypto advisor for Citi Ventures, has a lot of ideas about the direction of decentralized finance and cryptocurrencies. Today, Omid and James piggyback on last week's interview with Google finance lead Antonio Reza to discuss the industry fallout from FTX's fraud and bankruptcy filing.The pair discuss how we can develop better crypto exchanges, the broad role of NFTs in assigning property rights to intangible assets, and lessons learned from Omid's new book: Re-Architecting Trust: The Curse of History and the Crypto Cure for Money, Markets, and Platforms.------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe  to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookShow Less  ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn

Omid Malekan, the former Crypto advisor for Citi Ventures, has a lot of ideas about the direction of decentralized finance and cryptocurrencies. Today, Omid and James piggyback on last week's interview with Google finance lead Antonio Reza to discuss the industry fallout from FTX's fraud and bankruptcy filing.The pair discuss how we can develop better crypto exchanges, the broad role of NFTs in assigning property rights to intangible assets, and lessons learned from Omid's new book: Re-Architecting Trust: The Curse of History and the Crypto Cure for Money, Markets, and Platforms.------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe  to “The James Altucher Show” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsStitcheriHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on Social Media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookShow Less 

Crypto startups in India are not barred from any innovation but must adhere to the country's laws on foreign exchange, IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar told Inc42 in an interview, according to a report from the startup news and analysis site. And SaaS action continues in India, with Lentra raising $60 million in Series B funding that includes Citi Ventures's first investment in an Indian fintech company, valuing the Mumbai startup developing AI-based embedded finance solutions at more than $400 million, TechCrunch reports. Notes: Crypto startups in India are not barred from any innovation but must adhere to the country's laws on foreign exchange, IT Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar told Inc42 in an interview, according to a report. For a startup, whether you are innovating for crypto or blockchain or Web3, there is absolutely nothing in the law that prevents you from doing it. There is nothing in the IT Act that stops you from doing it. We welcome any investor or startup to innovate in crypto or Web3, the minister said, according to Inc42. The restrictions involve exchange control. Some startups have made the mistake of becoming full-blown crypto brokerages and exchanges without getting the required permissions from the RBI and SEBI, he said, according to the report. Australia is considering banning the payment of ransoms to hackers, following recent cyberattacks affecting millions of Australians, Reuters reports, citing the country's Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil. Australia's biggest health insurer, Medibank and Optus, Australia's second-largest telco, owned by Singapore Telecommunications, and at least eight other companies, have been breached since September, according to Reuters. The country has also bolstered its cyber police, with a new joint task force, according to Reuters. Apple is facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly harvesting iPhone user data even when the company's own privacy settings promise not to, Gizmodo reports. The suit, filed on Nov. 10 in a California federal court, comes days after Gizmodo exclusively reported on research into how multiple iPhone apps send Apple analytics data, regardless of whether the iPhone Analytics privacy setting is turned on or off, according to the report. The problem was spotted by two independent researchers at the software company Mysk, who found that the Apple App Store sends the company exhaustive information about nearly everything a user does in the app, despite a privacy setting, iPhone Analytics, which claims to “disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether” when switched off. Lentra, a Mumbai startup developing AI-based fintech solutions, has raised $60 million in Series B funding, TechCrunch reports. The investment values the startup at “over $400 million,” D Venkatesh, the founder and CEO of the startup, told TechCrunch in an interview. Existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners and Susquehanna International Group led the round with participation from Citi Ventures, a subsidiary of Citigroup, according to TechCrunch. This is Citi Ventures' first investment in a fintech from India. Lentra, founded in 2018, is profitable and offers tech solutions to commercial banks for their digital loan services. HDFC Bank, Federal Bank, Standard Chartered and IDFC First Bank are some of its customers. Theme music courtesy Free Music & Sounds: https://soundcloud.com/freemusicandsounds

Today's guest is Ian Lee, the Co-Founder of Syndicate. Syndicate is a decentralized asset management platform and social network. It creates an investing syndicate for 1000x less time and money. Syndicate is a decentralized investing protocol and social network transforming how the world creates value. Previously, Ian was Managing Partner of IDEO CoLab Ventures, a crypto venture fund backed by IDEO focused on web3, crypto, and blockchain startups. From 2017-2021, Ian led investments and helped incubate 80+ crypto startups in the areas of DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and more. From 2014-2017, Ian was the Head of Crypto at Citigroup and Citi Ventures globally. We discuss various topics, including Syndicate, Investing's role in society, the ETH merge, the dynamics of angel investing, and much more. We began our conversation by discussing Ian's background and what brought him to the crypto space. Ian shares how when he understood that Bitcoin and Crypto were an open Fintech stack, everything clicked for him, and he fell down the crypto rabbit hole. Ian explains why the investing industry is ripe for disruption. He breaks down how the tech stack is archaic, how bloated and slow the industry is, and how crypto can disrupt the investing sector. Ian also explains why investing is so important to society. Ian stresses that investing shapes our society by helping allocate monetary and human capital. Ian discusses how the venture capital infrastructure is incredibly inaccessible for many people because of the expenses required to start and participate in a fund. We discuss how Syndicate enables a new paradigm of capital formation by removing these barriers and eliminating the unnecessary overhead needed to create a venture fund. Our following conversation focused on how angel investors were the initial driving force that powered the Bitcoin and crypto industry. We discuss how they fueled the first startups of the space by being their primary source of capital for these early companies. We discuss the importance of DOAs and syndicates will empower more angel investing from a wider pool of people. Our next conversation topic centered around investing clubs. Ian shares that most investing clubs result from preexisting social connections and relationships. He explains how the main value these angels provide founders is not monetary but mentorship and guidance. Another fascinating topic of our conversation was reimagining the utility of ERC-721s and how they can be applied to different verticals. Ian explains how NFTs can be considered social networks and their possible applications. We discuss how Syndicate is enabling the formation of guilds. Ian describes how people with a unique set of skills are forming guilds to leverage their skills and help organizations that need these various skills. A fascinating topic we discussed centered around the ETH merge. We discuss the possible unintended consequences of the merge and how the move to POS will impact regulated organizations. Our final discussion topic centered around how Syndicate enables a swath of investing organizations to be built using Web3 tools. Please enjoy my conversation with Ian Lee. -- BingX is a crypto social trading exchange with over 3M users. BingX offers CFDs, futures, spot, derivatives, and copy trading services to more than 100 countries worldwide and connects users with expert traders on the platform in a safe, simple, and transparent way through social trading networks. For Charlie's listeners only, register using this link for a 155 USDT Welcome Gift: https://untoldstories.link/bingx -- This podcast is powered by Blockworks. For exclusive content and events that provide insights into the crypto and blockchain space, visit them at https://blockworks.co

This week's Espresso covers updates from Warren, Sequoia Capital, Kavak, and more!Outline of this episode:[00:28] -Wealth management startup Warren extends its Series C round[00:59] -Sequoia Capital welcomes Latin American startups to its Arc program[01:25] -Argentinian agtech SIMA closes $2M investment round[01:54] -Kavak announces expansion to Turkey, Chile, Peru, and Colombia[02:20] -Favik extends its pre-seed round for a total of $3.6M[02:54] -Mexican startup PROSPERiA raises $2M in a seed round[03:27] -New episode of How to be the Difference with Alex Santana, VC and Startups Manager at Amazon Web Services[03:47] -New episode of Crossing Borders featuring Maribel Dominguez, Founder and CEO of Circulo de BellezaResources & people mentioned:Companies & Startups: Warren, SIMA, Kavak, Favik, PROSPERiA.VCs, Accelerators, Institutions: Sequoia Capital, Citi Ventures, QED, Kaszek, GIC, Xperiment Ventures, Sancor Seguros Ventures, VX Ventures, Bridge Partners, Cardo Health Fund.People: Johanna Molina, Paul Lynskey, Alex Santana, Maribel Dominguez.

We discussed a number of things including:1. Tej's career journey2. How he landed at Axiom3. Opportunities ahead for the space industry4. Insights on the changing tech ecosystem5. Future trends (startup and investing)With 25 years of startup and strategic leadership experience at some of the world's biggest companies and three investor-backed, high-growth startups, Tejpaul leads revenue generation and future monetization strategy for the commercial development of space as Chief Revenue Officer at Axiom Space.Prior to joining Axiom, he led External Strategic Narrative for the Office of the CIO at Google, where he met with C-suite executives at Fortune 100 corporations to discuss the future of work, supporting over $4B in sales pipeline.Tej first joined Google as the Startup Ecosystem Manager in New York to establish and grow Google Cloud's presence with startup founders, venture capital firms, and family offices; he previously was an Entrepreneur in Residence at Citi Ventures. As a startup founder for 10 years prior, Tej served as Chief Operating Officer for an educational technology company, Explain Everything, CEO of video chatting platform Chatwala, and CEO of Kaptur, an app that enables users to instantly aggregate all photos taken at any event in seconds. Before founding Kaptur, Tej was Senior Manager of Product and International Strategy for ESPN, where he launched ESPN3 in the US, Mexico, Brazil, and Europe.Tej holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Columbia University. He has served in non-profit leadership and board positions at the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Startup Leadership Program.

This recording is from Fintech Nexus USA (formerly known as LendIt Fintech USA) held at the Javits Center in New York City on May 25-26, 2022. It is from the track: Banking Crosses into its Digital Future: Sponsored by Galileo Financial Technologies and is titled: Digital Is Table Stakes: Now What?Speaking in this session are Seth McGuire, Chief Revenue Officer, Galileo Financial Technologies, David Kilin VP of finance, Current,  with Moderator: Luis Valdich, Citi Ventures.

Ian Lee is the Co-Founder of Syndicate, a web3 startup that has raised over $28M from a16z, Kleiner Perkins, IDEO, and 300+ investors. Previously, Ian was Managing Partner of IDEO CoLab Ventures, a crypto venture fund backed by IDEO focused on web3, crypto, and blockchain startups. From 2017-2021, Ian led investments and helped incubate 80+ crypto startups in the areas of DeFi, NFTs, DAOs, and more. From 2014-2017, Ian was the Head of Crypto at Citigroup and Citi Ventures globally. Listen to our prior episode on DAOs with Avichal Garg here. In Today's Episode with Ian Lee We Discuss: 1.) Ian's Entry into Tech and Crypto: Why did Ian decide early on that he did not like being a VC? What was it that changed his mind, showing him the impact investing can have? What have been the most significant but non-obvious developments in crypto? 2.) Why DAOs Will Replace Venture Capital: Why does Ian believe that DAOs will replace venture capital firms over time? How does Ian analyze the current landscape of Web3 investing and VC? Can existing firms layer on a Web3 Partner or Fund and win in the new Web3 landscape? How will the next generation of Web3 native firms be structured? 3.) DAOs 101: What really is a DAO? What is not a DAO? How are DAOs structured? How many people are invited? Who decides who is invited? How are decisions made within DAOs? How does this differ dependent on structure? What are the single biggest challenges that DAOs face today in operations? 4.) Crypto is The Future of the Internet: What does Ian mean when he says "crypto is the future of the internet"? What does this mean for the distribution of ownership and wealth in the next generation of the internet? Do DAOs and Web3 do more to harm or hurt income inequality today? What are the drivers that would lead Web3 to centralize wealth even further? Items Mentioned in Today's Episode with Ian Lee: Ian's Fave Book: The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business Ian's Fave Web3 Resources: a16z's Crypto Canon, Jesse Walden's: The Ownership Economy 2022

How do you define yourself? It's a question a lot of us will wrestle with at some point in life, and according to Raven L. Veal, PhD, understanding the answer to this is a critical part of design. She speaks from experience, too -- as both a design lecturer and a strategic design lead, she definitely did not get to this level of success without understanding her truth at a deep level.We started off with a brief introduction about her work at Citi Ventures, and then explored her lecture work at the University of Texas and what she learns from her students. Raven also talked about her mom as her source of creative inspiration, and shared her thoughts on design research, future tech, the role of art, moral imagination, and spirituality in designing technology. Trailblazers like Raven definitely let me know that we're in good hands for the future!LinksRaven L. Veal, PhD's WebsiteRaven L. Veal, PhD on LinkedInRaven L. Veal, PhD on TwitterFor extended show notes, including a full transcript of this interview, visit revisionpath.com.==========Sponsored by HoverBuilding your online brand has never been more important and that begins with your domain name. Show the online community who you are and what you're passionate about with Hover. With over 400+ domain name extensions to choose from, including all the classics and fun niche extensions, Hover is the only domain provider we use and trust.Ready to get started? Go to hover.com/revisionpath and get 10% off your first purchase.==========Follow and SubscribeLike this episode? Then subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your favorite shows.Follow us there, and leave us a 5-star rating and a review! Thanks so much to all of you who have already rated and reviewed us!You can also follow Revision Path on Instagram and Twitter.==========CreditsRevision Path is brought to you by Lunch, a multidisciplinary creative studio in Atlanta, GA.It is produced by Maurice Cherry and engineered and edited by RJ Basilio. Our intro voiceover is by Music Man Dre, with intro and outro music by Yellow Speaker. Transcripts provided by Brevity & Wit.Thank you for listening!

To poorly automate a process, use technology as the starting point rather than the ideation process, Pepe Porrata, chief operating officer at $731.7 million bank Varo Bank, tells Bank Automation News in this episode of "The Buzz.” This is because banks can “automate poorly designed experiences that are built to manage unnecessary complexity,” Porrata said. “So you got to really shift the way people think about this thing. You got to start with complexity first.” In this excerpt from the Bank Automation Summit, which took place recently in Charlotte, N.C., industry leaders discuss the role technology — particularly cores — plays in ideation. Joining this conversation are:  Ganesh Krishnan, enterprise chief information officer at PNC Financial Services Group;  Abhijit Chaudhary, chief product officer at Green Dot Corp.; and  Alex Sion, managing director and head of market growth at Citi Ventures. 

Anirudh Singh sits down with Arvind Purushotham, Global Head of Venture Investing at Citi Ventures. The two discuss Arvind's early career at Menlo Ventures, developing partnerships between portfolio companies and Citibank, investments in Doconomy, DriveWealth, and TRM labs, Citi impact fund, and much more. Arvind Purushotham: As Global Head of Venture Investing, Arvind leads Citi's efforts to identify, invest in, and partner with leading startups as a way to bring cutting-edge technologies and capabilities to Citi's businesses and functions. Additionally, he serves as a partner to Citi's business leaders and helps identify market trends based on the 1000+ startups the Venture Investing team meets every year. Under his leadership the group has partnered with category-defining startups such as Square, Plaid, DocuSign, Honey, Betterment, Braze, Netskope, and Tanium. In his capacity as head of venture investing for the company, he also co-leads the Citi Impact Fund. Prior to Citi, Arvind spent nearly a decade as a Managing Director at Menlo Ventures, where he was an investor and Board member at companies including Kazeon Systems, Cavium Networks, Solidcore, nCircle Network Security, Intelligent Results, and Vhayu Technologies. Previously, Arvind was a design engineer and a Program Manager at Intel Corporation. Arvind obtained his BSEE from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, an MSEE from Case Western Reserve University, and an MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School. He enjoys running, photography, and reading in his spare time. Arvind is passionate about golf—a passion, sadly, that his skill level does not match. He lives in Palo Alto, CA with his wife, two sons, and their black lab Rocky. 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

“What I've come to realize is that investing literally shapes the world that we have. It is effectively at the highest of levels, allocating resources, whether financial or human capital, to things and teams that build the future that we all live in. Investing builds the world.” - Ian Lee, Syndicate.Today we discuss the topic of a revolutionary new construct – DAOs – and how it can change investing for the better.Today's guest is Ian Lee, the Co-Founder of Syndicate.Ian combines a background in financial services with a prescient view on the future with what he's building at Syndicate.We discuss:  How Syndicate is doing to investing what YouTube did to film and media. How Web3 enables community ownership where Web2 didn't and how investing will become more community driven. How DAOs are a social financial technology coordinating social and financial capital seamlessly and natively on the internet. How DAOs are unlocking participation from all sorts of communities who historically haven't had access to investing. Why Crypto Covens is one of his favorite NFT projects because it's changing the face of investing.  And how we are in the middle of a multi generational shift of decentralizing and democratizing - and how Syndicate's Web3 Investment Clubs enable that to happen. Ian has been a serial founder, he's worked in the Office of the Global Chief Innovation Officer at Deloitte, he's run the Lab Network and Acceleration Fund at Citi Ventures and was Head of Bitcoin & Blockchain at Citi before co-founding IDEO's CoLab Venture fund, where he led their crypto efforts and made over 80 investments in the crypto space.Most recently, he's founded a ground-breaking company, Syndicate, which is a decentralized investing protocol and social network that is creating the infrastructure for DAOs to run efficiently and effectively. Syndicate is creating the infrastructure and mechanisms for much more efficient, digitally native human coordination.DAOs have similar properties as corporations, but they are significantly faster and cheaper to set up and run because code governs the decisions and actions taken.It's hard to put into a short paragraph how profound the creation of Syndicate could be for the formation and governance of organizations and Ian's background lends itself incredibly well to both understanding how things worked in a Web2 (and financial services) world and how they can work better in a Web3 world.Ian and I had a fascinating conversation about his desire to make investing more inclusive and impactful – and how DAO structures can enable that.Thanks Ian for coming on the Alt Goes Mainstream podcast. It was a pleasure to have you help us peer into the future of investing. 

Vanessa Colella is the former Chief Innovation Officer at Citi Ventures and Citi Productivity. Her goal there was to accelerate and discover new sources of value by championing innovation so Citi can compete more effectively in a world of technological, behavioral, and societal change. She left Citi in early 2022 and will be announcing her next move. We can't wait to hear!    She was a former partner at McKinsey & Company, and a junior high and high school science teacher. She has her Ph.D. from MIT media lab, as well as master's degrees from both Columbia University and MIT and an SB degree in molecular biology.   In our conversation, Vanessa passionately talks about the importance of diversity in leadership, and how it can help you create solutions and promote innovation. We also discussed:    What it means to be a Chief Innovation Officer The myths about ideas “The Generosity of Interpretation” Why diversity and inclusion are so important How motherhood has changed her leadership approach How her Ph.D. shaped her leadership style and perspective   Quotes   “The enemy of leadership is ego.”   “No one has all the answers anymore, leaders need to know how to ask the right questions, now more than ever.”   “As chief innovation officer, always have an eye towards what's not working and what's missing and how do you change the portfolio of what you do over time.”   “If you want to be the architect of solutions with staying power, they have to be crafted by people who come at those solutions with different experiences”   “Leadership is not just about the individual. It's about the space that you can create for your team and organization, for them to accomplish things that might not be possible without that space.” 

Anand Janefalkar left corporate America to launch his first startup. It has already raised $100M and has become one of the fastest-growing ventures in its space on the way to transforming customer service. The venture, UJET has raised funding from top-tier investors like Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Citi Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and DCM.

Anand Janefalkar left corporate America to launch his first startup. It has already raised $100M and has become one of the fastest-growing ventures in its space on the way to transforming customer service. The venture, UJET has raised funding from top-tier investors like Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Citi Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and DCM.

In today's episode, Anirudh Singh sits down with Basil Darwish, Managing Director and Fintech & Enterprise Tech lead at Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. Basil joined as the team's first hire in March 2016, coming over from Citi Ventures. In this episode, they discuss a range of topics, including Basil's winding path towards venture investing, the pros and cons of different corporate venture capital models, a deep dive into three of Wells Fargo's investments: Trovata, H20.ai, and Arkose Labs, and much more! Basil Darwish: Basil Darwish is a Managing Director at Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and leads the group's focus on Fintech and Enterprise Software. His investments range from early-stage to growth capital investments in companies that are strategically aligned with Wells Fargo. One of his goals is to bring technology-based innovation into the Bank. Basil's investment focus areas include B2B/B2C Fintech, RegTech, AI & Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics, and Cyber Security. Basil has been in the domain of venture investing for the past 12 years, across Silicon Valley, New York, and Southeast Asia. Prior to joining Wells Fargo in 2016, Basil was with Citi for 8 years most recently as Senior Vice President at Citi's growth ventures and innovation group (Citi Ventures), where he focused on venture investments and innovation initiatives across the US and Asia, in the domains of Payments, Big Data Analytics, and Information Security. Prior to moving into financial services, Basil spent several years in the technology industry in various roles across the value chain, from semiconductor product engineering and system-level product development at Analog Devices Inc, as well as digital design engineering at Chinook Communications, a technology startup that emerged out of MIT in 1999 developing spectrum enhancement technologies. Basil currently serves as a board director of Trovata, H2O.ai, OpenFin, and Droit. He also serves as a board observer of Arkose Labs, Socure, Volante Technologies, Elliptic and Atscale. Basil holds an MBA from the Wharton School of Business with a double major in finance and entrepreneurial management, a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Tufts University with a focus on semiconductor design, and a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Jordan. Basil lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and two daughters.

Welcome to another episode! Today's guest is Jeffrey Ishmael. Jeff is the CEO and co-founder of CELLR, which is a consumer-centric wine app intended to help wine enthusiasts curate their wine life. CELLR was launched to provide an app that lives at the crossroads of Vivino, Cellar Tracker, and Wine Searcher. Jeff has been an avid wine enthusiast for almost 25 years and started his appreciation of wine in Paso Robles where he owned a home, but then started expanding his cellar holdings to include a wide variety of Napa and Bordeaux based wines. Jeff has over 20-years of successful finance and operations experience with a broad background that includes Technology, Retail, and Apparel. Currently, he is the CFO for RAEN Optics, which is a lifestyle optical brand in Carlsbad, CA. Previously, he was the founding CFO of Cylance, which was a cybersecurity company in Irvine that was subsequently sold to Blackberry for $1.4B. Jeff was also on the founding team of Obsidian Security. He has been involved in over $200m in funding with a selection of VC firms that include Khosla Ventures, Greylock Partners, Blackstone, DFJ Growth, GV, KKR, Citi Ventures, Wing Ventures, and more.   In this episode, Jeffery shares with us his journey merging tech and wine. Let's dive in!    [00:01 - 11:10] Opening Segment  I introduce our guest for this episode and short bio Jeff describes how the idea of CELLR came about Developing a wine community through and app Connecting cellar owners directly Using data to match the preferences of wine enthusiasts Using accurate data to allow the community to have a good experience [11:11 - 38:13] From Wine Enthusiast to Wine Tech   Jeff shares his experience working almost 10 years working with data scientists and software engineers, cyber security and tech finance The first stages developing the app How Jeff chooses his wines for his collection Experiences that lead to discovering new wines Getting familiar with wine regions The importance of on site tasting and bringing people in the same environment Jeff shares his latest and favorite wines and the stories that led to choosing them The challenges and opportunities for wine coming up on 2022 The ability to monetize assets in  the Cellr Tarcker Cellr connecting cellar owners and aficionados directly The sense of community that brings people together around wine Bringing ideas from the community into individual use [38:14- 41:30] Closing Segment   Favorite Wine Turtle Rock Westberg Ray Go to pairing Filet and Black Label from Maryland Branch Wine resource www.winebusiness.com Connect with Jeffrey Ishmael See links below  Reach out to me for more wine conversations through the links below  Subscribe and leave a review Final words Tweetable Quotes:   “And that's what we implement, it's implementing ideas that are coming out of the community and developing a product for them to use individually.” -Jeffrey Ishmael   “ I want to send you a bottle of wine in Kansas City, it's a federal offense to drop that in the mail, I mean, it's stupid” - Jeffrey Ishmael   “It's being able to curate your individual, you know, Wine,  lifestyle,, tracking the varietals that you you drink” - Jeffrey Ishmael Connect with Jeff through his accounts on Instagram: @cellrsociety & @Twitter! You can also check out his website at www.cellr.com Let's continue the Everyday Wine Conversations and connect with me through Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or feel free to shoot me an email at kris@krislevy.co. You can also check out my website at ​www.​klevywineco.com.   TELL US WHAT YOU THINK! LEAVE A REVIEW + help us get the word out there! Share this podcast to someone who wants to join the wine conversations. Go ahead and take a screenshot, share this to your stories, and tag me on Instagram!    JOIN THE CLUB through this link and handpick wines every month, from up and coming wineries, winemaker owned brands and wineries with unique stories while supporting those wineries directly. You can also join our Facebook Group to connect with other wine lovers, get special tips and tricks, and take your wine knowledge to a whole new level.

Ramneek is the Founder and Managing Partner of PruVen Capital, an independent, returns driven firm created in partnership with Prudential Financial as the single limited partner. Our first fund is a $300M multi stage investment vehicle designed to focus on verticals including Insurance, Financial Services, Healthcare IT/Tech/Data, Real estate/Proptech, Asset/Wealth Management and Enterprise IT. Prior to founding PruVen, Ramneek was the Co-founder of the venture investing efforts at Citi. At Citi Ventures, he led investments in over 25 companies across fintech & digital commerce space that represent over $180B in market value. Some of his notable investments included Square (NYSE: SQ), Jet.com (Acq by Walmart for $3.3B), DocuSign (NASDAQ: DOCU), Honey (Acq by Paypal for $4B), Grab (NYSE: GRAB), Datarobot, Feedzai, Homelight & Zum. Prior to Citi Ventures, Ramneek was a partner at Battery Ventures, where he led the build out of their investment practice in India and before that he held various product development roles at PMC Sierra and TiVo. He is also an angel investor and has had the opportunity to partner with founders thru early investments in companies like Robinhood (NASDAQ: Hood), CheckR, Ipsy, Vicarious, Maxxa and Gridspace. Ramneek received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay, where he graduated at the top of his class and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.

This episode rocks, because it combines 3 of the hottest themes in the venture world: Fintech + Outdoor power sports + Talent Adam Redlich is VP Talent Acquisition of Octane, the specialty fintech company that makes your ‘passion purchases' seamless. They've started with the $21B powersports equipment industry (motorcycles & ATV's for example) Instead of processing a loan in days or weeks, their team of 400 people do it nearly instantaneously. Clearly they're onto something big… Octane has raised over $190M in venture capital from IA Ventures, Valar Ventures, Contour Venture Partners, Upper90, Parkwood, Progressive Insurance, Alive Capital Partners, Third Prime, Citi Ventures, Dreamt Ventures Prior, Adam was an early key member of Google's talent team during the company's largest period of growth (1K to 40K employees) And he led People Operations at some of the hottest early-stage companies including Elysium Health & Zest Finance. In this 20-minute conversation, Adam reveals the 3 things you must do to put a Rockstar in every seat of your company  

We're revisiting an interview with Shavini Fernando, Founder of the life-saving device, OxiWear.  She invented OxiWear as a tool for herself, after she was diagnosed with a life-threatening heart and lung ailment.  Exposure for her product idea grew exponentially after she won Georgetown's Bark Tank Pitch Competition in 2018. With the help of a team of medical specialists at Johns Hopkins University  Hospital, and other savvy advisors, Shavini and OxiWear were off and running.  Originally from Sri Lanka, Shavini is a graduate of Georgetown, and winner of several awards including DC Fem Tech and Citi Ventures.  

Understanding that customers' relationship to money is not entirely rational has the potential to truly turbocharge markets and transform how the banking industry works. ​​ Listen to BEworks CEO and Co-Founder, Kelly Peters and Alex Sion, Head of D10X, Global Consumer Bank, Citi Ventures explore the implications of behavioral finance in our latest BEworks Conversation. Alex Sion is the Global Consumer Banking lead for the D10X program, which incubates new products and businesses designed to generate organic growth for Citi. He is a pioneer in fintech, having co-founded Moven the world's first mobile neobank.   In this conversation, Alex and Kelly discuss: - How behavioral science and experimentation are changing the world of money. - The counter-intuitive strategies to help people manage their spending emerge with a BE lens - The difference between behavioral design and traditional approaches - The impact of theory driven testing #BEworks #BehavioralEconomics #BehavioralInsights #BEworksConversations #podcast #behavioralsciences #BehavioralDesigns #Experimentation #BehavioralFinance ------------------------------------------------------------------- Follow us on social media to stay tuned to our events, news and thought-provoking case studies from the front lines of Behavioral Science:​ LinkedIn ,Twitter, Facebook and Instagram   

In this episode I interview Vanessa Colella, Citi's Chief Innovation Officer. Listen to Vanessa's insights and inspirational perspectives on the role of a chief innovation officer and how to use social, business and technological systems combined to drive customer excellence. Vanessa leads the Citi Ventures and Citi Productivity teams. Her goal is to accelerate and discover new sources of value by championing innovation so that Citi can compete more effectively in a world of technological, behavioral, and societal change. 

Oz Alon's journey is a living story and a fairy tale of how he and his wife met at around age 13 and became friends and managed to build a huge business. Both of them are co-founders of Honeybook which they created on a whim after a generous offer. Their story is exciting, inspiring, positive, and filled with many lessons for entrepreneurs. The venture, Honeybook has raised funding from top-tier investors like Tiger Global Management, Zeev Ventures, Citi Ventures, and Durable Capital Partners.

Oz Alon's journey is a living story and a fairy tale of how he and his wife met at around age 13 and became friends and managed to build a huge business. Both of them are co-founders of Honeybook which they created on a whim after a generous offer. Their story is exciting, inspiring, positive, and filled with many lessons for entrepreneurs. The venture, Honeybook has raised funding from top-tier investors like Tiger Global Management, Zeev Ventures, Citi Ventures, and Durable Capital Partners.

Cribl, the leading Observability Pipeline company, today announced it raised $200 million in new Series C funding led by Greylock and Redpoint Ventures, joined by new investor IVP, existing investors Sequoia and CRV, and with strategic investment from Citi Ventures (the investment and innovation arm of Citigroup) and Crowdstrike.  What You'll Learn: What Cribl's been up to over the last 10 months What we're planning to do with Series C funding What's next for Cribl Links: Press Release Clint's Blog

With all the emerging FinTech, it's important to reflect on what is currently working in the industry to predict where the space is headed next. Only then can an organization restructure itself to welcome the new technologies. Alex Scion, Managing Director, Head of Venture Incubation, Global Consumer, Citi Ventures at Citi, joins the show to discuss his experience with the finance industry and preparation strategies for emerging growth. What we talked about: - Alex's Journey and Transforming Banking - Reflecting on the Financial Industry to Move Forward - Trends, Patterns, & Purpose of D10X - Roadblocks within Emerging Growth to be Aware Of - Jobs to be Done Theory Explained - The Opportunities of the “Intrepreneurship” - FinTech VS. The Incumbents - Recommendations for Risk Aversion & Personal Growth to the Dear Listener Check out this resource we mentioned during the podcast: Alex.scion@citi.comTo hear more interviews like this one, subscribe to Banking On Digital Growth on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform.

Alex Zivoder has been involved in building and scaling several companies. His latest venture has already attracted tens of millions of dollars in capital and is proving incredibly popular with parents and their kids. His startup, goHenry has raised funding from top-tier investors like Muse Capital, Citi Ventures, Gaia Capital Partners, and Edison Partners.

Forto, ehemals Freighthub, ist Deutschlands jüngstes Unicorn und die schnelle Wachstumsgeschichte des 2016 gegründeten Unternehmens hat viele besondere Facetten. Umso mehr freuen wir uns, dass sich CEO Michael Wax die Zeit genommen hat, in einem ausführlichen Interview die wichtigsten Meilensteine und Entscheidungen zu erläutern. Natürlich ging es dabei auch um die aktuelle Finanzierungsrunde in Höhe von 240 Millionen Dollar, angeführt von SoftBanks Vision Fund 2. In Folge dieser Runde liegt die Bewertung Fortos bei 1,2 Milliarden Dollar. Mit dem neuen Kapital, das neben Softbank unter anderem von Citi Ventures, G Squared, Northzone, Cherry Ventures und Cavalry Ventures kam, will Forto vor allem das Geschäft zwischen China und Europa ausbauen.

Alex Zivoder has been involved in building and scaling several companies. His latest venture has already attracted tens of millions of dollars in capital and is proving incredibly popular with parents and their kids. His startup, goHenry has raised funding from top-tier investors like Muse Capital, Citi Ventures, Gaia Capital Partners, and Edison Partners.

My guest is a great example of how a non-linear career as well as experiences like being a contestant on Fear Factor led to transferable business skills and innovation. I can highly recommend David Epstein's book “Range” that talks more about that very topic. And he also includes in his book the example of Frances Hesselbein, a leadership visionary who started her professional career in her mid-fifties, becoming CEO of Girl Scouts USA by drawing on her many decades of volunteer and unpaid care work earlier. But now without further ado, let me introduce my guest to you. Eddie Lin started his career in New York at UBS Investment Bank and Goldman Sachs. After moving to California, he transitioned into marketing at Adobe and then Strategy and Business Development at Live Nation/Ticketmaster. Upon graduation from business school Eddie decided to become a contestant on the reality-TV show Fear Factor where he ate 20 live bees on the season finale. After realizing that traditional education did not actually prepare him for his jobs, he founded NexusEdge to democratize access to economic opportunity by bringing employer-specific training and hiring into the classroom. NexusEdge is an alumni of the Techstars Kansas City accelerator and has since partnered with Google, Citi Ventures, LinkedIn, Canvas, and Shopify on career pathways with a focus on community colleges. Eddie holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the University of Southern California where he served as Student Body President.   How can you reach Eddie: Email: eddie@nexusedge.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eddie-lin-3b20714/ LinkedIn NexusEdge: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nexusedge/ Website: https://www.nexusedge.com/   What we talked about: We spoke about how to make the hiring process more equitable and Eddie what made him decide to found NexusEdge, what it does and how it reduces bias in the hiring process. Eddie and I covered many aspects of skills:  Transferable business skills from being a student and professional returning to paid after a long period of absence Transferable skills from various aspects of one's professional life Skills from attending Fear Factor   How to connect with Karin Tischler, producer and podcast host of "Job Sharing and Beyond", and founder of Emily's Path Consulting (EPC): Website: https://emilyspath.ca/  LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/karin-tischler/ Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jobsharingandbeyond/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/JobsharingByond Twitter: https://twitter.com/karin_tischler Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karintischlerbc/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/emilyspathca/?viewAsMember=true Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EmilysPathConsulting  

Microsoft's Windows Virtual Desktop will now be known as Azure Virtual Desktop. A set of new features will be launched to provide a flexible, virtually accessible cloud VDI platform for all end-users with different use cases. Some features include a QuickStart service and new pricing options for remote app streaming.Mumbai-based QuickSell, a B2B mobile commerce suite platform, has raised $2M in a pre-Series A round co-led by InfoEdge Venture Fund and BEE NEXT, reports state. The proceeds raised shall be used to scale its business, expand its team, and enhance its product features. According to Deepak Bhagchandani, founder and CEO of QuickSell, when a product evokes solid and positive emotions from people, it grows in popularity, which has led the QuickSell team to set up a global customer base in over a hundred countries without the need to spend on marketing its product.Bengaluru-based payments and banking technology company Cashfree has announced its new investor, State Bank of India (SBI), who has invested an undisclosed amount in Cashfree on Monday. The investment reinforces their shared vision of promoting digital modes of payments, Cashfree's statement to the press read. The proceeds would be utilized on Cashfree's growth strategy to improve customer experience and product innovation. As per Crunchbase, Cashfree has raised $40.9M so far, and the latest funding comes from SBI in a debt financing round (financial details undisclosed). Preceding it is the $35.3M Series B funding raised from Apis Partners.Trulioo, a Canada-based online verification company, has announced that it has raised $394 million in a Series D funding round led by TVC, a venture capital firm. With its valuation reaching $1.75 billion, the company turns unicorn. Other participants in the round include existing investors Amex Ventures, Citi Ventures, Blumberg Capital, and Mouro Capital. The massive funding round comes as the epidemic has spurred business digitalization, and e-commerce and banking institutions want new ways to authenticate consumers' identities to conduct secure transactions.Lightspeed, a provider of point-of-sale and eCommerce solutions for shops and restaurateurs, has announced its intention to purchase Shopify rival Ecwid and NuORDER. The acquisition occurs when every company in the world is attempting to transition to the internet sphere and establish a digital presence. Clients of Lightspeed will get access to more digital economy entry points, unrivaled supply chain management, and more capacity to build extraordinary online consumer experiences. 

This week, Bank Automation News drilled down on key performance indicators (KPIs) for bots, and process discovery, or the pre-automation analysis of processes.  While it’s common practice to use purely operational KPIs, such as measuring bots deployed, experts say a better practice is to align bot KPIs with business goals. One key step to determining bot success is to engage in process discovery before deploying bots.  Citi Ventures, Citibank’s venture investment arm and incubator, is setting its sights on process discovery investments in the coming year, Managing Director Matt Carbonara told BAN this week. In this podcast the BAN team discusses process discovery and how it fits into the broader practice of process mining.  Find a discussion of these topics and more in today’s episode of the Weekly Wrap with Publisher JJ Hornblass, Editor Myra Thomas and Associate Editor Loraine Lawson for the week ended May 21, 2021. 

Let's take a trip to the Middle Eastern Silicon Valley - a progressive, disruptive and innovative ecosystem, that our audience must know more about! For this, our Executive Producer Matteo Rizzi, invites old friends and industry leaders to tell us the tales of their backgrounds and introduce you all to the country in the newest installment of "FinTech Journeys Around The World" with Moises Cohen (The Floor), Maya Zehavi, and Avi Arnon (Citi), this week at Breaking Banks Europe. Connect with our guests: Maya ZehaviLinkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayazehavi/ Avi ArnonAvi is a venture investor at Citi, focusing on Data Ai and ML globally. Avi started his career as a controller at the startup SundaySky, and was an independent consultant, implementing financial infrastructure at a range of companies —from early-stage startups to publicly traded corporations. Following that, Avi joined the Israeli Ministry of Finance as a Privatization Director, leading privatization processes and representing the Ministry of Finance on the Boards of Directors of government companies. Most recently, Avi was an investor at iAngels, an early-stage venture fund where he focused on enterprise software and cloud innovation.Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnonavi/Citi Ventures: https://www.citi.com/ventures/ Moises CohenMoises is one of The Floor's co-founders and a respected thought leader in the Fintech Industry. The Floor is a SaaS platform empowering professionals who sit at the intersection of business and technology to discover vendor opportunities and optimize their stack. Former Financial Services and Technology Lead at Accenture, Moises has extensive experience working with decision-makers from leading global corporates and governments.Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/moises-cohen-78828851/The Floor: https://www.thefloor.io/

Vanessa Colella is the Chief Innovation Officer for Citi and leads the Citi Ventures and Citi Productivity teams. Citi Ventures is committed to charting the unknown in a world of unprecedented change and disruption. We invest in innovative startups, and we work with our colleagues, clients, and the innovation ecosystem to experiment with next-generation technologies. Vanessa's goal is to accelerate and discover new sources of value by championing innovation so that Citi can compete more effectively in a world of technological, behavioral, and societal change. The Citi Ventures team drives innovation by exploring, incubating, and investing in new ideas and partnering with category-defining startups to help people, businesses and communities thrive. She's an expert in corporate development, strategic partnerships, mobile payments, emerging payments, entrepreneurship, education, venture capital, and marketing. ————————————————————————— To learn more about this episode, including podcast transcripts and show notes, visit *salt.org/talks* ( http://salt.org/talks ) Moderated by Anthony Scaramucci.

Miguel Armaza is joined by Richard Sarkis, serial entrepreneur, Executive Chair, and Co-Founder of Reonomy, a commercial real estate data and analytics platform. Since inception in 2013, the company has raised over $130 million in equity from leading industry investors like Georgian Partners, Softbank, Citi Ventures, Bain Capital Ventures, Fintech Collective, and many more... Rich is also a proud graduate of our very own Wharton School In this episode, we discuss: - His journey as a repeat entrepreneur - Exciting stories and challenges of building Reonomy from the ground up - His views on company culture why it is extremely important - Transitioning from CEO to Executive Chairman and what this entails - State of the US commercial real estate market and the impact of COVID - Valuable founder advice and takeaways after almost two decades of entrepreneurship - And a whole lot more! Soundcloud: Spotify: Apple: Full interview --> Spotify | Soundcloud | Apple Richard Sarkis Richard Sarkis is Executive Chair and co-founder of Reonomy, a commercial real estate data and analytics platform. Since the company’s founding in 2013, Sarkis has been instrumental in raising $128 million in venture capital and led Reonomy through a successful web-platform launch in New York City, as well as the launch of a second nationwide platform in 2017. About Reonomy Reonomy leverages big data, partnerships and machine learning to connect the fragmented, disparate world of commercial real estate. By providing unparalleled access to property intelligence, Reonomy products empower individuals, teams, and companies to unlock insights and discover new opportunities.

BIO: Steve Faktor is a former Fortune-100 executive—turned entrepreneur. As Managing Director of IdeaFaktory Innovation, he helps tech, financial services, and consumer goods clients see and build the future. The McFuture Podcast features Steve’s provocative predictions and prescriptions. STORY: Steve’s lifelong dream was to be a comedian and radio personality just like Howard Stern. His parents, however, could hear none of it and pushed him to conform to being a nice boy who does well in school and then goes out to get a family and a job that everyone can be proud of. Today, he regrets never fighting hard to achieve that dream. LEARNING: Fight hard to pursue your dreams, and don’t let anyone stop you. It is not too late to turn back and chase your dreams.   “If you follow the money, the culture, and technology, you will lead yourself to the right answers.” Steve Faktor   Guest profilehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/ideafaktory/ (Steve Faktor) is a former Fortune-100 executive—turned entrepreneur, futurist author ofhttps://amzn.to/3t349oI ( Econovation), and podcaster. As Managing Director ofhttps://www.ideafaktory.com/ ( IdeaFaktory Innovation), he helps tech, financial services and consumer goods clients see and build the future. Steve is a LinkedIn Influencer with over 750,000 followers and has been featured in Forbes, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal, among others. He’s a popular keynote speaker at major events and numerous corporations. Thehttps://www.ideafaktory.com/the-mcfuture-podcast/ ( McFuture Podcast) features Steve’s provocative predictions and prescriptions, as well as guests like Larry King, comedian Jim Jefferies, Governor Jesse Ventura, Nobel Economist Joseph Stiglitz, former ACLU President Nadine Strossen, Megachurch Pastor AR Bernard, and many more. Previously, Steve launched multiple $150m+ loyalty, payments, and e-commerce products & services as head of the American Express Chairman’s Innovation Fund, SVP at Citi Ventures, VP of Strategy & Innovation at MasterCard, and management consultant at Andersen. Worst investment everSteve was always a creative, disruptive, and curious child. He would often question everything, including what the rabbis taught him. Tucking his creativity awayNow one thing Steve loved was writing. He would always write, and some of this stuff was so creative and funny. Steve kept his writing in a plastic shopping bag and tucked it away in his grandmother’s house in her closet. Watching his dream wither awaySteve’s dream was to be Howard Stern. He grew up listening to him. The excitement of live radio blew him away, and he just wanted to be part of it. Steve even bought a special Walkman that allowed him to record shows. He would listen to the recordings on his way to school and back. Steve even got into Boston University, where Howard went, but he ended up going to NYU, where he got an academic scholarship. Steve’s parents were oblivious to his passion for writing or his love of radio, and they couldn’t care less about it. To them, a successful life is where Steve grew up to be a nice boy who did well in school, went out and got a family, and a job that everyone could be proud of. And that is the kind of direction they pushed Steve in. Lessons learnedFight hard to pursue your dreamsYou have to fight harder if you feel that something is innate inside of you. You cannot allow anyone, even your parents, to guide you elsewhere. So, fight for that personal narrative that fits who you are. Andrew’s takeawaysIt is not too late to turn back and chase your dreamsThink about your dreams and the things that are holding you back from achieving those dreams. Now believe that you have shelved your dreams for far too long and gather the courage to move to the next level. Actionable adviceDistinguish between what is easy and what is satisfying—chase what is satisfying and fulfilling. No. 1 goal for the next 12 monthsSteve’s number one goal for...

Today we are pleased to have Ricardo Outi on the show. Based in Miami, Florida, AIC Capital is a research-based, data-driven alternative investment platform. The firm specializes in capital allocation in private real estate on behalf of funds, institutions, family offices, and high net worth individuals. Ricardo has over 20 years of Wealth Management and Real Estate Investment experience. Throughout a career with Citigroup, Ricardo held positions of head of strategy and business development at Citi Offshore Wealth Management in Miami, Head of marketing and sales strategy in Tokyo, and a senior position at Citi Ventures in Singapore. In today’s episode, we dive into: The backbone of AIC Capital’s strategy, their data and market research tool that has been developed and perfected over years of data sourcing and data management. We discuss how the company manages to filter over 3,000 opportunities that hit their desk every year. And we hear about the first steps Ricardo took when deciding to leave Citigroup to prepare him for the next chapter in his career. As a friendly reminder, please keep in mind that anything discussed herein is for conversational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice on behalf of Ricardo or AIC Capital.LinkedInEmail: Ricardo.outi@aic-capital.comThe Handbook of Real Estate Portfolio Management by Joseph L. Pagliari The Age Curve by Kenneth W. GronbachFROM THIS EPISODE:ON DATA“We have research reports that we read. We stay attuned just to ensure that we are in sectors and cities that we want to locate capital in. The data and this research is the backbone of what we do and why and how we allocate capital.”“Data has been improving. We live in an information age and data is like the new oil of this economy. So any company that is not leveraging data is just missing it [opportunities]."ON MARKET DEMAND“Depending on the sectors there are more variables that are more important. That's what we call the drivers of real estate demand. For example, if you are in the residential rentals/multi-family/single-family sectors what you want is to basically retain. You want job growth, population growth; Population growth will lead to rental growth and home price appreciation. Those are the key drivers of demand.”ON RISK“If you're prudent in terms of your capital stack, your amount of leverage; if you are prudent doing your homework in terms of being in the sector, it's very hard to predict losing your capital and losing your investment there.”“During downturn moments drives a lot of uncertainty across the board. And uncertainty drives people to freeze when it comes to making decisions like buying a house and making an investment. For us we like those moments. We like those moments because when you do your homework and are comfortable in your sectors and the capital decisions you're making, you have less competition.”ON SUCCESSFUL INVESTING“When you really want to be a better real estate investor you really need to have both your feet really in the industry. You need to own assets. You need to be in there. You need to be talking to your property managers. Besides researching and looking at data, you need to be investing your own money as well so you have skin in the game.”

Episode Outline:[00:42] Bob's background[03:02] Bob's learning experience at Citi Ventures[06:08] The speed of innovation in a start-up versus in a large organization[09:59] Creating the structure of the pitch[13:13] A success story[17:17] When it goes from being a Citi issue to being an industry issue[20:26] Citi's competition[25:07] D10X and the Venture Investing Team[26:30] Designed Thinking[28:42] The hurdles Bob faces with B2B versus B2C[32:07] JTBD (Jobs To Be Done), and Bob's different approach to Agile[35:47] “Think Big and Act Small”[38:01] Busting the myths of the innovation program[40:04] How are they approaching Covid and a post-Covid world?Connect with Bob:LinkedInTwitter

Elecciones dramáticas en USA ! . Walmart pone fin a Superama. Rappi es víctima de Fake News. Interjet no tiene para pagar impuestos. Citi Ventures invierte en Mexico. YouTube súper 130% más horas de streaming en México.

In this podcast, Miguel Armaza sits down with Sandy Kemper, Founder & CEO of C2FO, the world’s largest platform for working capital financing. C2FO serves over a million businesses representing over 10 trillion dollars in annual sales across more than 180 countries and their platform connects over 100 billion dollars of daily volume. Truly a global financial powerhouse! C2FO is a Series G company and has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from elite investors like Temasek, Union Square Ventures, Softbank, Allianz, Citi Ventures, Tiger Global and many more. Sandy has had a long and successful career in banking, technology, fintech, and asset management and he even told us how he turned his art collecting passion into a profitable business. Alexander “Sandy” C. Kemper Sandy is the founder of C2FO and serves as Chairman of the Board and CEO. In addition, he is Chairman of the Board of The Collectors Fund, a private equity fund focused on alternative asset classes. Prior to founding The Collectors Fund and C2FO, Sandy founded Perfect Commerce (fka eScout) and served as the company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 2000-06. Prior to founding Perfect Commerce, he served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of UMB Bank and CEO of UMB Financial, a NASDAQ traded financial services company more than $20 billion in assets. Sandy began his career with UMB after graduating from Northwestern University in 1987. He majored in American History. Sandy is an active angel and venture investor and serves on the corporate boards of UMB Financial (NASDAQ: UMBF), UMB Bank, NIC (NASDAQ: EGOV), and AXA Art USA (NYSE: AXA). He previously served on the board of Cboe Global Markets, Inc. (Cboe) and BATS Exchange, two of the largest stock exchanges in the world. Sandy and his family are active in academic, civic and philanthropic endeavors. He serves on the board of the Agriculture Future of America (AFA), a non-profit scholarship and leadership development organization that he co-founded. Sandy and his family live on a farm in Kansas City, Mo., where they raise and care for their horses, sheep and any and all wild animals (not including their four children). About C2FO C2FO is the world’s largest platform for working capital. We serve over one million businesses representing $10.5 trillion in annual sales across more than 180 countries. Our online platform connects more than $100 billion of daily accounts payable and accounts receivable. Whether you need working capital or have excess working capital, Name Your Rate™, and the C2FO platform will match your request in seconds. You can accelerate or extend AP or AR on demand, providing you, your customers and your suppliers greater control over cash flow. You can also utilize AR financing and other data-driven funding options. C2FO is working capital, working for everyone. Our mission is to deliver a future where every company in the world has the capital needed to grow. To learn more, visit C2FO.com.

This week on the podcast, Wei-Shen talks with Victor Alexiev, director and head of programs and strategic partnerships for Citi Ventures APAC. They talk about some of the challenges and opportunities within banks and how D10X—Citi Venture’s internal entrepreneurship program, which looks at moonshot projects—tackles them. 3:30 – Victor joins the podcast and gives an overview of Citi Ventures and its three pillars—investment, exploration, and learning. 10:30 – Then he delves into some of the projects D10X has worked on recently. 13:00 – Most of the solutions don’t necessitate using emerging technologies. 15:00 – Defining the problem comes first. 20:00 – Challenges and themes Citi Ventures and D10X are looking at. In Asia, Citi is interested in the lifecycle of tokenized securities. 28:30 – Victor explains how the team at D10X is expandable. 32:00 – The team is looking at advanced data analytics, ML, and NLP to mine external content for signals.

Banking and fintech leaders came together for the fully virtual Bank Innovation Build this week. The conference featured speakers from Wells Fargo, Ally, TD and more, as well as a fireside chat with Vanessa Colella, chief innovation officer at Citi and head of Citi Ventures. Discussions revealed that banks and fintechs alike are not slowing down their innovation operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this edition of the Weekly Wrap, Bank Innovation editors Bianca Chan and Rick Morgan discuss the major takeaways from Build with Royal Media CEO and BI Executive Editor JJ Hornblass.

The latest episode of the What the Fintech? podcast continues to be brought to you remotely, featuring Travis Skelly, director of venture investing at Citi Ventures. On this episode, we analyse the growth of the buy now, pay later firms and discuss the recent decision by the UK Competition Markets Authority to greenlight the Visa and Plaid deal. Skelly shares his thoughts on how Citi Ventures evaluates ecommerce companies and the sector's trajectory in the wake of the coronavirus economic crisis. Tune in to find out his surprising two-fold banished buzzword in another exciting rendition of ‘Fintech Jail'! Subscribe to the FinTech Futures newsletter: www.bit.ly/ffpodnewsletter What the Fintech is brought to you by the team behind www.fintechfutures.com and the Banking Technology Magazine.

Vanessa Colella is Citi’s Chief Innovation Officer (CIO), Head of Citi Ventures, and Head of Citi Productivity. She is focused on harnessing the power of Citi to help people, businesses, and communities thrive in a world of technological, behavioral, and societal change. Before assuming the role of CIO, Vanessa led venture investing and D10X for Citi Ventures, and previously ran marketing for Citi’s North American Consumer Bank. She joined Citi in 2010 from U.S. Venture Partners (USVP) after having held senior roles at Yahoo and McKinsey & Company. Vanessa received her masters’ degrees from Columbia University and M.I.T. as well as a Ph.D. from M.I.T.’s Media Lab. She holds an S.B. degree in molecular biology from M.I.T. and currently serves as a member of the Corporation’s Visiting Committee for the Media Lab.

The global payment-as-a-service market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.9% to 2027. That presents opportunities. Volante Technologies recently raised $35m in a funding round led by Wavecrest with strategic participation from VISA Ventures, Poste Italiani, Citi Ventures, and BNY Mellon. Volante' CEO spoke about the funding and the company's future plans with Robin Amlot.

Today I share my conversation with Ron J Williams. Fast Company rated him in the top 100 most creative people in business...back in 2012! He's started some serious ventures - SnapGoods was an early vanguard in the sharing economy - and he's also helped companies large and small get proof (rather than stay in conjecture) on their business ideas with his consultancy ProofLabs.    He's currently working as SVP & Head of Program Strategy at Citi Ventures. We also went to High School together, which is why he still takes my calls!   I brought Ron onto the show because of a conversation we had months back about how businesses ARE conversations - that they can't just extract value from people without listening, adapting and relating to the people they serve.    Ron offered the idea that each moment, each pixel, is an opportunity for a company to listen and to respond thoughtfully to their customers...this level of granularity and specificity in the opportunities for conversations between business and customers really lit me up.   Ron also happens to be a black man. This episode is coming months after we recorded it - I'm working through a backlog - and you'll hear, at the end, my gratitude to Ron for bringing up the topic of racial inequality in corporate innovation...and the costs it has for our society as a whole.   I did not want to commit the sin of making a person of color speak for “their people”...it's a burden that “non-minorities” don't have to endure. I am rarely, if ever, asked to speak for all white men, as if I could.   Diversity is so important.    Innovation isn't just a conversation between a company and its customers...it's also an internal company conversation. And who is in that innovation conversation determines what problems get noticed, which ideas get funded and for how long. With a large majority of white male voices in corporate innovation and silicon valley, the problems that get addressed and resolved are the problems of a very small, very privileged group of people.   Ron says towards the end of our conversation, and I'm condensing a bit:   “it's amazing to see many more people popping on the scene, both as people of color, women, LGBT...we're capitalizing networks...and empower(ing) more folks...when there are more voices in the virtual conversation of innovation, more lived experiences means more problem sets that maybe you and I wouldn't think to tackle, come up with... if they were networked properly, resourced properly, supported properly, would build something huge”   I hope more diverse voices get included into the innovation conversation. What can you do at your organization to help make that happen?   Enjoy the episode. Ron is fun to talk to and really fun to listen to! Support the Podcast and get insider access Links and Resources https://www.prooflabsgroup.com/   Jason Cyr on Designing the Organizational Conversation: https://theconversationfactory.com/podcast/2019/11/15/designing-the-organizational-conversation More About Ron Proven innovation leader and entrepreneur building mission-driven teams focused on solving hard problems.   Bringing together 15+ years of entrepreneurship, corporate strategy, startup advisory and product leadership, I have a unique perspective and an awesome network filled with doers.   I center my teams on the principle of customer obsession. I believe that sustainable growth comes from better understanding of and partnership with the customer.   Quick background: I've founded, built, invested in and advised on peer-to-peer, sharing economy, marketplace, machine learning and social commerce companies. In varied roles as a founder, intrapreneur, consultant, Entrepreneur in Residence and Program Lead, I've helped Fortune 500 companies re-engineer core business strategies and innovation programs across industries.   Passion: Working with smart people to solve problems that matter (one reason I sit on the Board of organizations like BUILD.org)   General approach to creating impact: - Long-term shareholder value follows customer obsession (not the other way around) - Values and value creation go hand-in-hand - Diverse perspective is an organizational super power. It is not a box to check - Cultivating a culture of trust and willingness to take risks is a competitive advantage - The “why” is almost always more important than the “what” - Mission and culture beat innovation theater every time   Full Transcript on the Conversation Factory

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Zack Miller. The PPP government aid program in the US continues to put a strain on the banking sector. We’re hearing an increasing number of stories of how traditional institutions are partnering with fintechs to navigate through the crisis. Anvil is one of those fintechs servicing traditional banks and FIs. The company, which replaces PDF forms with online workflows, collaborated with Sunrise Banks to get help the Minneapolis-based bank process $134 million in PPP loans in just five days for 1600 small businesses. Anvil also closed a recent funding round that saw Citi Ventures and Gradient Ventures, Google’s AI-focused fund, participate. Anvil founder and CEO Mang-Git Ng joins me on Tearsheet Podcast today.

Whether it’s dealing with an extreme disruption like COVID-19 or just to be more effective competing every day, banks benefit from new ideas to streamline current operations and to spot new business opportunities. An innovative mindset within an organization starts at the top and filters down so workers at all levels know their ideas for how to improve are welcome. Vanessa Colella, chief innovation officer at Citi and head of its Citi Ventures equity investing arm, talks about how financial institutions can -- and why they should -- embrace a culture that encourages and rewards innovation.

Our Leadership Series interview where Edison Fu talks to Arvind Purushotham from Citi Ventures. “Funky Chunk” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

This week our conversation continues to focus on corporate venture capital. However, we go from Harvard Business School to a “serial CVC” as Matt has been at 3 different corporate venture groups — Comcast, Cisco and now Citi Ventures.  Matt has a great perspective from all three of those experiences and we also talk about specific things unique to the approach Citi Ventures takes given reporting structure and overall strategic objectives of the fund.  Show Links: Matt's Twitter & LinkedIn Citi Ventures Homepage 

Matt Carbonara, Managing Director at Citi Ventures, discusses the fund’s activities and focus.

In this episode, I have the real pleasure to speak (and very fast for that matter!) with Phil Rosen, CEO and Founder of the rapidly scaling EVEN Financial, the company with the leading API for financial services monetization, based in NYC. EVEN helps connect your consumers to personalized products at the right time with the definitive search, comparison and recommendation engine for financial services. There is no other company out there doing something similar at scale, and with the kind of results and growth trajectory that is beyond impressive: => Even works with all parties — financial institutions, marketers, affiliates and consumers — to enhance the online finance ecosystem for everyone, creating the optimal end-user experience; => For Partners: Proven greater monetization, comprehensive turnkey FI access, managed compliance, backed by machine learning recommendation engine; => For Financial Institutions: Proven lower cost of acquisition, lower delinquencies, lower charge offs, access to vast high quality organic network to reach consumers => A team of 130+ and growing fast; => An A-list of VC and other investors backing the company: $50M total funding, with some of the biggest brand names, like Citi Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, LendingClub, American Express Ventures, Canaan Partners, F-Prime Capital, GreatPoint Ventures, and Goldman Sachs; The bottom line, with EVEN Financial: Financial Institutions Build Profitable Portfolios with proven lower acquisition costs, through access to the vast, high-quality, organic Even network – reaching millions of consumers with native integrations featuring programmatic purchasing, full compliance, machine learning, and data backed by over 40 million user profiles to support decisioning. Channel Partners Increase Monetization with turn-key financial institution integrations across loans, savings, credit cards, and more – powered by Even’s best-in-class compliance, pricing options, controls, and machine learning optimization. Consumers Enjoy the Optimal User Experience with the ability to search, compare, and get matched with the financial services they need instantly through Even’s industry-leading recommendation engine. In my conversation with Phil, we address: * How he started EVEN 5 years ago after leaving Orchard; * How the business has evolved while product/market fit was being adjusted; * If the company pivoted at some point and how/why; * Experience as a CEO vs. pure CTO type of work; * Hiring challenges and future growth plans; * Quid crypto / blockchain? * The end game, if there is one; and many more insights to share. So, enjoy this episode, share lavishly, and give me a great rating and/or review on any platform of your choice. =============================================================== Check out also my other conversations with key industry players: - http://bit.ly/Iwantmyngravenow - http://bit.ly/Iwantmycelsiusnow - http://bit.ly/Iwantmypeponow - http://bit.ly/Iwantmywerbachnow - http://bit.ly/Iwantmymillonow - http://bit.ly/Iwantmycrypto101 --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/WYFT/support

Royal Media CEO JJ Hornblass hosted an event in the company’s Manhattan office to discuss Citi Ventures, and D10x, incubates new concepts and ideas.

Maria Potoroczyn is VP of Strategy & Innovation and a Venture Catalyst at Citibank’s Global Consumer Bank. In her role, Maria leads mission-critical initiatives in designing the future of consumer finance and creates connectivity between Citi Ventures and lines of business. Maria is also Co-Founder and Board Director of WIN: Women in Innovation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with a mission to close the gender gap in the field of innovation. Under her leadership, WIN grew its community from 20 to 3,000 members, expanded the team from 3 to 35, and established presence in San Francisco and London chapters beyond New York's home-base. Maria has a track record of solving some of the most complex business challenges by combining her grounding in human-centered methodologies with a strategic rigor built over years of working with senior executive teams at Fortune 500, PE-backed companies, and nonprofits. Maria is a frequent speaker, co-author, workshop leader, and programmatic advisor at industry conferences, including Fast Company Innovation Festival, NYC X DESIGN, SXSW, Experience Fighters, amongst others. She has also appeared at Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School, New York University, and Parsons The New School as a guest lecturer. Maria holds a bachelor’s degree in anthropology, media and communications from Goldsmiths College and a master’s degree with distinction in innovation management from Central Saint Martins. Maria resides in New York City with her husband and two young daughters, who are currently CEOs of her household. *as mentioned at the end of the podcast, you can follow Women in Innovation on instagram here: @womenininnovation

We discussed driving traffic into establishments, trying before you buy and most importantly - paying attention to the data. 8:20 Paying attention to the data 11:57 a product is not a product without a market 12:21 Understand the pain point, who has it and how large is that market? 12:39 Becoming the entrepreneur in residence at Citi ventures 14:01 Building inclusivity and access into everything 14:41 Refining product road map 17:13 Which data do you start with? 18:11 asking yourself “are we focusing on the wrong thing?” 19:40 Building for a specific persona

Eyal Lifshitz is the co-founder and CEO of BlueVine which provides small and medium-sized businesses with access to fast and simple financial products through an advanced, online platform. The company has raised $140 million in equity capital and over $400 million in debt financing. Its investors include the likes of M12 (Microsoft), Citi Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners – to name a few. Before BlueVine, Eyal was a principal at Greylock Partners' where he invested over $100 million in capital in start-up companies. 

Eyal Lifshitz is the co-founder and CEO of BlueVine which provides small and medium-sized businesses with access to fast and simple financial products through an advanced, online platform. The company has raised $140 million in equity capital and over $400 million in debt financing. Its investors include the likes of M12 (Microsoft), Citi Ventures, Menlo Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners – to name a few. Before BlueVine, Eyal was a principal at Greylock Partners’ where he invested over $100 million in capital in start-up companies. 

Welcome back to the 6th and final episode of this new show, Fintech Insider USA! In this episode, Sam Maul meets Alex Sion, Co-Head of D10X at Citi Ventures! To start the episode, Alex explains what D10X actually is, and what the name stands for. The programme has been active for about 4 years and the consumer side is organised around two macro themes: modern life and economic vitality. Alex argues that the nuclear family has not existed for many years now and banks have been built around the image of the traditional family. How do you support families that perhaps do not fit into the image of the nuclear family? We continue talking about how you innovate at a company as large as City. Where do you focus? How do you generate relevant ideas on a global scale? With such a global reach, how do you accommodate many very different markets? All this and so much more on today's show. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and let us know your thoughts on the stories @FintechInsiders on Twitter where you can also ask the hosts questions, or email podcasts@11fs.com This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Alex Woodhouse. Special Guest: Alex Sion.

Ryan Harper of Citi Ventures joins to share his path into product management.

Corporate teams know they should be tapping into the startup ecosystem somehow, but they don’t always know how to get started. In this episode, we explore different ways innovators engage with startups and how they forge more meaningful relationships. Guests include Arvind Purushotham, the Head of Venture Investing at Citi Ventures, Northwestern Professor Mohan Sawhney, and Jenny Lawton, COO of Techstars.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I'm Zack Miller. Today's guest on the podcast is Arvind Purushotham, who heads up venture investing at Citi Ventures. We spend time talking about some of the themes around Citi's venture investing and how the bank and its venture arm think about innovation. We drill down into the Citi Ventures portfolio which has some of the biggest names in fintech, like Betterment, C2FO and Plaid. Arvind describes to us how his background in engineering at Intel and investment experience at Menlo inform his approach to venture vesting. Lastly, he shares with us where he thinks the market is headed and where he expects investment opportunities to be found in the future. Arvind Purushotham is my guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast.

Bank Partnerships & Investments to Leverage Innovation   Manuel Silva, Santander InnoVentures  Luis Valdich, Citi Ventures  Marisol Menendez Alvarez , BBVA  Russell Fisher, Nationwide Building Society  Moderator: Fabian Vandenreydt, B-Hive

About our Guest: TejPaul Bhatia is the New York startup lead for Google Cloud. Before that, he was an entrepreneur in residence at Citi Ventures. He was the COO for Explain Everything, an interactive screencasting whiteboard app. He was also the CEO and co-founder of Chatwala, a mobile video chat app and Kaptur (acquired), an app that enables users to aggregate photos taken at an event in seconds. He also worked for ESPN as the senior manager of product and international strategy. TejPaul is still an active member of the startup community in New York. Episode summary: TejPaul Bhatia shares an honest story about his journey from founding to startups to ultimately leaving that world. He talks about what happens when your entrepreneurial dreams take you away from who you truly are, and how having a “normal” job has provided more space in his life for authenticity.   Insights from this episode: Strategies to find investors and generate capital for your startup Secrets to handling rejection Secrets to the power of networks and community Strategies to bring yourself into the present moment, as often as possible Tips to make physical and mental health a priority in your life How to leverage the passion and excitement entrepreneurs possess into opportunities Secrets to finding gratitude for your life   Quotes from the show: “With my first startup, I probably hung on to some of the ideas months, maybe years longer than I should have.” - TejPaul Bhatia, Episode #146 “As entrepreneurs we’re relentlessly optimistic, because we have to be, because the odds are against us, but if you can find your truth and hold onto that optimism but try to be yourself throughout it, not lose yourself, you have a much better chance of balance no matter what happens after.” - TejPaul Bhatia, Episode #146 “Those moments when I could be present, were so powerful. They’re so liberating; so freeing.” - TejPaul Bhatia, Episode #146 “It sometimes takes burnout to know how not to get burned out.” - TejPaul Bhatia, Episode #146 On receiving criticism: “Take what serves you and ignore what doesn’t.” - TejPaul Bhatia, Episode #146 “You have to be affectionate and supportive of yourself before you can do that for anyone else.” - TejPaul Bhatia, Episode #146 “Know what you want, but also act on it immediately.” - Kevin Y Brown, Episode #146 “Presence is the most powerful thing that we possess.” - Kevin Y Brown, Episode #146 “The past and the future don’t actually exist, they’re constructs that exist in the computer that is our brain.” - TejPaul Bhatia, Episode #146 Resources mentioned: iCloud Favorite book: Ben Horowitz: The Hard Thing about Hard Things Yuval Harari: Sapiens Favorite quote: TejPaul’s motto: Nothing is that important except those things that are really important, like family. 3 keys to Create Your Best Life: You have to do you Enjoy it – the purpose of life is to live it To the best of your ability, make it better for other people   Stay Connected: Show Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/cylseries/ https://www.instagram.com/cylseries/   Kevin Y Brown: www.kevinybrown.com www.instagram.com/kevinybrown www.twitter.com/kevinybrown www.facebook.com/kevbrown001   TejPaul Bhatia: Email Kevin to get connected with TejPaul.

In this episode I had the pleasure of chatting with Brian Meece - Co-founder of RocketHub, Founder of Wingadoos, and a pretty mean ukulele player! Brian has also spoken at world-renowned events such as SXSW, TEDx, and the World Economic Forum.   Brian has always had a huge interest in music, and for a good chunk of his life (and still to this day) has played in bands, performed, and recorded. It was his love of music that led him to his first venture, RocketHub. RocketHub was created as a crowdfunding platform allowing artists to raise the funds they needed to produce their music and continue doing what they love. After successfully working in the arts space, RocketHub soon attracted the attention of the science sector, and thereafter entrepreneurs looking to raise money. After 5 successful years of growth, this led to an acquisition valuing the company at $15million.   Following the acquisition of RocketHub, Brian worked with Citi Ventures and helped mentor and advise newer startups, with a particular focus on the FinTech sector. As with his musical background previously, Brain used his understanding of the Finance space to work on his next venture: Wingadoos. This venture was created to tackle the huge, and global, issues of under education when it comes to financial empowerment and understanding. Brian and his team aim to work with young students, with the help some clever technology, games, and music, to better educate people when it comes to all things finance!   This episode covers a lot of ground (including raising money for a meth lab… yes really!) and was great fun to record! Let us know what you think :)   In this episode we discuss: Following your passion Utilising your network Recruiting the right team and how it’s like a band Fixing pain points Looking for ‘whitespace’ and new opportunities Financial empowerment and education Social impact And as always, plenty more...   Links mentioned in this episode:   Brian Meece TEDx Talk Brian Meece LinkedIn RocketHub Website RocketHub Twitter Wingadoos

We had the pleasure of being introduced to Tej through a mutual friend of the show, and how glad we are that the intro was made!   Tej is an entrepreneur through and through, and isn’t shy about talking about the personal and emotional side of entrepreneurship. After quitting the ‘dream job’ with ESPN in 2007, Tej wasn’t exactly sure what he wanted to do, but he was fed up with being told ‘no’ and knew he needed to be in charge of his own destiny.   After a period of consulting for multiple firms, Tej founded his first startup, however, it wasn’t without a number of pivots, rounds of funding, and rebrands that they eventually landed on the company that came to be acquired: Kaptur. After Kaptur, Tej moved on to his second startup which he says ‘failed’, but he undoubtedly learnt a lot of lessons both in a business and personal sense. With years of entrepreneurial experience in his pocket, Tej moved on to Citi Ventures as an Entrepreneur in Residence, and then to Google where he works within there startup team. This episode really jumps into the emotional side of entrepreneurship, and for anyone considering or currently in the acquisition process, it’s a great listen!   In this episode we discuss:   Taking the plunge to start your first venture When, why, and how to pivot Living through the acquisition process The power of persistence Measuring your success as an entrepreneur Bouncing back from ‘failure’ And as always, plenty more...   Links mentioned in the episode:   Tejpaul Bhatia Twitter Tejpaul Bhatia LinkedIn Citi Ventures

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week was fun. Back in the studio, Connie Loizos, Matthew Lynley, your humble servant, and Ramneek Gupta, managing director of Citi Ventures was with us to provide the venture perspective. As you can probably guess, we got a bit stuck in Bird’s nest, trying to vet why the young company is hoping to punch its unicorn card in nigh-record time. The firm’s potential new $150 million round may make it a unicorn, but Lime is in the chase, and the firm’s economics are still not fully understood. What did we agree on in the end? Scooters are fun, and Lynley said a swear. Moving ahead, SoftBank’s Vision Fund is cutting another check, this time to General Motors. Yes, the galactic slushfund is dropping up to $2.25 billion into GM’s Cruise arm, a former startup that the American metal-shaper scooped for around $1 billion in 2016. The deal, of course, is complicated: Most of the SoftBank money won’t land until certain performance marks are met, and GM is also putting money into the thing that it owns — $1.1 billion worth. So, if we don’t count the GM money as part of a post-money valuation, we can calculate that SoftBank’s 19.6 percent stake in Cruise values the company at over $11 billion. Sure! Next up, Ant Financial is raising $10 billion at a $150 billion valuation, give or take. That’s a lot. This brought up the ever-interesting struggle between Alibaba and Tencent, of course, as Ant is an Alibaba -affiliate that competes with Tencent’s WeChat’s WePay product. Sticking to China, we wrapped on the NIO IPO, yet another Chinese company looking to debut on a US market. All that and we even told some jokes! Hit play and we’ll be right back.

Hello and welcome back to Equity, TechCrunch’s venture capital-focused podcast where we unpack the numbers behind the headlines. This week was fun. Back in the studio, Connie Loizos, Matthew Lynley, your humble servant, and Ramneek Gupta, managing director of Citi Ventures was with us to provide the venture perspective. As you can probably guess, we got a bit stuck in Bird’s nest, trying to vet why the young company is hoping to punch its unicorn card in nigh-record time. The firm’s potential new $150 million round may make it a unicorn, but Lime is in the chase, and the firm’s economics are still not fully understood. What did we agree on in the end? Scooters are fun, and Lynley said a swear. Moving ahead, SoftBank’s Vision Fund is cutting another check, this time to General Motors. Yes, the galactic slushfund is dropping up to $2.25 billion into GM’s Cruise arm, a former startup that the American metal-shaper scooped for around $1 billion in 2016. The deal, of course, is complicated: Most of the SoftBank money won’t land until certain performance marks are met, and GM is also putting money into the thing that it owns — $1.1 billion worth. So, if we don’t count the GM money as part of a post-money valuation, we can calculate that SoftBank’s 19.6 percent stake in Cruise values the company at over $11 billion. Sure! Next up, Ant Financial is raising $10 billion at a $150 billion valuation, give or take. That’s a lot. This brought up the ever-interesting struggle between Alibaba and Tencent, of course, as Ant is an Alibaba -affiliate that competes with Tencent’s WeChat’s WePay product. Sticking to China, we wrapped on the NIO IPO, yet another Chinese company looking to debut on a US market. All that and we even told some jokes! Hit play and we’ll be right back.

Jean-Denis Greze is Head of Engineering at Plaid, the technology company giving developers access to the financial system and the tools to build many of the most influential applications and services of the modern financial era. Companies such as Venmo + Paypal, Coinbase, Robinhood, Acorns, Betterment, Clarity Money and hundreds more are built on Plaid - whose investors consist of Goldman Sachs, NEA, Citi Ventures, Spark Capital, American Express, and Google Ventures.   Prior to joining Plaid, Jean-Denis was Director of Engineering at Dropbox, where he led the growth, identity, notifications, Paper and payments teams. Prior to Dropbox, Jean-Denis worked in fintech in New York and has CS degrees from Columbia as well as a JD from Harvard Law School. Outside of work, you’ll find him trail running, reading, or plotting his next vacation to Japan. If you want to learn more about Plaid after this podcast, visit them at www.plaid.com and check out the open eng roles on their career page - where you can actually apply by API. You can also follow them on Twitter - their handle is @plaid, or give their awesome recruiting team a shout at recruiting@plaid.com. On today's episode we discuss software engineering values and how to enable engineers to be successful at your company and beyond. Social Media Plaid’s website: www.plaid.com Twitter: @jgreze Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeandenisgreze

As one of the largest financial institutions in the world, Citi takes its innovation efforts seriously. Combining internal and external models of collaboration with a disciplined corporate venture arm, the financial services giant ensures that it has a lot of coals in the innovation fire. Leading those efforts is Vanessa Colella. Vanessa runs Citi Ventures and is the Chief Innovation Officer at Citi. In my talk with Vanessa, we explore how Citi combines internal and external innovation and what role venture investing plays in the overall mix. For her, all this talk and activity around innovation addresses something very simple: how to get the best results for Citi's clients. Vanessa Colella is our guest today on the Tearsheet Podcast. You can get this episode of the podcast, as well as nearly 180 previous episodes in our archive, at our website, www.tearsheet.co If you get value out of these episodes, please take a minute to rate us on Apple Podcasts. Doing so, helps other people find us. We're also available on SoundCloud. Also, if you're not signed up for our newsletter, subscribe now. 10,000 industry professionals read our Tearsheet newsletter every week to explore the impact technology is having on the financial services industry. www.tearsheet.co/subscribe Here's my conversation with Vanssa .

Today's interview is with Eyal Lifshitz. Eyal is a third generation entrepreneur who has seen first hand the challenges small businesses face in building a company from the group up. His father ran his own small physical therapy clinic in New York, while his grandfather was an electrical supplies store owner in Israel. Eyal was a Principal at Greylock IL, Greylock Partners’ dedicated fund for Israel and Europe, where he was involved in investing over $100 million in capital in start-up companies. Eyal’s father owned a small business in New York and saw first-hand the financial toll of having to wait on long payment cycles, often not taking a salary for months before payments arrived. This inspired Eyal to start BlueVine to provide a solution that enabled small business owners to grow and prosper through his company, BlueVine. As BlueVine’s founder and CEO, Eyal gives small businesses access to working capital by providing advances on outstanding invoices. BlueVine provides flexible working capital financing to small and medium-sized businesses, giving them quick access to the funds needed to purchase inventory, cover expenses or expand operations. BlueVine is funded by Lightspeed Venture Partners, 83NORTH, Correlation Ventures, Citi Ventures, Menlo Ventures, Rakuten Fintech Fund and other private investors.  Our interview focuses on different ways to finance your business. Resources Mentioned In The Interview BlueVine Website: https://www.bluevine.com/ Eyal's LinkedIn Information: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eyallifshitz/ Catch our interview here or below See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Former Chief Innovation Officer and CEO of Citi Ventures, Deborah Hopkins, sits down with Aaron Strout, CMO of W2O Group, to talk about how to successfully drive change in large organizations, overcome challenges in the workplace and empower members of your team.

Citi Chief Innovation Officer Deborah Hopkins believes now is an incredible time for new companies due to the pace of cultural and technological change. As the head of Citi Ventures, Hopkins leads the banking firm's efforts to invest in companies delivering disruptive technology products. Hopkins shares rules for revolutionary entrepreneurs and describes how Citi's initiatives are shaped by empathy for customers and a commitment to sharing new ideas.

Citi Chief Innovation Officer Deborah Hopkins believes now is an incredible time for new companies due to the pace of cultural and technological change. As the head of Citi Ventures, Hopkins leads the banking firm's efforts to invest in companies delivering disruptive technology products. Hopkins shares rules for revolutionary entrepreneurs and describes how Citi's initiatives are shaped by empathy for customers and a commitment to sharing new ideas.

Citi Chief Innovation Officer Deborah Hopkins believes now is an incredible time for new companies due to the pace of cultural and technological change. As the head of Citi Ventures, Hopkins leads the banking firm's efforts to invest in companies delivering disruptive technology products. Hopkins shares rules for revolutionary entrepreneurs and describes how Citi's initiatives are shaped by empathy for customers and a commitment to sharing new ideas.