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“Founders deserve Investors that have relevant operating experience, time to help them and can be impartial and objective in the advice they give.” Today's 40 Minute Mentor is Gideon Valkin, former Monzo and ClearScore Commercial Leader, Investor and Entrepreneur. Following 15 years as a Founder, Operator and Investor, Gideon is now combining being a Founder and Investor in the launch of Andrena Ventures - a $12m solo GP fund. Andrena is investing $100k-$400k tickets at pre-seed and seed into teams coming from the UK and European ecosystem, focusing on backing the most talented FinTech alumni. In these 40 minutes, you'll find out… Episode chapters: ➡️ The Investors Founders deserve [03:00] ➡️ Upbringing & values that shape Gideon today [04:00] ➡️ Learning fundamental lessons from Tennis [10:30] ➡️ From Founder to Operator [14:15] ➡️ Overcoming the most challenging times [17:45] ➡️ Working alongside Tom Blomfield and Justin Basini [20:50] ➡️ Raising a solo GP fund [27:30] ➡️ A solo GP approach to working with Founders [29:00] ➡️ Important qualities in a Founder [32:15] ➡️ A look into the future [39:30] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Follow Gideon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gideon-valkin-05a44823?originalSubdomain=uk ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Tom Blomfield is a Group Partner at YC. Before YC, Tom founded two unicorns in the UK. He was co-founder of Monzo (most recently valued at $5BN), one of the first challenger banks in the UK. Monzo raised more than £1bn and counts 15% of the UK population as customers. Before Monzo, Tom founded GoCardless (YC S11), an online payments processor, most recently valued at $2.1BN. In Today's Episode with Tom Blomfield We Discuss: 1. From Founding Two Unicorns to YC Partner: Does Tom believe that all great founders show signs of exceptionalism early? What does Tom know now that he wishes he had known when he started his first company? Why did Tom decide now was the right time to switch from founder to investor with YC? 2. The YC Application Process: How it Works: How do the YC partners select which companies are accepted vs rejected? What specifically does Tom look for in the problem the company is looking to solve? In the interview, what are the signals of the highest quality founders? What questions does Tom always want to ask in YC interviews with founders? 3. The YC Batch: How it Works: How do the YC partners work with the 25 companies in their batch? What is the interaction? What are the single biggest mistakes companies make while in YC? What are the biggest pieces of advice YC gives founders on fundraising approaching demo day? How do the best YC founders fundraise and use demo day? How do the most nervous fundraise? How are YC partners measured in terms of their success and effectiveness? 4. AI: Consumer vs Enterprise/ Infrastructure vs Application Layer: Does Tom believe there is money to be made investing in infrastructure layer models today? Why is the commoditization of foundation models the best outcome for society? Why is Tom most excited about the application layer for the next wave of AI? What are the most exciting opportunities in consumer AI that are wide open today? 20VC: Behind the Scenes at Y Combinator: The Interview Process | What the Best & Worst Do in the Program | Do the Best All Raise Pre-Demo Day & YC's Fundraising Advice to Startups | Why the Value is in Application Layer AI with Tom Blomfield
Today on the podcast we have Tom Blomfield - founder of not one but two UK unicorns - Monzo and GoCardless. We asked Tom on the show to give the inside story on what it takes to found a multi-billion dollar business - the character traits but also the sacrifices. Are there consistent characteristics that unite leading founders, and ultimately is the struggle worth it?To say scaling Monzo has been challenging would be an understatement. From its messy origin emerging from a competitor, to convincing regulators to allow a 29 year old run to a bank, to dealing with the highs and lows of an intrusive British Press, forging Monzo from nothing has been extremely tough.Tom is incredibly open about the toll Monzo took on his mental health. He ultimately left in 2021 to become a prolific angel investor - seeing entrepreneurship from the other side of the table. We co-invest with Tom regularly and have loved working with him as a product-focused board member for our portfolio company Kapu. He recently moved to San Francisco to join Y Combinator as a Group Partner. There are a few people in the world better positioned than Tom Blomfield to identify what it takes to create a technology giant from scratch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
“I think 2024 is a great opportunity to back fantastic people and get more attention on things that are undervalued or don't get enough attention to invest in.” Described as the ‘Queen of British VC' by Fortune magazine, we are kicking off our new VC feature series with the brilliant Eileen Burbidge MBE. Eileen is a Founding Partner at Passion Capital, the pre-eminent early-stage technology venture fund based in London, where she backed some of the most successful Tech businesses, including Monzo Bank, Marshmallow, and many more. She is currently also Director at Fertifa, the UK and Europe's leading reproductive benefits provider. Outside of Passion and Fertifa, Eileen has also served as the UK Treasurer's Special Envoy for FinTech for 8 years, was Tech Ambassador for the Mayor of London's office and served on the former UK Prime Minister David Cameron's Business Advisory Group. Eileen has extensive operational and investment experience, from roles at Tech giants including Yahoo!, Skype and Apple, so there is plenty to dive into in today's episode. Episode Chapters: ➡️ Her proudest moment of backing Monzo Bank [2:11] ➡️ Busting the biggest myths in VC [4:33] ➡️ Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago & her perception of ‘diversity' [7:59] ➡️ Falling in love with Tech and working at Apple [11:33] ➡️ Shazam V Skype: A Tech standoff [15:24] ➡️ Being one of the first employees at Skype & reflections on being fired [17:04] ➡️ Leadership lessons from Niklas Zennström [20:31] ➡️ Journey from Operator to VC [24:00] ➡️ Her early stage investment thesis & focusing on people [27:56] ➡️ Indexing on integrity & trust when assessing Founders [30:59] ➡️ Stepping into interim CEO roles [34:46] ➡️ Why she feels like the board let Tom Blomfield down & succession plans [38:04] ➡️ Stepping back into an executive role at Fertifa [42:26] ➡️ Hiring advice for Founders [47:15] ➡️ Taking a hard look at ourselves to improve DE&I [49:21] ➡️ What to look forward to in 2024 [51:59] ⛳ Helpful links: ➡️ Connect with Eileen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eileenburbidge/ ➡️ Find out more about Passion Capital: https://www.linkedin.com/company/passion-capital/ ➡️ Explore the work of Fertifa: https://www.fertifa.com/ ⭐Enjoyed this episode?⭐️ Keep up to date with all our latest episodes, by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy the most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review on https://ratethispodcast.com/40mm
“There is no entrepreneurial gene, I don't think,” says James Wise, partner at VC firm Balderton Capital and author of Start-Up-Century.He adds:“I don't think it is in your DNA. But certainly, your upbringing and the role models you have around you do make a big difference.”Wise gives us the full skinny on his new book, Start-Up Nation, which offers a fresh look at the rise in entrepreneurship and startups and how they are changing the world of work as well as what the changing economy means for the future.He talks about fintech luminaries, such as GoCardless founder Hiroki Takeuchi who was “integral” to some of the thinking behind the book.On Monzo co-founder Tom Blomfield and Revolut co-founder Nikolay Storonsky, Wise said:“If you look at the backgrounds of Tom and Nikolay, they are both incredibly competitive, entrepreneurial people.”Wise also offers his view on some of the latest fintech trends.
Richard Robinson, co-founder of Robin AI, discusses how artificial intelligence has the power to massively transform the legal sector – though not without considerable risks. The CEO explains why people will always be needed despite the rise of automation, how the government can regulate AI without sacrificing innovation, and shares funding advice for startups. Robin AI is a London-based startup using generative artificial intelligence to automate time-consuming administrative work in the legal sector, such as contract drafting. Robinson co-founded the company in 2019 and it has since raised $16m from the likes of Google and Monzo's Tom Blomfield. Robin AI's technology is based in part on the work of Californian AI unicorn Anthropic.
20Angel is a series profiling European angel investors with the best Founder NPS. Episode 12 features Steve O'Hear, CEO and Founder of strategic communications agency, O'Hear & Co, and an executive at Zapp. Previously, Steve spent over 15 years as a technology and business journalist, including more than 10 years reporting for TechCrunch, covering European startups and venture capital. He was also a startup founder himself, as CEO of social question & answer platform Beepl, before it exited in 2012. He is now an Atomico Angel, with checks into companies including Papaya, Medishout, Genie, Juno and many more. The format for 20Angel is consistent across show, with questions including: What are some of the non-obvious things they look for when investing in a company? How they work with their Founders? How Founders should approach them? What they think makes a great angel investor? Learnings from their Anti-Portfolio? The show is sponsored by Edda.co, a design-led software that allows you to see, in real time, the true dimension of your investments, and the value and impact they create. Edda Dealflow and Edda Portfolio streamlines the operations of funds, from managing due diligence and deal flow through to supporting portfolio companies. It brings the entire investment process together in one place, supercharging communications with portfolio companies, making investments much easier. To find out more, visit edda.co and request a demo using "Edda20VC".
In der Rubrik “Investments & Exits” begrüßen wir heute Tina Dreiman, Co-Founder von better ventures. Tina hat die Finanzierungsrunde von doctorly, Qaptis und StudentFinance kommentiert. Das Berliner Startup doctorly hat in einer Series-A-Finanzierungsrunde 9,4 Millionen Euro (10 Millionen US-Dollar) erhalten, um die Software im Gesundheitswesen zu revolutionieren. Ziel des Unternehmens ist es, das medizinische Personal mit modernen Tools und Support dabei zu unterstützen, effizienter zu arbeiten und bessere Ergebnisse für die Patienten zu erzielen. Zu den Investoren der Finanzierungsrunde gehören WELL Technologies, Horizons Ventures, The Delta, Speedinvest, UNIQA Ventures, Calm/Storm und Seedcamp.Qaptis, ein in der Schweiz ansässiges Startup, hat seine Pre-Seed-Finanzierungsrunde mit einer Investition von 1,3 Millionen Schweizer Franken abgeschlossen. Das Geld stammt von Unternehmen wie BlackWood, Cargill, YB Startup, Plug and Play und Business Angels. Das Unternehmen hat eine Lösung zur CO2-Abtrennung entwickelt, die bei schweren Fahrzeugen nachgerüstet werden kann und bis zu 90 % der Emissionen auffangen soll. Die Technologie könnte dazu beitragen, den Güterverkehr und die Lieferketten zu dekarbonisieren, ohne dass Änderungen an der Infrastruktur erforderlich sind, und stellt somit eine unmittelbare Lösung für die Herausforderungen dar, die sich aus den Emissionen des Schwerlastverkehrs ergeben. Die in Madrid ansässige Weiterbildungsplattform StudentFinance hat in einer Series-A-Finanzierungsrunde unter der Leitung von Iberis Capital und Smart Lenders Asset Management 39 Millionen Euro erhalten. Weitere Investoren sind Mustard Seed Maze, Armilar Venture Partners, Giant Ventures, Seedcamp und britische Angel-Investoren wie Ed Vaizey, Tom Blomfield und Martin Villig. StudentFinance unterstützt Menschen durch flexible Finanzierungsoptionen bei der Weiterbildung. Derzeit arbeitet StudentFinance mit Bildungsanbietern in mehr als 50 Programmen zusammen, darunter Webentwicklung, maschinelles Lernen und Data Science.
What is a female urinal and why does it matter? Ever walked past a massive queue for the ladies, while the queue for the mens is non-existent and wondered why? Ever wondered what the solution is? Women have to urinate more often and on average for longer than men. Plus, we have more reason to visit the loo (typically we take on more care duties for children or adults who need assistance, plus menstruation ). Our toilets also take up more space, so we tend to have fewer places to go, because venues focus on equal square footage of toilets, not equal access to facilities.Enter Peequal, whose founders Amber and Hazel were fed up with having to choose whether to visit the bathroom or get food in intervals and at festivals. So far, they've raised £250k for their innovative take on a women's urinal which has already been rolled out at festivals like Glastonbury and Wilderness Festival, and saw international demand before they even had a working prototype. Investors include Tom Blomfield, founder of Monzo.In this episode we cover: The power of cardboard prototypes and watching how customers use urinals (without being arrested)Why Glastonbury made the perfect early evangelists venueHow constructive conflict can be the key to happy co-foundingHeart in mouth moments from pitch decks missteps to manufacture mess-upsGetting on BBC's front-page and drumming up international demand with a prototype that didn't work, and they were almost too embarrassed to showFundraising tips Plus much more!Links: Checkout Peequal hereFollow Peequal on instagram here or Twitter hereRead Invisible Women hereGet data on how investors view your decks with Docsend Seed legals explains ASAs hereFounder catalyst offers free ASA here Convertible notes explained here
Chris Donnelly is the co-founder of Lottie, the care home comparison platform that has changed the sector forever. Previously the founder of VERB, a digital marketing agency for luxury and premium brands, Chris has been on the receiving end of numerous accolades, including being named in Forbes' 30 under 30 in 2020.He hit the headlines across the country for giving staff the day off to go to the pub when the world opened up after a lockdown. But Chris Donnelly has a strong track record of cultivating a positive workplace culture. His employees get time off if they suffer a miscarriage or are going through IVF. Chris is one of the most reflective and open guests we've had on the podcast. This is our conversation with 'Britain's best boss'.Here's what we discussed:What was it like getting the title of 'Britain's Best Boss'? (01:29)You let men and women alike take time off if they suffer a miscarriage, and you recognise IVF treatment and adoption as times employees can have time off too – why is it important to recognise these moments in the workplace? (02:20)Your business partner is your brother. How has the experience of running a business with a family been for you? (03:51)How do you vet care homes to ensure they aren't just paying lip service to residents? (08:07)Lottie is now valued at £45m and it was founded at the beginning of 2021. What is the secret to scaling so rapidly? (10:38)You recently acquired another company Found for £1.5m. Were there any challenges you faced during this experience? (13:40)Do you have any tips for people going through the process of an IPO? (16:24)You post a lot about workplace culture on LinkedIn. What kind of workplace culture do you try to cultivate and why is it essential for business leaders to consider culture as important? (20:49)Have you experienced backlash from your well-publicised incentives for your employees, such as having the day off after the lockdowns or letting people have time off for IVF treatment? (23:47)Where did you the motivation to start luxury marketing agency VERB? (25:59)You achieved funding for Lottie from some big names – (Angel and Zoopla exec David Wascha and former Airbnb and Facebook Director Caroline Hudack and Monzo founder Tom Blomfield to name a few) – how can listeners attract the attention of big-name investors? (30:11)What is the hardest thing about being a business founder? How have you overcome this challenge? (37:12)Answer the Internet: What do CEOs do all day? (40:08)What makes a great business leader? (41:30)Be sure to subscribe to the podcast and the Business Leader YouTube channel for more interviews with some of the world's leading business figures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The show that interviews entrepreneurs to discover the moments of vulnerability and doubt that even the most successful founders face. On Founders Uncut you'll hear how they deal with these moments. If you're an early stage startup founder, listen in. You are not alone. Host Maria Palma, General Partner at Kindred Capital is here to remind you that often, the hardest things, are the most worth doing. The European tech scene has been booming. In 2021 alone, 98 companies graduated to unicorn status. But what does it actually feel like to be a unicorn founder? It probably seems from the outside that it's an enviable position. The reality is quite different. This podcast was created to expose more of that story - the show interviews entrepreneurs that have scaled up to discover the moments of vulnerability, doubt and unbelievable difficulties that even the most successful founders face, but that never make the headlines. The startup journey is never the easy, straightforward path it seems to be from the outside. Host Maria Palma, former operator and General Partner at Kindred Capital, says “It can be tempting for first time founders to read the headlines and assume everyone else is having an easier time building a company than they are. Everywhere you look, there are headlines of major funding rounds, other companies closing huge clients or going public, yet the reality feels very different. Being a founder is one of the hardest things you can do, and often, important parts of that story go untold.” Founders Uncut interviews scaled founders such as Tom Blomfield of Monzo and GoCardless, George Bevis of Tide, Flori Marquez of BlockFi, Michael Rangel of Novo and others. It's also important to tell the stories where things don't work out as planned and companies don't just have incredible outcomes. One of the first guests on the show is Mike Quinn, who talks about scaling up Zoona, one of Africa's first fintechs, for nine years before it fell into a death spiral. He wrote a book titled “Failing to Win” about that journey to share learnings with future founders and is currently building his next venture, Boost. Find out more at KindredCapital.VC/FoundersUncut This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
On the outside, it probably seemed that Tom was living the founder dream life, but the reality was that towards the end of Tom's time at Monzo, the emotional journey of being a founder was taking its toll - he was under a lot of pressure with many sleepless nights and wasn't sure he wanted to continue the journey. Tom grew Monzo from 0 to over 2,000 employees and was one of the youngest CEOs of a UK regulated bank ever. He raised over $500M on the Monzo journey and the product they built at Monzo is used by over 5 million people. Tom was also a co-founder of GoCardless. Today, Tom Blomfield is a prolific angel, and a visiting partner for YC. In this episode you will hear more from Tom about: 1) The reality of the startup founder journey What did the end of the Monzo journey feel like for him? What does burnout feel like? Why doesn't he think the word burnout is the right description? How do you maintain headspace as a founder? What could he have done to make the journey more sustainable? Would he still be running Monzo if he'd done those things? 2) How do you know your startup is living its values? How do you see/feel values in real life? What were some of Monzo's core values? How did he as the CEO encourage and discourage certain behaviour when it was or wasn't aligned with the values? 3) Tom's Leadership Style and Lessons Why showing vulnerability is important in leadership Why crying or showing emotion as a leader is a strength, not a weakness What's the difference between leadership versus management? How do you know if your team is growing at the pace the company needs during startup hypergrowth scaling? What do you do when someone is not fitting in? 4) Fundraising and Who You Need by Your Side in the Startup Founding Journey What does it feel like to fundraise? Why you actually might want VC naysayers and doubters in your corner and not just venture capital cheerleaders. Check out more from him, including his famous fundraising guide, at tomblomfield.com. Find out more at KindredCapital.VC/FoundersUncut This podcast was produced by Fascinate Productions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Sign up for my Daily Fintech or Daily Digital Banking Newsletters here. Check out my latest podcast episode below: Welcome to another episode of our Daily Fintech Podcast. This podcast episode is sponsored by Sokin. Sokin is the trusted global FX payment provider for some of the world's leading brands. With Sokin Premium you can send and receive unlimited international payments for one fixed monthly fee. Market beating rates, no commission, hassle-free. THE NEWS HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY IS JPMorgan Chase & Co confirms its support to Ukraine by making an initial $1 million philanthropic contribution, and offering to match employee donations. JUST IN: Banco Santander have removed fees on all permitted transfers to Ukraine, and is making an initial donation of €1 million to the Red Cross and UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. ALSO: German digital banking powerhouse N26 will be structurally ready for an IPO by the end of the year and could list as early as 2024 FURTHERMORE, Australian Fintech ZeeFi is the new kid on the BNPL block – the first to specialise only in payments for education providers. Fairbit, a California-based SoftPOS Solution provider, is happy to announce that it received Mastercard Tap on Phone EMV Level 2 certification for the “Fairbit Kernel-on-the-Cloud” product. WHAT ARE THE LATEST INSIGHTS? Will Rice, CEO of Generation Home, is speaking about Tom Blomfield, the Monzo Bank and GoCardless founder, who remerged last year on the board of Generation Home. Blomfield was said to be blown away by Generation Home's proposition of allowing mum and dad to be on the mortgage of first-time house buyers, enabling them to borrow more money. WHAT ABOUT FUNDING ROUNDS AND INVESTMENTS? Detected has raised an additional £1.5 million in just three weeks, adding to £2 million seeded in previous funding rounds.
In these ‘Moment' episodes of my podcast, I'll be selecting my favourite moments from previous episodes of The Diary Of A CEO. Tom Blomfield has found multiple multi-million pound companies, but what is it which makes Tom such a successful serial-entrepreneur? In this moment clip, Tom reveals what he believes are the most significant qualities which made him the disruptive, industry-changing entrepreneur he is today. Episode 86 - https://g2ul0.app.link/KvEkNBrkTkb Tom: https://twitter.com/t_blom
Tom Blomfield, wow what an entrepreneur. This guy has founded multiple multi-million-pound companies, that have become monumental disrupters in the industry. And let's face it, Monzo, one of the companies Tom founded and led, is the one of the most forward-thinking, innovative, fastest-growing companies there is. Tom was born in Hong Kong and lived with his father and mother. His father was a business-minded civil engineer and his mother was an artist. When Tom was a child, he moved to London to attend grammar school in Amersham, Buckinghamshire then moving on to study Law at Oxford. Whilst studying at Oxford, at the age of 21, he co-founded Boso.com an “eBay for students”. After a few internships with law firms he decided being a lawyer wasn't for him and followed the entrepreneurial journey instead. In January 2011 Blomfield co-founded the UK-based company GoCardless, an automated payment method that processes Direct Debit payments on behalf of other businesses and organisations. Blomfield stayed in Silicon Valley during his three years at the company, it raised around £35 million of investment and hired 100 people. When GoCardless appointed Hiroki Takeuchi as CEO in 2013, he left (keeping a "very small share" in the £50-100m valued company) Tom moved to New York to work for dating site Grouper social club as their Head of Growth. Blomfield left Grouper in 2014, and it closed in 2016. Following his departure from Grouper Social Club Blomfield joined Anne Boden's Starling bank as the CTO. Startling was, at that point one of the first digital banking companies. Tom left the company in early 2015 after reports of disagreements at Starling, telling the Financial Times that "he could not comment under the terms of his departure". Today we learn about what really happened at Starling. In 2015, he founded challenger bank Monzo, operating with no branches and instead offering accounts online In its first fundraising round, the company raised "£1 million in 96 seconds”. In April, Blomfield announced he would forgo his salary for one year to help his company during the COVID-19 pandemic In May, he announced that he was stepping down as CEO of Monzo and taking on the role of president of the company. In January 2021 he announced he was leaving the company permanently. This conversation today takes us through Tom's wild entrepreneurial journey expressing the highs and lows of running a business. He also talks about the disagreements at Starling bank and ultimately his reason for starting Monzo in the first place. His stories are unique, and more importantly honest. Unbelievably honest. He tells you the mistakes he made, his deepest insecurities, his biggest challenges and the things he wish he knew. Wow this is a good one. Why entrepreneurship? What made you want to disrupt an industry? Monzo & Starling rivalry Starting Monzo Wanting to be seen to be a success What were the good times at Monzo? What were the bad times at Mozo? Was the business model of Monzo bad? Leaving Monzo Not sleeping because of the stress of the business How was holding down a relationship while running the business? The “red phone” in your bedroom What was your life like outside of the business? The road to leaving Monzo The urge to go back Death Threats Enjoying the small things in life and relationships Your purpose in life Crypto currencies The good things about being a CEO Tom: https://twitter.com/t_blom https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomblomfield Sponsors: https://uk.huel.com/ https://fiverr.com/ceo
On this episode of Think Like a Founder, SNP Co-Founder & CEO, Maureen Taylor, speaks with Hiroki Takeuchi, Co-Founder and CEO of GoCardless. They talk about catching the startup bug, not outsourcing your core value, and the excitement of the unknown. From small businesses to enterprises, GoCardless makes it easy to collect payments from customers worldwide. By simplifying the transaction process, they help reduce operational costs and improve cash flow to help businesses grow. Before founding GoCardless in 2011 with Matt Robinson and Tom Blomfield, Hiroki worked as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. GoCardless is now valued at nearly one billion dollars. Think Like A Founder is produced by SNP Communications in San Francisco, California. Learn more about the Think Like a Founder podcast and curriculum by visiting us at https://now.snpnet.com/tlaf or connect with Maureen Taylor on LinkedIn to continue the conversation there. Series Producer: Roisin HuntSound Design: Marc Ream Content and Scripting: Mike Sullivan and Jaselin DrownProduction Coordinator: Natasha ThomasThanks also to Selena Persiani-Shell, Jordan Bailey, Matt Johnson, Eli Shell, John Hughes, and Renn Vara.
Get you own unique referral link: https://www.secretleaders.com/hypeTom Blomfield, the former CEO and Co-Founder of Monzo, and Co-Founder of GoCardless, knows a thing or two about the fintech industry. “We wanted to create something different than existing banks. We believed that the banks weren't serving customers particularly well at that moment. Customer expectations had been raised dramatically by things like Spotify, Uber and Airbnb, in terms of the user experience and functionality.”Which is why his announcement in January 2021 that he was leaving Monzo, 6 years after founding the challenger bank, came as a shock to many. “When you get to that size, it's about people management. You spend almost no time on product or customers really. It's about process, a lot of process, extraordinary amount of regulation.”But it takes an outstanding leader to know when to step aside. And in today’s inaugural episode of Season 7, Tom talks about the mounting pressure when you’re at the top and ultimately its impact on your mental health and identity. “I've talked about suffering that kind of stress, a build up of stress, it starts impacting your sleep, or at least it impacted my sleep, it became this vicious cycle where not sleeping makes your work worse, make worse decisions.”From raising £1m from crowdfunding in 96 seconds, to how he scaled personally alongside the bank, to building a culture from the very outset, to what made him leave Monzo - Tom is exceedingly candid in this interview, which was recorded just a few weeks after his departure.Don’t miss this hugely insightful episode from one of Europe’s top founders and CEOs - it’s something all entrepreneurs need to hear.We chat about:Crowdfunding MonzoBuilding a culture from the startEntrepreneurship and mental healthHis decision process to leave MonzoLinks:MonzoGoCardlessWant to receive our podcast on a weekly basis? Subscribe to our newsletter!
In this Money Talks segment, Pete and Eoin try to make sense of GameStop and WallStreetBets, the aftermath of the failed Plaid-Visa deal, who might buy Monzo, a Cambrian explosion at the intersection of money and society and RIP Hammerin’ Hank Aaron. This episode of MoneyNeverSleeps is sponsored by PAT Fintech, the training partner that demystifies fintech and digital finance for financial services professionals. MAIN STORIES WE COVERED: What the Hell Is Going On With GameStop’s Stock? (Slate, 26-Jan-21) What does it mean for the future of publicly traded equities where you have groups like WallStreetBets, who on a whim, can turn against you and drive the stock up or down? When a market is 24/7, whether that’s in crypto or with after-hours trading on public equities, you’ve got to get your head around all of these new channels where market sentiment is effectively created and observable in real time. The hedge funds need to get smarter, because the crowd now has the ability to move the price, almost on its own whim. European fintechs spy opportunity in Visa’s failed Plaid deal (Sifted, 20-Jan-21) From a Plaid perspective, they’re pretty happy about this. The market is moving so fast, tech is moving so fast, revenue growth is on fire, especially in the digital world, and Plaid is now likely worth multiples of the $5.3bn they agreed with Visa 12 months ago. Some people are saying that the Plaid founders left a lot of money on the table by walking away, but they would’ve left a lot more money on the table by doing the deal. Are all of these banking infrastructure players getting too big where any incumbent that tries to buy them will have their deal struck down for anti-competitive reasons? Monzo founder Tom Blomfield is departing the challenger bank (TechCrunch, 20-Jan-21) Who would buy Monzo? Not a big bank, they’d just kill it, and one of the big tech players wouldn’t find Monzo deal compelling enough. It might be the next tier of tech players, someone looking to pick up a banking solution as part of a wider play. Visa have loads of money to throw around now that they’re not buying Plaid, maybe they’ll buy Monzo? Could you take the assets of the Monzo tech stack itself, and turn that into a product licensed on a banking-as-a-service basis? OTHER STORIES WE MENTIONED: What DeFi Has in Common With Cubism (Lex Sokolin, CoinDesk, 27-Jan-21) Baseball mourns death of long-time home run king Hank Aaron (The42, 28-Jan-21) LINKS: Subscribe and leave a review on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google | Podchaser Check out our MoneyNeverSleeps website Subscribe to our newsletter on Substack Follow us on Twitter Get in touch at info@moneyneversleeps.ie --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/moneyneversleeps/support
Our expert hosts, David Brear and Kate Moody, are joined by some great guests to talk about the most notable fintech, financial services and banking news from the past week. This week's guests include: Oliver Prill - CEO, Tide Tosin Agbabiaka - Early Stage Investor, Octopus Ventures. We also spkoe to we spoke to Vidya Peters, CMO at Marqeta to hear more about their story. We cover the following stories from the fintech and financial services space: It been a busy week for Goldman, as Marcus offers checking accounts with Marqeta in the US, while hunting for acquisition opportunities for Marcus UK. Tide to launch in India Monzo founder Tom Blomfield is departing the challenger bank and says he’s ‘struggled’ during the pandemic - Grab’s financial services arm raises $300M Paypal takes full ownership of Chinese payments company GoPay Jamie Dimon says JPMC should be “scared shitless” about fintech This podcast is brought to you by Jack Henry Digital (https://hubs.ly/H0w__kt0) the pioneer and creator of personal digital banking that helps community financial institutions strategically differentiate their digital offerings from those of MegaBanks, BigTechs and FinTechs. This podcast is also brought to you by Mitek (https://bit.ly/3bAy2HL)(NASDAQ: MITK). Mitek is a global leader in mobile capture and digital identity verification solutions built on the latest advancements in computer vision, artificial intelligence and machine learning. Mitek’s identity verification solutions enable an enterprise to verify a user’s identity during a digital transaction, which assists businesses operating in highly regulated markets to reduce financial risk and meet regulatory requirements while increasing revenue from digital channels. Financial services, marketplaces and other organizations around the world use Mitek to reduce friction creating the digital experiences their customers expect. Mobile Deposit® and Mobile Verify® are used by millions of consumers for check deposit, new account opening and more. The company is based in San Diego with offices in New York, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris and St Petersburg. Learn more at www.miteksystems.com. Banking as a Service is deconstructing the banking stack. It's enabling brands to embed finance more easily, and to tailor financial products to specific customer needs. This is presenting new opportunities for specialised providers and offers banks extra revenue streams. Download our report for a comprehensive, no BS view of what Banking as a Service is and what it means for the industry. Head to bit.ly/bankingasaservice (https://bit.ly/bankingasaservice). Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. Hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David Brear, Simon Taylor, Jason Bates and Sarah Kocianski and joined by a range of brilliant guests, we cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive into subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, alternatively email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Oliver Prill, Tosin Agbabiaka, and Vidya Peters .
Monzo founder Tom Blomfield is departing the U.K. challenger bank entirely at the end of the month, staff were informed earlier today. Blomfield held the role of CEO until May last year when he assumed the newly created title of president and resigned from the Monzo board. However, having been given the time and space […]
Heather Noble & Tracy Jones present The Business Community on Calon FM, Episode 124. Find out more about this show, the presenters, Calon FM and previous episodes at www.thebusiness.community.
In the last Fintech Insider News show of the year expert hosts, David Brear and Simon Taylor, are joined by a panel of awesome guests to talk about the most notable fintech, financial services and banking news from the past week. Making his Fintech Insider debut: Bradley Riss - Chief Commercial Officer at Checkout.com. And we also have some familiar faces returning to the show: Tom Blomfield - Cheif Executive Officer at Monzo Louise Hill - Co-founder & Chief Operating Officer at gohenry We cover the following stories from the fintech and financial services space: RBS to pay £40m penalty for foreign exchange rigging (02:44) WeLab raises $156 million ahead of virtual bank launch (11:01) OakNorth sees first loan default (19:23) Incumbents and challengers hike overdraft rates (25:34) Venmo and PNC feud over glitch (34:06) Volt’s onboarding process begins (38:17) Three more payday lenders fold (46:50) Mastercard launches mobile gift card (57:12) Love fintech? Then sign up for our newsletter, Fintech in Five. A snack-sized selection of the week's biggest stories, longer reads, soundbites and more. Just visit this link to sign up! 11fs.com/newsletter Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. Hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David Brear, Simon Taylor, Jason Bates, Leda Glyptis and Sarah Kocianski and joined by a range of brilliant guests, we cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive in subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, alternatively email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Bradley Riss, Louise Hill, and Tom Blomfield.
Meet Tom Blomfield, Principal Oboe of the Philharmonia Orchestra, to learn more about what it’s like to be an oboist and to discover the fascinating story behind the Strauss Oboe Concerto. Created in the aftermath of World War II, this nostalgic piece is one of the few opportunities an oboe soloist gets to stand in front of a symphony orchestra. The concerto also forms a part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s great recording legacy – the Philharmonia made the first recording of the piece in 1947. Tom Blomfield performs the Strauss Oboe Concerto on 19 January 2020 as part of the Philharmonia Orchestra’s 75th Anniversary celebrations, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Find out more and book here: https://www.philharmonia.co.uk/concerts/2510/voices_of_1945
The UK's banks haven't been able to agree who should pay compensation to customers who have had money fraudulently stolen from their bank accounts. Until last May the banks routinely refused to refund these customers. A new Code promised that all innocent customers would be reimbursed from 28 May but that runs out at the end of next month. We speak to Tom Blomfield boss of Monzo, one of the biggest online-only banks. Can technology be used to make it easier and cheaper for people to borrow money - especially those who use expensive short term credit or have poor credit ratings? That was the starting point for the Affordable Credit Challenge which was launched in July to make loans not only more affordable but also more available to low income households. We find out about the solutions that have made it onto the shortlist. A few weeks ago we were contacted by a listener who had suggested to his daughter and son aged 19 and 18 that they start a pension. But they told him "it was a bonkers idea". But could they be persuaded it was in fact something worth considering? And the joke bank notes that made their way into circulation: who bears the cost when they’re discovered not to be legal tender? Presenter: Paul Lewis Reporter: Dan Whitworth Producer: Alex Lewis Editor: Emma Rippon
Our expert hosts, David Brear and Kate Moody, are joined by some great guests to talk about the most notable fintech, financial services and banking news from the past week. This week's guests include: Tom Blomfield - CEO of Monzo Edoardo Volta - VP, Head of Fintechs at Mastercard James Butland - VP Global Banking at Airwallex We cover the following stories from the fintech and financial services space: Monzo have their say following the BBC’s highlight critical Watchdog attack (02:20) Fintech’s fast pass to traditional banking is now cut off (27:11) Banks Must Act Now or Risk Becoming a ‘Footnote’: McKinsey (41:54) Uber pushes into payments with Uber Money (50:23) Square launched stock trading on its popular Cash App (58:25) And finally - Alexa can pay your bills (01:07:10) Check out our brand new documentary 11:YEARS - the Rise of UK Fintech now. Head over to 11years.film to watch for free, and share using #11YEARS. Fintech Insider by 11:FS is a podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. Hosted by a rotation of 11:FS experts including David Brear, Simon Taylor, Jason Bates, Leda Glyptis and Sarah Kocianski and joined by a range of brilliant guests, we cover the latest global news, bring you interviews from industry experts or take a deep dive in subject matters such as APIs, AI or digital banking. If you enjoyed don't forget to subscribe and please leave a review Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fintechinsiders where you can ask the hosts questions, alternatively email podcasts@11fs.com! Special Guests: Edoardo Volta, James Butland, Kate Moody, and Tom Blomfield.
Monzo, a UK digital banking service, will be launching its services in the United States this year. According to reports, the company has organized a team in the United States to put the launch in order. The launch will reportedly include events in US cities like Los Angeles and New York. Through these events, Monzo hopes to gain insights that can help in identifying the banking habits and needs of US customers. CEO Tom Blomfield said that Monzo will partner with a US bank upon launching. However, Monzo also plans to eventually obtain a license that will allow it to stand on its own. Similar to its UK counterpart, Monzo will have no brick-and-mortar locations in the United States, so transactions will happen through the Monzo app. Customers will only be given debit cards that are linked to the app. However, Monzo will initially release only the lite version of its app in the United States. This means that it cannot conduct financial transactions that are available to UK customers, like lending money. But most of the other banking features, such as online payments and spending notifications, will be available. One challenge for Monzo is that the banking regulations in the United States are not the same as those of the United Kingdom. A digital banking consultant shared that US banking regulators are not as lenient as those in the United Kingdom. He also warned Monzo that most US customers prefer using credit cards. Despite this, a financial analyst is positive that Monzo will become popular in the United States because the country has no key player in the digital banking market yet.
Now boasting a $2.5B valuation, the UK-based digital bank Monzo has amassed over two million customers in four years. Founder and CEO Tom Blomfield, a 33-year old serial entrepreneur, sits with LionTree Executive in Residence and Member of Parliament Ed Vaizey to share the story of Monzo’s meteoric rise, its crowd-funded and customer-centric core and its path to profitability as he sets his sights on the US market.Find and rate us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen. For more content, follow KindredCast on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. You can hear our radio show every Saturday and Sunday at 2PM on SiriusXM Insight, channel 121.Please read before listening: http://www.liontree.com/podcast-notices.html
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Kulveer Taggar is the Founder & CEO @ Zeus Living, the startup providing a home of your own for business travel with smartly furnished homes for extended stays. To date, Kul has raised over $14m in VC funding from some dear friends of the show in the form of Garry and Alexis @ Initialized, James and Pete @ NFX, Mike @ Floodgate, Y Combinator, GV and Naval Ravikant just to name a few. Prior to Zeus, Kul co-founded Auctomatic alongside Stripe's Patrick Collison, they ultimately sold the company for $5m. Before that, Kul co-founded Bosco, alongside former 20VC guest, Monzo's Tom Blomfield, they raised seed funding from YC before moving to the states to start Auctomatic. If that wasn't enough, Kul has also made several angel investments in the likes of Boom, Airhelp, Meetings.io and more. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Kul made his way from Oxford University to being at the centre of one of tech's most powerful hubs of YC and then with the founding of Zeus? What were Kul's biggest takeaways from his first 2 startups? How did that impact his operating mentality? 2.) What did the idea generation process look like for Kul with Zeus? How was James Currier @ NFX so foundational helping here? Why does Kul believe that the idea "really is everything" today? Why does Kul believe that customer acquisition channels are a core part of the product that must be considered from Day 1? 3.) Before hitting on Zeus, Kul and the team had many ideas, what did that idea validation process look like? How did Kul keep morale high in the team when continuously trying and stopping work on new projects? How does Kul think you can use culture as a superpower? As a leader, how can you be both vulnerable and strong at the same time? 4.) Kul has previously said that "tech-enabled businesses are just much harder than pure software plays". Why is that? What makes them so much more challenging? How do the required skills to be successful change when moving from pure software to tech-enabled? What single question remains the most important to ask when innovating in either? 5.) VCs are not so used to such operationally heavy businesses so how did Kul find the fundraising process? Why does Kul advocate that all founders should speak to investors and A/B test their idea before starting work on it? How did investors differ when comparing SF vs NYC? How did the messaging have to change? What was the most common pushback or concern? What have Initialized done to have such a foundational impact? What makes Garry such a special investor to have on board? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Kul’s Fave Book: How The Mind Works by Steven Pinker As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Kul on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
The Sunday Times’ tech correspondent Danny Fortson brings on Hiroki Takeuchi, founder of GoCardless, the payment processor and biggest fintech company you have never heard of, to talk about starting at Y Combinator 8 years ago (3:00), the first idea he had with Tom Blomfield and Matt of Monzo (6:00), switching ideas (9:20), why big businesses didn’t so this themselves (11:30), laying the payment plumbing of the Internet (13:55), raising $75m in venture capital funding (16:25), growing up in Swindon (18:30), meeting his co-founders at Oxford (19:25), losing his co-founders (20:30), the dark moments of running a startup (22:30), the rise of the London fintech scene (25:30), the cycling accident that paralysed him (28:20), how it changed his focus (31:30), and the next five years (33:20). See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
This week we have some huge stories for you as David and Simon are joined by two fantastic fintech CEOs: Tom Blomfield, CEO of Monzo Romi Savova, CEO of PensionBee We kick off the episode with a story that'll give you 24 billion reasons to be impressed with the state of the UK's financial industry. It's the first time the four biggest lenders have made more than £20BN since 2007 and while it might appear to be a return to the good old days of pre-financial crisis finances, Romi points out that although the numbers are great, they might not be as great as they would have been in 2007 due to balance sheets. Tom also points out that banks have only made superficial changes so far but that's about to change (02:14). Next up, we talk about Santander's $700M deal with IBM. Tom points out that we only ever see headlines like this at the start of project, never at the end describing the results. Romi talks about how it's a sign that change is coming, but why are companies that market themselves as technology companies outsourcing for technology? (13:34). Later on in the show we discuss the RBS Remedies Fund. In a special segment with 11:FS' Adam Davis we discuss how this situation came to pass and the state of play of the fund at the moment. Tom puts the fund in the context of Monzo and how the challenger bank has £100M, the same amount of the second prize fund, to date on development (34:10). We also announce the winners of the fund, just in case you've missed out (49:42). Other stories included: * Ant Financial buy WorldFirst * SoFi plans new lending products and move into stock trading * Chase goes down * Yolt means business - we've got a great interview with Leon Muis, Chief Business Officer at Yolt to get a bit more insight * And Finally, a Natwest call handler channels his inner Piers Morgan All this and much much more on this week's news 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, written by Dhanum Nursigadoo and edited by Alex Woodhouse. Special Guests: Adam Davis, Leon Muis, Romi Savova, and Tom Blomfield.
Tom Blomfield is the co-founder and CEO of Monzo. A former management consultant and VP of growth at Grouper, his first experience with fintech was in 2010 when he co-founded GoCardless. He co-founded the app-only ‘neo-bank’ Monzo in 2015, which currently serves over one million customers and is valued at £1bn. In this in-depth interview, he describes the "monumental challenge" of investing in technology faced by traditional banks, reveals there has been a 70% reduction in betting behaviour since introducing a 'gambling block', and argues there is no reason why every person worldwide can’t have a fully functioning bank account.
Can banks survive without caring about customers? Monzo Co-Founder and CEO Tom Blomfield, who challenged the current system with his digital-only bank, tells us what he thinks will give customer better choice, better service and better price. But do people feel secure keeping their money in these so-called “neo banks”? We ask Alice Truswell, an Oxford MBA student with experience in digital banking strategy.
Can banks survive without caring about customers? Monzo Co-Founder and CEO Tom Blomfield, who challenged the current system with his digital-only bank, tells us what he thinks will give customer better choice, better service and better price. But do people feel secure keeping their money in these so-called “neo banks”? We ask Alice Truswell, an Oxford MBA student with experience in digital banking strategy.
The Twenty Minute VC: Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
Tom Blomfield is the Founder & CEO @ Monzo, in it's simplest words, the bank of the future allowing you to open a full UK bank account in minutes, from your phone. To date, Tom has raised over $190m in funding for Monzo from the likes of Thrive, Accel, General Catalyst, Stripe, Mike Moritz and Goodwater just to name a few. As for Tom, prior to Monzo he was the Co-Founder of another of London's rocketship startups in the form of GoCardless and before that co-founded student marketplace Boso.com alongside Triplebyte Founder, Harj Taggar. In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Tom made his way into the world of startups from University and came to found the bank of the future in Monzo? 2.) Why does Tom believe that scaling a company today can really be broken up into 3 distinct phases? What are those phases? How does what one needs for each phase differ accordingly? What elements has Tom found most challenging to navigate in the scale-up phase? Are there challenges or elements that are the same across every company? 3.) Why does Tom believe that product decision-making is both an art and a science? How does Tom determine when is the right time to add ancillary products? How can one really stress-test true customer love for the first product? How does Tom balance between product expansion vs geographical expansion? How does Tom balance between being customer-driven vs customer informed? 4.) Tom has grown Monzo to 1.2m users with virtually no advertising, how does Tom respond to the statement that there is a lack of free and open distribution today? What does Tom mean when he says "when it comes to customer acquisition you have to play a different game"? In building community, what have Monzo done so right? Where have they made mistakes? What have been some big lessons on early community building? 5.) Having raised over $190m in VC funding, what have been some of Tom's biggest lessons when it comes to fundraising? Why does Tom believe that so few boards are managed and run well? Where do they go wrong? What do great board managers do to run an efficient process? What does Tom mean when he says "use board meetings as a tool to instil operational excellence?" Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Tom’s Fave Book: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Tom on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.
Welcome to the third instalment of our Founder Sessions series. Tom Blomfield is the Founder & CEO of Monzo, one of the UK's leading digital banks. For Tom's full backstory, check out Rebank Episode 17, when we first connected with him. For an update on Monzo, including recently hitting the million customer milestone, check out Episode 108. Special thanks to everyone who responded to our request and rated and reviewed Rebank on iTunes. We've seen a marked boost to listenership already. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please enjoy today's episode with Tom Blomfield.
Tom Blomfield is very much a “get sh*t done” type entrepreneur, and he shared some key lessons with us at Zinc today. Early on, just focus on getting users! Do what doesn't scale, find your 1000 true fans and worry about scale later.
Tom Blomfield is the co-founder and CEO of Monzo, one of Europe's leading digital banks. For Tom's full backstory, check out Rebank Episode 17, when we first connected with him. In today's conversation, we discuss Monzo's recent milestones, future plans and much more. If you're a regular listener, please take two minutes to rate and review Rebank on iTunes or your go-to podcast platform. It really helps drive traffic. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please enjoy today's episode with Tom Blomfield.
Our host, Sarah Kocianski is joined by four great guests: Leda Glyptis, Chief of Staff at 11:FS, Joy Macknight, Deputy Editor at the Banker, Helene Panzarino, MD at Rainmaking Colab and Angelique Schouten, Global Board Member at Ohpen to talk about all the latest news in fintech. Including: First up, ING’s money laundering fine. Dutch bank ING admitted criminals had been able to launder money through its accounts and agreed to pay €775 million ($900 million) to settle the case. Dutch financial crime prosecutors said ING had violated laws on preventing money laundering and financing terrorism "structurally and for years" by not properly vetting the beneficial owners of client accounts and by not noticing unusual transactions through them. Half a billion stolen from UK banking customers in H1 2018. Industry group UK Finance said £145m of that was due to authorised push payment (APP) scams, in which people are conned into sending money to another account. But £358m was lost to unauthorised fraud, which includes transactions made without account holders' knowledge. Funding Circle’s IPO. Funding Circle has set a price range for its initial public offering (IPO) of 440 pence to 460 pence per share. The flotation will value the firm up to around £1.5 billion. The peer-to-peer lender said it intends to raise £300 million from the IPO. We have a brief comment from Funding Options Managing Director, Ryan Edwards-Pritchard to find out more. Funding Options’ funding. ING Ventures, the fintech venture capital arm of the Netherlands-based global bank, has taken a £5m minority equity stake in Funding Options. This follows the recent announcement that they're partnering with ING in the Netherlands to help Dutch businesses find the right finance for their situation. Monzo’s Million Customers. Tom Blomfield, said the "milestone shows that there’s real, mainstream appetite for a bank that’s doing things differently". Monzo now accounts for 15% of all new current account openings in the UK. Monzo customers now spend £12,000 on their cards every minute, the firm said, with £4bn in payments made so far. Monzo's "unicorn" valuation, of more than $1bn (£770m), is expected to be confirmed when it closes its latest round of fundraising, more than four times higher than its valuation less than a year ago. We have a great comment from Richard Cook, Monzo's Online Community Manager to get a bit of insight into how they reached their milestone. Cleo picks up $10M in series A fundraise. Cleo, the London-based “digital assistant” that wants to replace your banking apps. “Broke into” the US 6 months ago, and now has 350k US users, and 600k in the UK. Adding 30k new users per week. Big London VCs are already invested, including funders of Skype, Wonga and Transferwise and its latest investor is Balderton Capital. Open Banking, the US is behind the times. In the United States currently, there’s no legal requirement stipulating a financial institution must make a consumer’s financial data available to a third party in the event that a consumer provides affirmative consent. Goldman Sachs wants your piggy bank. Goldman Sachs’s US savings bank, Marcus comes to the UK, US savings bank, which was set up two years ago, has been a big success, attracting $20bn (£15bn) of savings. The company offers savers an easy-access online savings account that pays a competitive rate of interest on balances from £1 to £250,000. Revolut’s Luxembourg licence. Revolut plan to apply for an e-money licence in Luxembourg despite claiming they have no plans to leave London, but to hedge their bets against any impact of Brexit. They have also applied for a banking licence in Lithuania, partly to avoid Brexit disruption. HSBC tells Welsh singer to send letter in English. Singer Geraint Lovgreen has complained to the Welsh Language Commissioner after HSBC told him they could not respond to his letter because it was written in Welsh. The bank said they could not reply to him because it was written "in a foreign language" and he was asked to "resend your message in English". HSBC, which describes itself as "the world's local bank", insisted it worked hard to provide Welsh language services for its customers and it also worked "closely" with the Welsh Language Commissioner. All this and so much more on today's episode of Fintech Insider! Subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and every other podcast app. Spread the fintech love by sharing or tweeting this podcast. Let us know your thoughts @FintechInsiders and join the discussion by signing up at www.fintechinsidernews.com This week's episode was written and produced by Laura Watkins and edited by Holly Blaxill. Special Guests: Angelique Schouten, Helene Panzarino , Joy Macknight, Leda Glyptis, Richard Cook, and Ryan Edwards-Pritchard.
Tom Blomfield, founder and CEO of Monzo Bank and Anne Boden, founder and CEO of Starling Bank share their approaches to challenging the British incumbents and their differing paths to growth.
Today's insights show takes a closer look at what defines a challenger bank, how the name's stuck, and what it actually means. Is it all because of a grudge or is it seeking to disrupt the banking status quo? We speak to the perfect experts to find out: Anne Boden - CEO and Co-Founder of Starling Anthony Thomson - Founder of Atom Bank, Metro Bank, and a new Australian bank (86 400) Tom Blomfield - CEO and Co-Founder of Monzo Oscar Williams-Grut - Senior Reporter at Business Insider Our intrepid hosts travel around the issue, finding out what the founders of challenger banks think of the classification, what differentiates them from incumbents (after all many features are available from both types of bank), how challengers create competition amongst themselves and how with the banking landscape changing as rapidly as it is, what the future holds for all financial insitutions, both neophyte and incumbent. We hope you enjoyed the show! Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode, and follow Fintech Insider on Twitter or Facebook. If you really loved it, please leave us a review, we love reading them! This episode was written by Laura Watkins. Produced by Laura Watkins. Edited by Michael Bailey. Special Guests: Anne Boden, Anthony Thomson, Oscar Williams-Grut, and Tom Blomfield.
Walking on to Barry White blaring out over the sound system, Jason and Simon kicked off After Dark IV, the Valentine's Day special - our biggest ever live After Dark show at WeWork Moorgate. With over 300 fintech fans in attendance, the guys introduced a fantastic panel of guests including Valentina Kristensen, Head of Marketing at Oak North; 11:FS Pulse and Research Director, Ross Gallagher; our most prolific podcast guest, co-host of InsurTech Insider, Business Insider analyst and reporter, Sarah Kocianski, and HSBC’s Global Head of Corporate and Institutional Digital, Niall Cameron. Fully provisioned with alcohol and a wealth of terrible Valentine's day puns the panel were all set to unpick the week's top (and often sillier) stories. We kicked off with the news that venture capital investment into fintech more than doubles, according to Innovate Finance reports; next up we have a swathe of Blockchain Insider stories starting with Jay Z’s Roc Nation investment in Robin Hood, and France and Germany's call for regulation of crypto at the G20. We also touched on an InsurTech story as Uber and Waymo settle their divorce with a $245 million settlement over self-driving-car trade secrets. In part two we cover, Monzo goes stateside as Tom Blomfield hints are early plans for US expansion; Monese goes intergalactic, in a clever piece of PR to celebrate a successful launch for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, they have opened the queue for a banking service available on Mars; Alibaba does a thing as Ant Financial seeks $5bn in funding ahead of IPO which will make them the world's biggest unicorn, ahead of Uber. We also play a game with our audience asking who said what? as we read out quotes from execs who denied innovation, even as it was happening around them - test your knowledge and see if you can beat our audience! Thanks to everyone who came on the night - stay tuned for After Dark V! Hope you enjoy the show and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes! Let us know your thoughts @FintechInsiders and join the discussion by signing up at Fintech Insider News. Special Guests: Niall Cameron, Sarah Kocianski, and Valentina Kristensen.
Hiroki Takeuchi is the Founder and CEO of GoCardless, a London-based fintech that simplifies recurring payment collection for businesses. GoCardless has raised $47m to date and is backed by the likes of Balderton, Accel Partners, Passion Capital and Notion Capital. Hiroki and his co-founders, including Tom Blomfield, now of Monzo, who joined us on the podcast way back in episode 17, went through Y Combinator in early on and have some interesting stories about that experience. Today's conversation covers a number of topics, some of which are quite challenging. I'd highly encourage you to listen through to the end. Hiroki is an exceptional entrepreneur with a powerful story. Check out the show notes at www.bankingthefuture.com for links to the articles mentioned in today's conversation. If you enjoy today's episode, please subscribe on iTunes, or your podcast platform of choice. Thank you very much for joining us today. Please welcome Hiroki Takeuchi.
David, Jason and Simon were joined by Chris Skinner and Monty Munford for this week's news show from a pub in Bermondsey, complete with pints and pie - the full British pub experience. We’re now past “deadline day” so naturally our first batch of stories concerned Open Banking and what the banking landscape looks like so far in the wake of PSD2 becoming law on 13th January. The guys chat about the impact the media has had on people's perception of open banking and potentially on customer adoption of it. They also touch on how Nationwide (https://fintechinsidernews.com/posts/KMg48gXQKz3Pi8Eg8/nationwide-delays-open-banking-launch)is the latest big bank to ask for an extension to meet the PSD2 deadline, and is meeting the deadline necessarily in correlation with being "good"? Staying on the theme of open banking they also talk through Monzo's interim API (https://fintechinsidernews.com/posts/pJY2Xb9YFyXACiqd6/monzo-launches-their-interim-api-for-open-banking) that they released in conjunction with the PSD2 deadline, and reflect on our interview (https://11fs.com/interview/tom-blomfield-on-monzos-1000-growth-and-taking-on-the-tech-giants/)with Tom Blomfield where he contested that Monzo are potentially better placed that the GAFA companies to take on Alibaba and build the financial control centre for the West. Speaking of Alibaba, the guys muse through their latest developments and the willingness of the Chinese government to support the Eastern tech giants in a way that regulators and governments are yet to do in the West. This leads to a lot of philosophising from all sides on the perpetual East vs West conundrum and who is currently winning? Moving on to arguably the biggest story (https://fintechinsidernews.com/posts/bvHLxrFzGYKkkYATP#zzKN3iLHAnibJEhTn) of the week, the guys discuss the so-called "Crypto blood bath", as all cryptocurrency prices tumbled and no one really knows why the price tumbled for as far as it did for as long as did, or why it happened now. Following on from Business Insider's thoughts on why the prices have fallen so quickly, the team give their predictions, stay tuned to see who is right! Other notable stories of the week include Revolut's foray into travel insurance, Xinja's impressive fund raising, and U2's investment fund getting involved in fintech - could it be a Beautiful Day or maybe he Still Hasn't Found What He's Looking For. We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com (mailto:podcasts@11fs.com) or on Twitter @FintechInsiders (https://twitter.com/FinTechInsiders) and follow us on Facebook. Special Guests: Chris Skinner and Monty Munford.
From pre-paid card to fully fledged Current Account, Tom Blomfield details the journey of UK challenger bank Monzo with great enthusiasm and vibrance. Tom talks our host Simon Taylor through Monzo's viral growth and how their marketing team has managed to grow the company 1000% in the last year alone, on a very limited budget. 'I don't think we're a million miles away from the mainstream' is a great quote and highlights the ambition of the challenger bank, as we discuss Monzo's roadmap for the future. Regulation has been a hot topic to kick off 2018 and so you won't be surprised that PSD2 is much discussed throughout the interview. Indeed Tom gives his opinions on how large banks and open banking will be impacted by the regulation. Murmurs of both a Monzo IPO and potential acquisition have been constant throughout 2017, and Tom's admirable attitude that an acquisition "would feel like failure" shows just how dedicated the Monzo team is to creating a better banking product for its customers. He takes responsibility for the IPO rumours saying that it was down to a copywriting indiscretion, however also states a future IPO is possible. This episode is sponsored by Toptal, an exclusive network of the top freelance software developers, designers, and finance experts in the world. To find out more, visit Toptal.com (https://www.toptal.com/finance/fintech?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=fintechinsider&utm_campaign=1). We hope you enjoy the show - spread the word, tell your friends and don't forget to leave us a review on iTunes. If you want to get in touch, drop us a line at podcasts@11fs.com or on Twitter @FintechInsiders and follow us on Facebook. Special Guest: Tom Blomfield.
The man behind London fintech sensation Monzo joins Emma to talk about what inspired the UK's hippest challenger bank, how he deals with outages and why he is fending off dozens of takeover offers. If you like this week's episode, please take a minute to subscribe, rate and review - it helps other people find the podcast.
Samira Stalks: Entrepreneurship | Business Education | Innovation | Impact
Monzo is the latest challenger bank on the UK fintech scene, racking up half a million customers with half of them under 30 years old and raising £1m in under 96 seconds from its customers. With its seamless user experience, open dialogue with customers and friendly nudges - we hear how it’s got young adults excited about their personal finances. The post #27 The challenger bank for the smartphone generation with Monzo, Tom Blomfield appeared first on Samira Stalks.
Tom Blomfield - Jazz Shapers with Mishcon de Reya
This time we’re delighted to be joined by Tom Blomfield, founder and CEO of challenger bank Monzo. Tom’s ambition is to reimagine financial services for the 21st century by ‘building the best current account on the planet’. With 250,000 customers and growing, Tom talks about the vision driving the team forwards, the importance of transparency, and the unique role Monzo users play in building the bank of tomorrow.
In the second episode of the AWS Startup Stories special, Darren talks to two special guests innovating on AWS in the fintech space. Tom Blomfield, CEO and founder of Monzo, mobile-only bank, and Darren Westlake, CEO and co-founder of Crowdcube, the world’s first equity crowdfunding platform, discuss crowdfunding for startups. Enjoy! AWS Startup Stories webpage: http://amzn.to/2qd5n4R Monzo webpage: https://monzo.com/ Crowdcube webpage: https://www.crowdcube.com/ Access episode 2 cheat sheet by submitting your details here: http://bit.ly/2qXB95e AWS Summit London: http://amzn.to/2rRNXYK
Monzo, the U.K. challenger bank, is on a meteoric rise to the top of the fintech industry. Tom Blomfield, co-founder and CEO, sits with Hot Topics to discuss Monzo’s innovative community marketing methods, their astonishing weekly user growth and the heights the company is aspiring to reach over the next year.
Episode 4 of Millennial Money Matters features Tom Blomfield, CEO of Monzo, one of the best-known app-based banks in the UK. Use the URL below to skip the queue and get your hands on a "hot coral" prepaid Monzo card straight away! http://bit.ly/2m88fZQ
In this episode Innovation isn't having an app – it's having a new business model. Yet for banks, business models are one of the hardest things to innovate around. We discuss what's broken with traditional bank business models, and how to create new ones, with two people who know best: Tom Blomfield, CEO of Monzo, and Dora Ziambra, Head of Business Development at Azimo. “For me, and many people in the industry, being a marketplace bank is the future,” Tom says. “It's a customer interface that acts as a platform for all of your financial problems. So a single interface that gives you access to the Azimos and the Funding Circles and the Transferwises, with a delightful, one-click user experience, but still giving you the benefits of that choice and that customer service. So, sort of, looser recoupling around APIs.” If you liked this interview, please review us on iTunes. To learn more about the team that brings you FinTech Insider, visit 11fs.co.uk. Listener offer: for a 30% discount on Innovate Finance Global Summit tickets, register using the discount code FinTechInsider. The event will be held April 10-11 in London. The post Ep213 – Bank Business Models: The Last Bastion of Innovation appeared first on 11FS. The post Ep213 – Bank Business Models: The Last Bastion of Innovation appeared first on 11:FS.
In this episode Innovation isn’t having an app – it’s having a new business model. Yet for banks, business models are one of the hardest things to innovate around. We discuss what’s broken with traditional bank business models, and how to create new ones, with two people who know best: Tom Blomfield, CEO of Monzo, and Dora Ziambra, Head of Business Development at Azimo. “For me, and many people in the industry, being a marketplace bank is the future,” Tom says. “It’s a customer interface that acts as a platform for all of your financial problems. So a single interface that gives you access to the Azimos and the Funding Circles and the Transferwises, with a delightful, one-click user experience, but still giving you the benefits of that choice and that customer service. So, sort of, looser recoupling around APIs.” If you liked this interview, please review us on iTunes. To learn more about the team that brings you FinTech Insider, visit 11fs.co.uk. Listener offer: for a 30% discount on Innovate Finance Global Summit tickets, register using the discount code FinTechInsider. The event will be held April 10-11 in London. The post Ep213 – Bank Business Models: The Last Bastion of Innovation appeared first on 11FS. The post Ep213 – Bank Business Models: The Last Bastion of Innovation appeared first on 11:FS.
We've got a great episode today with Tom Blomfield (@t_blom), co-founder and CEO of Monzo (@monzo), a new, digital-only challenger bank in the UK. Monzo is seeking to fundamentally change the way banking is done and challenge a lot of assumptions about the way people want to interact with their money. Tom is a serial entrepreneur, he founded an e-commerce platform for students called boso.com while he was in college and later launched GoCardless, a B2B payments company that raised funding from the likes of Accel, Balderton and Passion Capital and went through Y Combinator in 2011. In 2013, Tom and his GoCardless (@GoCardless) co-founders were named among the top 5 entrepreneurs by the European Commission. Tom got involved in the digital, challenger bank space in the UK relatively early, at the bank now known as Starling before moving on to found Monzo which plans to launch in early 2017. Monzo has generated a phenomenal following and has a live beta with thousands of active users and an extremely long waiting list. As a special treat for Rebank listeners and a profound thank you for your support through our first 17 episodes, Tom is offering up a Monzo card giving immediate access to the highly sought after beta for one lucky listener. To participate, send an email with your name and the title of your favorite Rebank episode so far to rebank@bankingthefuture.com. We'll draw a winner at 5pm GMT on Friday, December 9th, so get your submissions in. As always, connect with us on Twitter @rebankpodcast or with Will directly @will_beeson. If you like the show, subscribe on iTunes, SoundCloud, Stitcher or one of the numerous other platforms where we're distributed. Thanks, and enjoy today's episode with Tom Blomfield.
In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Tom Blomfield, CEO and co-founder of Monzo, a new smartphone-based bank. He previously founded GoCardless, the UK's largest Direct Debit Processor, which has gone on to raise over $12m from investors. In 2013, Tom was nominated one of the top 5 Entrepreneurs under 30 by the European Commission. His new startup is Monzo; a new smartphone-based bank which started last year and raised £1 million through crowdfunding in just 96 seconds. I wanted to chat with Tom about Monzo, but also the future of the banking sector in light of new technology. It’s no secret that the traditional High Street banking model is suffering from a lack of trust with its customers. Traditional banks are seen as slow to innovate and seem to focus more on their own profits than things like customer satisfaction. In this episode of Informed Choice Radio, I speak to Tom about the inspiration for Monzo, how digital disruption could change the face of banking, what the banking sector could look like in five years’ time, whether smartphone-based banking will appeal to everyone, and what makes London such an attractive home for Financial Technology. Welcome to A New Kind of Banking with Tom Blomfield, in episode 121 of Informed Choice Radio. Some questions I ask -Where did the idea to start Monzo come from? -Is Monzo part of the digital disruption that is going to change the face of banking? -How are concerns about security and trust addressed with smartphone-based banking? -Will this new kind of banking appeal to everyone? -What makes London such an attractive hub for FinTech and how will Brexit change things? Thank you for listening! To get new episodes of Informed Choice Radio sent directly to your device as soon as they are published, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher Your reviews on iTunes are incredibly helpful and really appreciated. We get notified about each one; please leave a note of your name and website URL so we can mention you in a future episode.
Feeling completely uncool today as I chat with serial FinTech entrepreneur and the official coolest person in UK FinTech – Tom Blomfield, founder and CEO of the bank that lives in your smartphone, Monzo (or, as they were known at the time of recording, Mondo). Journalists are climbing over each other to write about this […] The post Tom Blomfield, CEO, Monzo appeared first on Reevoo.
The Balderton Podcast: Tech Investment | Venture Capital | Startup Funding
Tom Blomfield becomes the second of GoCardless' original cofounding team to join Ben for a podcast in the last couple of weeks. Tom is building Mondo, a bank that is challenging the high street incumbents. In this episode, Tom talks about the challenges of applying for a banking licence, shares some tips for first time entrepreneurs, and explains why opening banking APIS are - at the moment - rubbish. 0030 It's Mondo's first birthday next month! Feel free to send them a cake in the post. 0130 So far, the reaction to Mondo has been overwhelmingly positive. Why do you think this is? It used to be difficult to get people excited about banking! 0230 Tom explains why most high street current accounts are rubbish, and why Mondo is better. 0340 According to Tom, your current account should be a 'home screen app'; and users should feel as comfortable using it as they do on Google, Facebook or Twitter. 0415 How does Mondo attract consumers? 0612 Tom compares to cost of customer acquisition between high street banks and Mondo... 0700 Last year it was reported that Mondo were applying for a banking licence - when are you due to get your hands on one? 0825 Why are Mondo applying for a banking licence? Lots of so-called 'challenger banks' aren't actually banks... why is Mondo going through all of this effort? 1000 What is a 'bank in a box'? 1050 Tom tells the story of how and why he got involved with Hiroki and Matt at GoCardless 1350 Experience is very important, and Tom now has three businesses under his belt. In light of his previous successes, Tom shares some tips for first time founders... 1630 Why do Mondo run hackathons? And should more banks run hacks? 1800 Tom explains that most banking APIs lead to dummy data... he also explains why this is rubbish, and why Mondo's API provides access to real data. 2300 How can I get a Mondo card?