Investing in People: Getting Our Foot in the Fintech Door
We’re excited to welcome Anthony Danon to the Speedinvest Partnership as an Associate Partner. Our Fintech team has been an unparalleled success story and Anthony has played an instrumental role.
Finding Where You Can Make a Difference
A lot can happen in short period of time. Back in 2017, it became clear that we needed to take our Fintech investment strategy to the next level — read competitive on a global stage. Stefan Klestil, Lead Partner of our Fintech investment team, set out to make it happen. Step 1: Build a strong team of people with a singular desire to help conquer the European Fintech scene. Step 2: Establish a foothold in the financial capital of the world, London.
We knew that we already had great fundamentals to achieve our goals — with Stefan as an established top Fintech investor and a number of great portfolio companies under our belt. But we were very aware that for this next step, who we would choose to be on that team was going to make all the difference. Anthony was a perfect choice.
— Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Oliver Holle
Three years later, Anthony and the Speedinvest Fintech team have not only run the Berlin Marathon together, but are now one of the most active European investors in the sector — and they’re still growing. With a wide range of startups, such as Wefox, Billie, Curve, and Tide, the team’s investments span the globe from pre-seed, to seed deals, and have horizontal reach across a broad range of industries. None of which would have been possible without first having a strategic focus on London.
Building Our Presence in Europe’s Fintech Epicenter
Location, Location, Location. Being in the right place at the right time.
Whatever catchy phrase you choose to describe it, if you want to be a player in the Fintech world, you need to have a presence in London. Having spent one year working at a Fintech startup and four years as a Series A investor, Anthony was looking for a place where he could make more of a difference with founders by working more closely with them in the earliest of stages. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! Anthony was the perfect fit to begin building our brand in the UK.
I have always enjoyed taking on new challenges and establishing something from nothing, and with London arguably being the financial services center of the world, it was key that Speedinvest find a way to become well entrenched in that local ecosystem.
But that’s easier said than done in one of the world’s largest and most VC-saturated cities. At the start, Anthony met founders in coffee shops, co-working spaces, and even borrowed space from our friends at Seedcamp — thanks for that!
It didn’t happen overnight, but Anthony’s diligence paid off when we were finally able to set up a permanent London home.
A Solid Foundation for Continued Growth
With our office secured and a strong team of colleagues by his side, Anthony began putting his passion for analytics, deep understanding of Fintech verticals, and love of partnering with visionary entrepreneurs to work. Within a few short years, he’s already closed impressive deals with Luko, Tide, Primer, TaxScouts and more recently Cobee.
Anthony is smart and exceptionally driven. So we intuitively took the approach of giving him plenty of space and supporting him in playing to his passions. He, in turn, returned the favor, by driving excellent investments, expanding our network and contributing to Speedinvest beyond the Fintech sphere. All in all, a beautiful outcome for all of us.
— Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Oliver Holle
Going forward, Anthony plans to build upon these foundations of success by continuing to partner with ambitious founders seeking to reinvent financial services for the better.
I believe we are at an inflection point for Fintech as a whole, with exciting projects now focused on the pipes, infrastructure, data and Fintech as a horizontal. I can’t wait for what lies ahead!
We can’t wait to see either. As demonstrated by Anthony’s focus and determination from day one, he won’t be satisfied until the door he helped open is blown off its hinges. That is why it is with great pride and gratitude that we once again welcome Anthony to the Speedinvest Partnership as an Associate Partner. It’s been an incredible ride so far, and we are excited to see where Anthony will help take us next.
