May recap!
In case you missed out on May episodes of Voice of FinTech podcast, here is the monthly recap. You can listen to all the episodes on the Episodes pages of this website or when you subscribe to your favorite podcast apps under Subscribe.
Emerging technology due diligence — how?
Doing due diligence is never a straightforward exercise. Especially when you want to form a view on emerging technology — is it going to work or not? Are there bugs in the code that are so hard to find they will only manifest themselves when the product is live and overloaded by interest? Is it purely technical diligence? Is it a conversation or a tour? These are some of the topics we covered with Rodney Reis from Avalia Systems, based in Yverdon-les-Bains, close to Lausanne, Switzerland.
Rodney Reis is co-founder and CEO of Avalia Systems. Avalia advises its clients on how to improve the return from their investments in software development. Avalia’s clients range from CTOs and CIOs to investors, looking at emerging technologies and trying to assess the value of potential investments into tech-led companies.
Investing in enterprise technology and scaling up: a Bay Area VC perspective
In this episode, we speak with Shruti Van Dyke Gandhi, Partner at Array Ventures in San Francisco and adjunct Professor Computer Sciences at Columbia University in New York, about investing in Enterprise Tech including FinTech, her transition from an engineer to a VC investor, Array’s investment philosophy and approach, comparison between the West Coast and New York start-up scene concerning FinTech and more.
In this episode, you will learn:
- Back story: About Shruti’s transition from an engineer to an investor
- Array’s focus area: Enterprise software. Big issues, problems and pain points — for which you raise money early on, even pre-revenue, but you need to have relevant prior experience.
- Array’s investment philosophy: Investing in founders that sell to global customers. Portfolio companies are US incorporated, but in the times of remote working, they may be all over the globe.
- Deal sourcing: the network is vital if you are looking to back early-stage founders. Ideas from accelerators or advisers could be too late! Chemistry with the founders is more critical than paperwork
- Success stories/exits: Simility (AI/ML fraud prevention) acquired by PayPal or Passage AI (Conversational AI) acquired by ServiceNow
- Learning: Keep on learning to avoid becoming antiquated
- Is New York better for you if you are a FinTech? Listen inside:)
“There is no playbook for the founder’s life that you can learn in school, so you need to stay agile and prepare for the curveballs to come at you, expect it and find a way to tackle them so you become a big business regardless what comes your way.”
— Shruti Van Dyke Gandhi
An interview with Sven Siat, Head Connectivity at SIX, the Swiss Exchange Group about open banking in Switzerland, comparison to the state of open banking in the EU and Switzerland, attempts to standardize connectivity between banks and FinTechs (third-party providers), SIX developed platform b.Link — user benefits, key clients and onboarding. What’s in store for the connectivity efforts in Switzerland later this year?
In this episode, you will find more about:
- The state of Open Banking in Switzerland and comparison to the EU
- PSD2 in the EU — is fostering cooperation between banks and FinTechs in a balanced way, or not?
- Can we have one standard worldwide for connecting FinTechs and banks, or will we end up with the electrical sockets situation?
- How does one develop an enterprise-grade platform in Switzerland with multiple stakeholders? Example: pilot data exchange program involving UBS, Credit Suisse, Klara and Abacus
- b.Link, a platform for standardized interfaces open to the banks, FinTechs and software providers, developed by SIX, enabling them to provide account information or payment services
- Key clients and onboarding on b.Link
- What’s in store regarding the connectivity of the financial institutions in Switzerland for later this year
Find out more about b.Link, a platform connecting banks and FinTechs in Switzerland, here.
“In Switzerland, we are in the early days of open banking and we have several players and initiatives, many focusing on technical aspects only. Our approach is a bit different, we not only focus on the technical aspects (we do have the technical expertise to run reliable and scalable financial infrastructure), but I think we also understand the challenges that banks have with regard to legal and compliance.”
— Sven Siat
This episode of the Financial Markets Series was brought to you by SIX, the Swiss Exchange Group. If you would like to learn more about SIX, please go to www.six-group.com.
The InsurTech Series: Where to Play with Marc Gruber, VP Innovation EPFL, Lausanne
We talk to Marc Gruber, Vice President Innovation at EPFL and Professor of Entrepreneurship, about innovation, entrepreneurship, implications for FinTech, InsurTech and incumbents. In their book Where to play, Marc Gruber, together with Sharon Tal, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, address the issue of the need of start-ups to get to the target market first vs. the reality that more than 70% of them end up pivoting anyway. How to pick the right arena/domain early on to make pivoting less costly and increase the chances of success? How does entrepreneurship differ in Europe vs. the US or Asia?
Marc Gruber, Vice President Innovation and Professor of Entrepreneurship at EPFL and Sharon Tal, Professor of Entrepreneurship at Technion, co-wrote the book Where to Play, which is an excellent complement to the Lean Start-up toolkit. You can get their book Where to Play on Amazon. You will find out more how to pick the right arena, so pivoting is less likely or less costly! We also talk about implications for InsurTech and FinTech businesses, but also insurers and banks and their innovation projects.
This episode of the InsurTech Series was brought to you by HITS — House of InsurTech Switzerland, a Generali company. HITS is the innovation corp-up hub focusing on the InsurTech sector, bringing corporates and start-ups to develop customer-centric solutions. HITS creates the perfect environment to make innovation happen with early-stage investors and partners from the InsurTech sector.
Open Innovation in Central Europe with VISA
In this bonus episode, we speak to Ute Koenig-Stemmler, Head of Business Development & Sales Non-Traditional Financial Institutions, Central Europe at VISA about VISA’s activities regarding Open Innovation in the region that comprises Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
We cover the following topics:
- Ute’s Business Development Central Europe mandate
- VISA’s activities in the region and Switzerland in particular
- VISA’s investment in the FinTech space (e.g., acquisition of Earthport, the services of a cross-border payment provider or investment in SolarisBank, Banking-as-a-Platform start-up from Germany)
- VISA’s outreach to the FinTech community through VISA Everywhere initiative and their cooperation with Tomorrow, a sustainability-focused bank and Penta, credit cards for SMEs
- Views on partnerships with start-ups and VISA’s focus on working with companies looking to scale-up, leveraging their network
- VISA in Switzerland cooperates with Yapeal, first independent Zurich start-up with the FinTech license
- Note: The episode was recorded before pandemic lockdowns in Europe
“What if money becomes fully electronic, so it would become nothing but electrons and photons moving around the world at the speed of light?”
— Dee Hock
If you have suggestions for topics or guests on the show or have ideas about how to make a podcast better for you, please e-mail us at info@voiceoffintech.com.
Keep safe!
Sincerely,
