The Path Forward: Wharton FinTech’s 2016 Spring Line Up
Classes are in session in Philly, and Wharton FinTech is gearing up for its busiest year yet!
We’re thrilled to announce that all Thursday lunch-and-learn slots for the spring semester are booked. One of our goals for the coming year is to showcase not only the variety of subsectors within FinTech — such as lending, investment management, and payments — but also the diversity of the players themselves, big and small. From growth stage startups that often come to mind when thinking about the sector, to newer ventures, all the way to digital innovations by some of the biggest names in financial services, we aim to show the many ways different companies are thinking about FinTech today.
Incumbents
We kick off the semester on January 21 with a talk on FinTech data analytics by Wharton executive MBA student Michael Chu ’16, a financial technologist with Bloomberg. Michael will be sharing both his individual perspective as well as experience in the sector from inside one of financial services’ biggest giants. We’ll continue exploring this theme during our next two events. On January 28, we’re hosting a panel with Capital One on digital innovation and evolving relationships between people and money in the era of digital services. Similarly, the following week on February 2, MasterCard’s SVP of SVP of Social Networks, Kiki Del Valle, will share her perspective from inside the world’s second-largest credit card network.
Lending
On February 9, we’ll host one of our most exciting speakers this year: OnDeck, one of the biggest pioneers of small business lending in the US. Founded in 2007, OnDeck has lent more than $3B and has been a vocal advocate of changing the modern landscape of small business lending and credit as we know it. Examining the evolution of lending at large, across all impacted players — from incumbents to startups — will be another key theme of the semester. Prudential’s John DiPaolo will share his thoughts on March 17, and we’ll hear from Wharton startup Modern Lend on March 24 as well as Lenddo on April 7.
Business and personal finance
Finally, we’ll take a look at how FinTech has changed how we evaluate and monitor both organizational and personal finance. BizEquity, an innovative startup offering business valuation, will explain its unique model on February 25, while Estimize, which provides crowdsourced financial and economic estimates, will share its perspective on April 21. From the personal side, Moven will join us on March 31 to speak about how they empower users to better monitor and understand their money and financial health.
Conferences
We’re also staying busy off campus. We’re kicking off our spring conference series with ContinuumSF next week. In early April we’re attending Money 20/20 Europe in Copenhagen as well as LendIt USA in San Francisco. And in early May, we’ll head back to the west coast to participate in Finovate in San Jose. Follow us on Medium, Soundcloud, and Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Wharton FinTech content, including live and in-depth conference coverage.
The pace of change in FinTech is only accelerating, and we’re proud to bring you a lineup that reflects the dynamism and diversity of the industry. We can’t wait to get started in 2016, and we hope you’ll join us for what promises to be our busiest year yet.
