Thomvest, A VC Fund With A Single Investor, Focuses On Three Complementary Verticals
For a $ 500 million venture capital fund, Thomvest attracts relatively little news coverage.
Financial Technology
Recent Updates Page 7 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
user
-
user
Fintech — The Personal Stories Of The Money Hackers Who Have Changed Finance
Dan Simon has written a book about the people who created the #technology firms that have been changing #finance, such as Venmo and Braintree, Credit Karma, Lending Club, Kabbage, Yodlee, Clarity #Money and Betterment.
Financial Technology -
user
Ivan Glazachev CEO at Yandex Money on Paris Fintech Forum Results
Paris #Fintech Forum has definitely kicked the e-commerce trends discussion in 2020. It is always curious to look at the wider picture, profoundly discuss highlights, aspirations and challenges for the payments industry. Internalization and cross-border payments are increasing today and are very demanded by various companies and institutions. Thus, the legal pillar and infrastructure redesign are gaining serious attention from all the players on the field. Not to mention, merchants have to adjust to local customers’ preferences, which is a very picky conversation, especially when fueled by ecosystem formation trend.
I was gladly surprised that Russian e-commerce market is on par with European in terms of most products and sometimes is ahead of it in terms of customization of those products for B2B and B2C customers. For example, we have money transfers from different #banks by phone number, B2B-payments are as simplified as B2C (and only two years ago it took about 3 days), multicurrency wallets, accounts and transfers are fully introduced, not to mention the opportunity to obtain a loan on-line or pay for everything from bills and groceries to cars fully online (Renault platform was the first such online sales company, while BMW and Tesla take deposits online for new cars with advance demand). Advocating for the Russian market progress might be hard at times, but let me outline a few concepts that are especially interesting from the savvy and advanced market perspective.
Digital financial commerce platforms doing good
Commerce platforms that provide neobanks with services for digital payments are booming and blooming. Platforms like Wirecard, Mambu, Marqeta, Treezor can customize enterprise solutions for digital banking in a matter of months, at the core lending the license and services to the new team. Interesting thing is that neobanks have a long way to go to meet the break-even point, while the aforementioned platforms are already making money.
Ecosystem creation
It is vivid today that ecosystems will derive from value-added services and an attempt to fit all the customers’ needs (financial and lifestyle) into one app. Such a challenge consists of numerous tasks, each of them has to be tailored to the needs of the audience. Surely, each tech company is now competing for the user in order to create a paradigm where a customer would not hesitate which app to use in order to pay for any goods or services. Payments are expanding into the decision-making process by eliminating the need to browse various resources, comparing prices or finding the discounts. Yandex.Money has also followed that path, we transform our solution into handy lifestyle-service with tickets purchases, fines and tax payments, discounts and coupons for purchases, investment portfolio and gamification. Overall, in Russia we have at least 4 big companies who committed to creating an ecosystem, and one that promised to have an ecosystem of all ecosystems.
Another example of Russian e-commerce savviness would be solutions for marketplaces – check splits between different merchants operating at one marketplace are just around the corner. It means that the customer can conduct one payment at the marketplace, but the payment will be actually split between various merchants.
Next Big Thing
As fintech becomes more sophisticated, customized for specific needs and at the same time more globalized, it is obvious that the evolvement will come through collaboration and intersection with other tech segments – legaltech, healthtech, regtech, insurtech. That corresponds a lot with the aforementioned ecosystem trend – in order to provide all-in-one solutions companies have to be equally strong in various fields and that expertise has to be interconnected. Data connectivity was brought to the table numerous times – from antifraud to open banking, from marketing to M&A, from KYC to full PSD2 application.
Venture investments
The concerns about startups valuation were on the rise from the last year – Uber and Lyft IPO cases and WeWork pre IPO, along with many others all collectively cost investors a close to 100 billion USD in valuation money. However the robust money flow of investments is not expected to slow down, yet it will become more cautious. We may not see another big-buck acquisition like Plaid soon.
Heraclitus said that the only constant is the change. That is especially true to the fintech industry and Paris Fintech Forum gives a chance to review the current state and add to the transformation.
About Yandex.Money
Yandex.Money is the most popular online payment service in Russia, according to a 2019 survey by Mediascope. The company is the joint venture of the search engine Yandex (NASDAQ: YNDX), and Sberbank. Yandex.Money offers consumers easy, safe, and reliable methods of paying online on its own site and mobile app. The service hosts about 60M user accounts.
Yandex.Money also offers online merchants Yandex.Checkout. Yandex.Checkout is the leading service for accepting online payments in Russia, according to a 2019 survey by MARC. With this payment solution, merchants from all over the world can offer Russian consumers the online payment methods most popular among Russians and CIS-citizens: bank cards, e-wallets, mobile phones, and cash via mobile retailers and payment kiosks (there are over 250K cash-acceptance points all over CIS). Currently, more than 120K websites across the globe use Yandex.Checkout. The service received the Best PSP Award in 2019 and the Emerging Payment Award in 2017 at the Merchant Payments Ecosystem conference (Berlin).
-
user
Active Wealth Management Firms Target Next-Gen Investors Using Old Tech
#Wealth #management #firms around the world are focused on the next generation who will inherit wealth, but their #tech is more Boomer than Gen X.
Financial Technology -
user
[Special Offer] Venture Summit | West
Special offer: Register Now & Save $350 off (Use discount code “FINTECHNAVIP”)
* Call for Top Innovators Details below
Venture Summit | West
Where Innovation Meets Capital
March 23rd & 24th 2020
Santa Clara Convention Center, Silicon Valley
Meet, interact and network with more than 1,300 VCs, Corporate VCs, angel investors, industry execs and founders of venture backed, emerging and early stage companies at the prestigious Venture Summit | West being held on March 23rd & 24th 2020 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. This year’s summit will again feature a dedicated #Fintech Track.
Whether you’re a Fintech startup seeking capital and exposure, or an investor seeking new deals, Venture Summit West presented by youngStartup Ventures – is the event of the year you won’t want to miss.
A highly productive venture conference, Venture Summit | West is dedicated to showcasing VCs, Corporate VCs and angel investors committed to funding venture backed, emerging and early stage companies.
Partial Initial Lineup of over 90 VCs & Angels confirmed to speak and judge includes:
Ben Abadi, Managing Director, Energy Innovation Capital | Andrew Abrams, Vice President, New Science Ventures | Susan Akbarpour, Partner, Candou Ventures | Navid Alipour, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Analytics Ventures | Shaun Arora, Founding Partner, MiLA Capital | Shannon Austin, Partner, Financial Venture Studio | Jennifer Azapian, Partner , Mighty Capital | Wade Bitaraf, Founder, Energy & Sustainability, Plug & Play Tech Center | Dave Blivin, Managing Director, Cottonwood #Technology Fund | Greg Bohlen, Managing Director, Union Grove Venture Partners | Maureen Boyce, Managing Partner, Good Growth Capital | Peter Bruce-Clark, Partner, Social Impact Capital | Pratik Budhdev, Investment Director, Volvo Cars Tech Fund | Darren Cooke, Investor, Life Science Angels | Martha Cosgrove, Investing Associate, Boeing HorizonX | Danny Cotter, Principal, Westly Group | Ross Darwin, Principal, Owl Ventures | Anne DeGheest, Founder, HealthTech Capital | Jun Deng, Partner, Joyance Partners | Dan Doble, Managing Director, SABIC Ventures | Robert Dunkle, President, ABES Venture Partners | Ali Farahanchi, Director, DHVC | Anna Fokina, Senior Associate, Data Collective | Norm Gitis, Managing Partner, Lymo Ventures | Daniel Greene, Principal, Wipro Ventures | Sheeraz Haji, Managing Partner, Zip Dragon Ventures | Charlie Hanna, Investor, Marcy Venture Partners | Daniel Harris, Managing Director, DPH Ventures | Florian Haupt, Partner, TruVenturo | Guy Horowitz, Partner, Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners | Jens Horstmann, Founding Director, Crestlight Ventures | Najib Khouri-Haddad, General Partner, Sway Ventures | Howard Ko, Principal, Morpheus Ventures | Shruti Kothari, Director, Kaiser Permanente Ventures | Elaine Kunda, Founder & Managing Director, Disruption Ventures | Ricky Lai, Principal, Portag3 Ventures | Anh Le, Partner, CRCM Ventures | James Lee, Investment Associate Director, Photon Fund | Marina Levinson, Partner, Benhamou Global Ventures | Larry Li, Managing Partner, AMINO Capital | Darwin Ling, Founding General Partner, Good AI Capital | Catherine Lu, Managing Partner , Alumni Ventures Group (AVG) | Vincent Lui, Partner, XCEL Asia | Melina Mathur, Principal, Asset Management Ventures | Manan Mehta, Founding Partner, Unshackled Ventures | Eric Meyer, Vice President, Activate Capital | Jonathan Mo, Senior Associate, 11.2 Capital | SC Moatti, Managing Partner, Mighty Capital | Mark Mueller-Eberstein, Angel Investor, Alliance of Angels | Ivan Nikkhoo, Managing Partner, Navigate Ventures | Kira Noodleman, Principal, Bee Partners | Brett Noyes, Founder & Managing Director, Unbank.Ventures | Charles Paul, Vice President – Technology, Henkel Ventures | Damien Petty, Principal, Morpheus Ventures | Patrick Pfeffer, Lead Investor, Juniper Networks | Scott Pinizzotto, Senior Investment Director, ENGIE New Ventures | Bill Reichert, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures | Mario Ruiz, Investor, Paypal Ventures | Ernst Sack, Partner, Blue Bear Capital | Praveen Sahay, Managing Director, WAVE Equity Partners | Gayatri Sarkar, Managing Partner, Hype Capital VC Fund | Kristina Serafim, Managing Director, Verizon Ventures | Charles Sidman, Managing Partner, ECS Capital Partners | Ratan Singh, Principal, Fort Ross Ventures | Allison Steitz, Investor, BlueRun Ventures | Li Sun, Partner, Foundation Capital | Grahme Taylor, Venture Analyst, Wildcat Venture Partners | Jonathan Tower, Founding Managing Partner, Catapult VC | Erica Van, Investor, Charles River Ventures | Anuj Varma, Investor, BAM Ventures | Kutral Veerabadran, Principal, Flow Capital | Sonali Vijayavargiya, Managing Director, Augment Ventures | Alex Whitney, Senior Analyst, ManchesterStory Group | Henry Wong, Managing Director, Garage Technology Ventures | Russell Yue, Investor, H.I.G. Growth Partners | Elaine Zelby, Principal & Director of Growth, SignalFire | Stephanie Zepeda, Senior Associate, Arbor Ventures | Yanan Zhao, General Partner, Magnet Ventures | Sebastian Zhou, Investor, Alpha Square Group | Simin Zhou, VP & Managing Director, UL Ventures and many more.
Special Offer:
Fintechna has made special arrangement for our network to receive a special discount of $350 off. This conference will be attended by the best people in the industry. Please register early to avoid disappointment.
Register Today & Save Click here. (Use promo code “FINTECHNAVIP”)
In addition to providing access to leading Investors, the conference will feature more than 100 pre-screened venture backed, emerging and early stage companies seeking capital, and hardcore networking.
Call for TOP INNOVATORS!
Get Noticed > Get Funded > Grow Faster
A select group of more than 100 Top Innovators will be chosen to present their breakthrough investment opportunities to an exclusive audience of Venture Capitalists, Corporate Investors, Private Investors, Investment Bankers, and Strategic Partners.
Apply to Present / Nominate a company:
For more information or to be considered for one of the Top Innovator slots click here.
Seed Pitchfest:
If you are a seed stage company seeking angel funding of less than $1M (and have raised less than $300,000) click here to apply for the Seed stage track.
-
user
Will Faster Payments Lead To Faster Fraud?
As #payments move #faster or in real-time, preventing #fraud has to change its approach.
Financial Technology -
user
Kabbage Custom Loans Provide More Flexibility To Business Borrowers
#Kabbage has launched a new product to #provide short-term #custom #loans to its Kabbage Payments users.
Financial Technology -
user
Broadridge Signs With IBM For Greater Cloud Capabilities
#Broadridge, a $ 4 billion provider of back office #technology for financial services firms, announced it is working with IBM to offer #cloud-based services to its clients through a private cloud powered by IBM.
Financial Technology -
user
Wells Fargo Used Agile Development To Launch A Mobile-Based Consumer Account Control App
#Control Tower originated in 2017 and moved into production in 2018 using #agile methodology to get from announcement to #launch in a matter of months.
Financial Technology -
user
Banking And Fintechs Will Align More in 2020, Say CB Insights and Mastercard
Because consumers now expect credit and payment to be integral parts of the overall experience, #banks are transforming how they deliver products, and #fintechs and digital players have moved into #banking.”
Financial Technology
Reply