THE FinTECHPODCAST
Season 2 · Payments
All episodes

Season 1 · Episode 10 · The Fintech Founders

eToro Co-Founder & CEO, Yoni Assia

21 Jan 2021 · 43:54

Is working in roller coasters not the perfect metaphor - and experience - for running an online trading platform? We think so! Yoni Assia, who leads social trading platform eToro, had his first taste of entrepreneurship when he founded a startup that involved installing video cameras on white-knuckle rides, and then selling DVDs to the riders as they wobbled out of their cars. He eventually sold it to former a high-flying tech stock called Kodak. And while that company's best years may be behind it, a bumper 2020, profits, and a return to the U.S. all suggest that eToro is very much a fintech for the future.

More from Season 1

S1 · Ep 4524 Dec 202133:13

Credit Kudos Founder & CEO, Freddy Kelly

When he got his first taste of startup life, in San Francisco, freshly-graduated Freddy Kelly did a few months at culinary school on the side. Little did he know that years later, his baking skills would help him blag his way into a conference by virtue of a chocolate cake he'd baked. He met Credit Kudos's first investor there, and his fintech - an open banking credit-reference company - was off to the races. It hasn't stopped running since.

S1 · Ep 4417 Dec 202133:21

Bankin' Co-Founder & CEO, Joan Burkovic

In its early days, banks tried to block Bankin’. Some set up call centres, warning customers of the danger of using the personal finance app, and encouraging them not to use it. On one occasion, they even called Joan, not realising that he was the fintech's co-founder. Nowadays, with open banking, it's a different story; banks, for the most part, are cooperative. And Bankin' is now blossoming into one of Europe’s leading consumer finance apps - with a potential B2B spinoff to boot.

S1 · Ep 4310 Dec 202132:17

Banxware Founder & Co-CEO, Miriam Wohlfarth

Some people thought launching a fintech during a pandemic was crazy. Then Banxware - a Germany-based, white-labelled SME lending platform - saw its banking partner, Wirecard, blow up. Since then, it's been relatively plain sailing!

S1 · Ep 4226 Nov 202136:09

Alpaca Co-Founder & CEO Yoshi Yokokawa

How Yoshi Yokokawa is enabling the world to have Robinhood-style access to financial markets and crypto, and why the Alpaca co-founder & CEO feels the furry camel cousin best symbolises this ambition.