THE FinTECHPODCAST
Season 2 · Payments
All episodes

Season 1 · Episode 5 · The Fintech Founders

LendInvest Co-Founder & Chairman, Christian Faes

26 Nov 2020 · 35:54

"I landed in August 2008, and I looked around me and thought: "Jeez: what I have done?"." That was Christian Faes' first impression when he moved back to London to set up property finance fintech LendInvest, in the midst of the global financial crisis. After a year spent googling and cold-calling investors, raising no funds and doing no business, he'd have been forgiven for packing in the whole thing. But Christian and his cofounder persisted, the company grew, and despite challenges that would prove existential to many, LendInvest continues to thrive.

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.