North America

David M. Brear interviewed Jonathan Larsen, CIO, Ping An and CEO of their Global Voyager Fund, a $1bn investment fund, specifically for fintech. He tells David all about the fund and the innovations in fintech coming from China and making a huge impact worldwide.

Sharing our stories, our challenges, and the things that truly matter to us. Today we talk to Clouston Mahon who is a UX lead in the 11:FS Pulse team to discuss what makes a great user experience, who is doing it well and looking outside of financial services for inspiration.

So it’s official: Varo Money is well on its way to becoming the first fintech firm with a full-service national bank charter. All it took was three years and a hundred million dollars...

Last week, 11:FS hosted its first After Dark in NYC, bringing together the local fintech community and curious thinkers to talk tech trends and the Big Apple’s advantage for startups.

At 11:FS, we often talk about technologies and products that are tipped to disrupt the way financial services operate. The internet is littered with hype cycles and magic squares, with many of them growing into nothingness and obscurity. But cloud computing is probably the technology where we risk preaching to the choir more than any other topic, and yet adoption has still been slow.

What if every time I bought a coffee, someone planted a tree?

Taking us back to the bay of San Francisco, I’m recapping the hippest edition of After Dark we’ve ever done. Listen back here or stream below as Sam and Doug are joined by a panel of special guests for insights into some of the most surprising and interesting stories of the week and a look into the Bay area. Sat in surprisingly comfy seats, with good drinks, amazing guests, and an even better audience we’re ready to start the show.

I joined the 11:FS media team back in June 2017 - a mere 96 podcast episodes into Fintech Insider’s 500 episode journey. It’s been incredible working on this show and being a part of its growth over the last three and a half years. From its humble beginnings, FI has evolved into something we could never have predicted, and I’m SO proud of it. We’ve grown our audience both internationally and at home thanks to our community of loyal listeners (you know who you are 🙏).

In the second quarter of 2017 VC-backed fintechs raised $5.2bn via 251 deals.That brings us to $8bn for the between Q2 2016 and Q2 2017, meaning the industry is well on track to a record breaking year (2015 saw a peak of $14.1bn). If you’ve got a killer idea or you’ve made it to MVP stage, now might be the time to familiarise yourself with the biggest fintech players in the VC world.