STAY IN THE LOOP ON EVERYTHING FINTECH
Empire Startups is the largest community of FinTech entrepreneurs, investors, and bank innovators in the world. Every 2 weeks we'll deliver interviews with top thought-leaders, venture funding news, curated podcasts, events, and more.
HIGHLIGHTING FINTECH LEADERS
OUR INTERVIEW WITH SHAMIR KARKAL
In the last year we’ve witnessed a frenzy of venture capital streaming into infrastructure and banking-as-a-service (BaaS) plays in FinTech. BaaS platforms specialize in taking one layer of the financial services stack and making it easier than ever for their enterprise clients to quickly outsource or launch a new offering. Their services can range from shipping a new depository account, credit card, or even leveling up your fraud prevention or know-your-customer (KYC) capabilities.
Essentially powering the thesis that everything will eventually be FinTech, BaaS is hugely popular with investors as it can enable any company to launch financial products. A massive total addressable market and an ability to generate meaningful revenue much faster than the consumer-focused companies they serve, BaaS platforms have caught the attention of the FinTech world.
This week we had the honor of sitting down with Shamir Karkal of Sila. Shamir comes from a long line of banking visionaries, and he is truly a FinTech OG. Shamir is a staunch supporter of the FinTech community and still finds time to leverage his expertise and resources to mentor countless founders, while wrapping the complexities of KYC and ACH into a beautiful and scalable API at Sila.
The Socrates, Gautama Buddha, and Confucius of ACH himself...
FINTECH NEWS
Financial Times
Goldman Sachs was the baptism of fire I needed as a junior banker
I was warned of this in career discussions, and shared that same warning with others. But then the pandemic hit and junior investment bankers
BBC News
Learning to code ‘will seriously change your life’
Hannah attended an all-girls' school that didn't offer the computing and programming course she wished to take, despite the joint all-boys' school offering the course
New York Times
The Start-Up Enemies of Wall Street Are Booming
Times are flush for young tech companies like Stripe and Coinbase, which are having a moment as they upend the financial establishment
Finextra
ABN Amro selects ten startups for future of finance acceleratior
Cuantix, Valyuu, RaiseGreen: you've probably never heard of these companies. But that’s all about to change. Today, these three and seven other start-ups are kick-starting...
FINTECH VENTURE FUNDING
BrightPlan secures $9.5M Series A as demand grows for financial wellness tools
FINTECH PODCASTS
What's one of the easiest ways to stay up on FinTech trends? Here's a short list of a few of close friends of Empire who just happen to have 🔥 podcasts.
Join The Future Farm's Vladi and Nektarios, in a “naked” conversation with the people who have been through it all. We’ll talk to business founders, investors, life partners and other ecosystem players about the personal challenges that business builders face when pursuing their dreams and passions.
For Fintech’s Sake is a broad look at the world of fintech. Host, Zach Anderson Pettet, explores the stories at the intersection of finance and technology from the perspectives of Founders, Investors, and Incumbents.
Fintech Insider is a bi-weekly podcast dedicated to all things fintech, banking, technology and financial services. Hosted by a rotation of experts and joined weekly by fantastic guests, they discuss the latest news within the industry.