Wharton FinTech Podcast

In this episode, we sit down with investor and writer Ilona Limonta-Volkova to explore the intersection of VC, storytelling, and innovation in FinTech. Ilona shares her perspective on identifying emerging trends, backing founders, and translating complex financial ideas into compelling narratives. We also dive into her journey across markets and what it takes to think like both an investor and a c...

In this episode, we’re joined by Georgina Bulkeley, Director of Financial Services at Google Cloud, to unpack how AI is transforming banking and financial services. With over 25 years in financial institutions, she shares what it takes to innovate in a highly regulated industry and how concepts like agentic commerce are paving the way for autonomous money movement. We also explore how AI is shifti...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Abhi Chadha speaks with Mairead Fanning, a senior leader at IDA Ireland, about Ireland’s rise as a global hub for fintech, AI, and digital financial services. Mairead discusses IDA’s mission and the role it plays in attracting and supporting foreign direct investment, what has historically driven Ireland’s success, and how the country differentiates...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Jackson Ellis sits down with Mike Milotich, CEO of Marqeta, to explore the evolving landscape of modern payments and embedded finance. Mike shares insights from his leadership experience at a pioneering card issuing platform, discussing how fintech companies are reshaping the way businesses and consumers interact with money. The conversation covers M...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, host Vaibhav sits down with Christian Widhalm, CEO of Bloom Credit, to unpack how credit data actually moves through the financial system and why the infrastructure behind it has not meaningfully changed in decades. Christian shares his journey from Major League Baseball to fintech leadership, including his years at LendKey, and explains how Bloom is...

In this episode, Cleo Fan sits down with Sandeep Patil, a Partner at QED Investors, about building and investing in fintech companies across global markets. They discuss Sandeep’s journey from operating roles at Capital One, Flipkart, and Truecaller to venture investing, how QED approaches fintech investing across Asia-Pacific, and his perspective on where the fintech ecosystem is headed, covering...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Bobby Ma sits down with Kyle Mack, CEO & Co-Founder of Middesk, a Series B company. Kyle shares his experience building Middesk, the leading business identify platform modernizing business verification, risk evaluation, and compliance. Its fast, frictionless APIs support KYB, credit assessment, and tax registration use cases, with data updated in day...

In this episode, Jackson Ellis sits down with Ben Borodach, co-founder and CEO of april, the AI-powered tax platform that is fundamentally changing how Americans interact with the tax code. Taxes have long been a "once-a-year headache," isolated from the rest of our financial lives. Ben explains how april is shattering this status quo by embedding tax intelligence directly into the apps and platfo...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Bobby Ma sits down with Dean Brauer, President & COO of Cybrid. Dean shares his experience building Cybrid, who combines stablecoin, fiat, and compliance into a single API-first platform helping financial institutions, FinTechs, and enterprises integrate stablecoin infrastructure and launch end-to-end cross-border payment solutions to more than 150+...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Bobby Ma sits down with Sam Lewis, CEO of Fruitful. Sam shares his experience building Fruitful and how the company is reimagining personal finance through a membership model that combines CFP® guidance with AI automation to transform every paycheck into progress. Fruitful has raised $37 million to date and serves thousands of members across all 50 s...

In this episode, Jackson Ellis speaks with Stripe’s first employee and the founder of Increase, Darragh Buckley, about building reliable, scalable banking infrastructure. We discuss lessons from Stripe’s earliest days, how Increase is modernizing access to payment rails, and why trust, uptime, and simplicity matter more than ever in today’s financial system.

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Jackson Ellis sits down with Cindy Turner, Chief Product Officer at Worldpay, to explore what it takes to build and prioritize products at one of the world’s largest payment processors. Cindy shares her unconventional path into payments, lessons from leading product at companies like Visa, JP Morgan, PayPal, and Braintree, and how Worldpay operates a...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, host Vaibhav speaks with Riya Grover, co-founder and CEO of Sequence, an AI native revenue platform that unifies quoting, billing automation, and receivables so finance can finally run at the speed of sales. Riya shares her journey from investment banking and Harvard Business School to exiting her first startup and then launching Sequence to fix one...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, host Vaibhav sits down with Sarah Levy, CEO of Betterment and former executive at Disney, Viacom, and Nickelodeon. Sarah shares her insights on the evolution of financial services, why trust is the cornerstone of financial decision-making, how Betterment balances simplicity with expanding investor choice, and how AI is shaping the future of wealth ma...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, host Meaghan McGowan sits down with Mike Yu, CEO and Co-founder of Vesta, to explore the modernization of the mortgage technology stack. Mike shares Vesta’s origin story and how he and his team are rebuilding the loan origination system to be flexible, automated, and API-first. The episode explores: - How modern workflows, partner integrations, and r...

In this episode, Jackson sits down with Ximena, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Prometeo, to discuss the future of financial infrastructure in Latin America. Ximena shares her journey from tech journalism to entrepreneurship, the inspiration behind building Prometeo, and how the company is creating a unified API layer across the Americas to power open banking, real-time payments, and next-generation fina...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, host Ruhi Jain sits down with Aaron Kaplan, Co-CEO of Prometheum, Inc., for a deep dive into the digitization of capital markets and the future of fully regulated digital assets. Aaron shares his journey from securities attorney to fintech founder, why he believes U.S. federal securities laws offer the most resilient pathway for blockchain innovation...

In this episode, Wharton FinTech’s Abhi Chadha sits down with Michele Alt, Co-Founder of The Klaros Group and former OCC regulator, to unpack the evolving relationship between fintechs and the U.S. banking system. Michele shares her insights from two decades at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and her current work helping non-banks pursue bank charters. They discuss the shifting...

In this episode of the Wharton Fintech Podcast, Jackson Ellis sits down with Sid Jayakumar, founder and CEO of FinsterAI. Sid shares his journey from a background in engineering to founding FinsterAI, a company redefining how financial professionals interact with data. The conversation dives into: - The vision behind Finster: an intelligent platform that leverages AI to streamline financial analys...

In this episode of the Wharton FinTech Podcast, Bobby Ma sits down with Brian Kaas, President and Managing Director of TruStage Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of TruStage. Brian shares his experience founding TruStage Ventures and the work he and his team have done in the past decade bridging the gap between FinTech founders, credit unions, and the broader financial services industry...

In this episode of the Wharton Fintech podcast, Djavaneh sits down with Robbie Figueroa, co-founder and former COO of Maza, now Chief Business Officer at Flex following Maza and Flex’s merger in late 2024. Robbie shares how growing up in Queens with immigrant parents from Brazil and Ecuador inspired him to tackle financial exclusion. What started as a Spanish-first neobank for underbanked consumer...

In this episode of the Wharton Fintech Podcast, host Sabrina Fathi speaks with Ashwin Murthy, Chief of Staff and VP of Growth Operations and Strategy at Credit Karma, about how one of the most recognizable names in consumer fintech continues to evolve. Ashwin shares his journey from investment banking and consulting to leading strategy at Credit Karma. He discusses the company’s expansion from fre...

In today’s episode, Kimberly Zhang sits down with Ram Mahidhara, former Chief Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group. Ram reflects on his decades of experience investing across emerging markets, driving inclusive growth through private capital, and championing the role of fintech in global development. Tune in to hear about: • How technology...

In this episode of the Wharton Fintech Podcast, hosts Sabrina Fathi and Wesley Aster speak with Yoonkee Sull, General Partner at ICONIQ, about building category-defining fintech companies through every market cycle. Yoonkee reflects on his journey from early ICONIQ associate to GP, lessons from backing leaders like Chime, Groww, Adyen, Wealthsimple, and Ramp, and what it takes to earn trust with f...

In this episode of the Wharton Fintech Podcast, host Sabrina Fathi chats with Seth Rosenberg, General Partner at Greylock, about what it takes to build and back enduring companies at the intersection of fintech and AI. Seth shares lessons from launching Facebook Messenger, insights on founder-market fit, and how great early-stage companies validate ideas, build defensibility, and navigate market s...