Empire Startups - Everything FinTech

Last month at the #EmpireFinTech Conference, Leslie Campisi (Co-founder, Beginners) pulled back the curtain on how FinTech has ended up in this complicated, marketing moment. Today, she penned it in our newsletter, below. "It’s easy to imagine we’re floating along in our own global FinTech bubble, bouncing from event to event, caring exclusively about the niche decision-makers that matter to our business. But I’ve been helping entrepreneurs tell stories for a long time, and the communications environment we’re operating in now is more cynical, hardened and skeptical than I’ve seen at any point in my career." How did we get here? Why does it matter? And most importantly, how can we move forward? Read her thoughts in today's newsletter, 'FinTech Marketing in a Post-Doge Era', out now. 👇 Also included: 🦄 The 49-Year Unicorn Backlog (Crunchbase) 🤔 What does Synapse’s collapse signify for the future of BaaS? (Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS) 🧑⚖️ CFPB Supreme Court Decision Shifts Focus to Technology’s Impact on Consumer Finance (PYMNTS) 🚀 + funding announcements from Aeropay, Clasp, FinLocker and more.

Congratulations are in order to American Banker's 2024 Most Influential Women in FinTech. We're proud (but not surprised!) to see 3 women who took the Empire FinTech stage last month achieve this honor: Sharon Carmeli (Bluevine) , Laura Kornhauser (Stratyfy), and Rakefet Russak-Aminoach (Team8). 🎉 Check out the full list of incredible women here: https://lnkd.in/eBsSzkFs #WomenInFintech

To say the way lending decisions are being made is broken would be a discredit to the many years of work invested in finding the ideal balance between growth and risk management necessary to make sound lending decisions. Yet, in those years, lenders have stuck to credit policies or rules that only benefit a certain portion of consumers. ... But what happens when borrower profiles change faster than that of the methodologies being used to evaluate and make decisions about those borrowers? This week's newsletter, written by Empire Startups Contributor Laura Kornhauser (CEO & Co-Founder, Stratyfy) dives into the finite art of rule breaking as it relates to the financial services space. 👇 Also included: 👀 The FDIC’s Campaign Against Fintech Companies (The Wall Street Journal) 💸 MoneyLion: On a Mission to Become the Expedia of Financial Services (PYMNTS) 🗣 Alex Johnson on Credit Scoring: Past, Present, and Hypothetical Futures (with Zach Anderson Pettet, Fintech Family Hour) 🚀 + funding announcements from Honeycomb Insurance, Plenty, and Swypex (among others!) P.S. – Love the art canvases from last month's Empire FinTech Conference? Click below to see how they can be yours. Read it all, now. #Lending #MachineLearning #GigEconomy #SmallBusinesses

It's been less than a year Trisha Kothari (Co-Founder & CEO, Unit21) wrote for Empire about fraud, yet so much has changed in that short time. But if there is one thing that’s stayed consistent for any financial institution—be it a bank, credit union, or Silicon Valley FinTech startup— it is the ongoing need to stay ahead of fraud and bad actors. Built, owned, and operated by the seven largest banks in the United States, Early Warning started one of the most successful consortiums for banks and credit unions, with solid data coverage from over 2,500 FIs. It has served as the benchmark for fraud consortiums in the traditional finance sector. One caveat: only chartered financial institutions can participate. AKA – not FinTechs. Check out our latest newsletter to read Trisha's thoughts on how to combat this, and why it's important to have strengths in numbers. Also included: - Visa Teams With AWS to Streamline Cross-Border Payments (PYMNTS) - Republic First Bank seized by regulators, sold to Fulton Bank (Axios) - Nasdaq's revenue beats on strong demand for fintech product (Reuters) And recent funding announcements from Upflow, Pomelo, 401GO and more. Read it all, now.

It's safe to say that NYC is *THE* place to be when it comes to FinTech – not just during April 8th-12th, but every day. But it’s more than just hearing about the energy and excitement in this city from a star-studded panel. Through the 60+ events that took place during these five days, you could feel just how powerful this community truly is. Click below to read our latest newsletter, recapping #NYFinTechWeek and the #EmpireFinTech Conference. Also included: - SoftBank-backed TabaPay is buying the assets of a16z-backed Synapse, after it filed for bankruptcy (TechCrunch) - The Mixed State Of Startup Funding In 2024, In 11 Charts (Crunchbase) - and recent funding announcements from Galleon, GovDash (YC W22), Ramp and more.

Empire gameshows mix up the standard agenda by turning the panelist-and-moderator expectation on its head. This year, we had 2️⃣ gameshows take center stage: Our fan-favorite FinTech Family Feud, alongside a new addition, The Newlywed Game: FinTech Edition. The goal of each? Testing team compatibility, FinTech "street smarts", and most importantly, bringing fun and dynamic formats to the Empire stage. #NYFinTechWeek #EmpireFinTech

Something unique about the Empire FinTech Conference is our strong roots in the early-stage, startup community. Last week, 9️⃣ of the top FinTech and AgeTech companies demo-ed their latest & greatest technology to our attendees. Thank you to each of you for sharing your insights across our stage: - Carmelle Cadet, Founder & CEO, EMTECH - 👋 Clement Cazalot, Co-founder & CEO, Machinery Partner - Tess Bloch, Co-founder, Spade - Anuraag Tripathi, CEO, Manifest - William Glass, Co-founder & CEO, Ostrich - Perry Halman-Peguillan, MS, Co-founder, SpendCare, Inc.(2024 Financial Wellness Pitch Day Winner!) - Brandon R. Stokes, Co-founder & CEO, Buyable - Snigdha Kumar, Co-founder & CEO, Brico - Skye Isard, Co-founder & CTO, Sandbox Banking Thank you also to our demo MCs, Carina Oriel, Elise Downes and Tamara Steffens. #EmpireFinTech #NYFinTechWeek

We are only just beginning to sift through the takeaways, insights, and of course, photos from #NYFinTechWeek and the #EmpireFinTech Conference. The energy in the city is something that could not be ignored. It's safe to say that NYC is *THE* place to be when it comes to FinTech. 🗽✨ We want to thank all of our sponsors – without your support, none of this would have been possible. We also want to thank each and every speaker who traveled from near and far to share their knowledge, expertise, and wit across our various stages. Take a peek at the first (of many!) photos from last Wednesday. 👇 📸

The Empire team finished up our events for #NYFinTechWeek this morning with a fan-favorite, the Investor Reverse Pitch Breakfast. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend, as well as our sponsor for the event, Dentons. We also wanted to once again thank the 8 VCs who took to the stage – sharing their thesis, and how startups should think about the value add of their fund: - Shruti Batra, QED Investors - Anna Garcia, CFA, Altari Ventures - Ishan Sachdev, Deciens Capital - Charley Ma, Exponent Founders Capital - Kabir Kumar, Flourish Ventures - Cameron Peake, Restive Ventures - Karim Gillani, Luge Capital - Nik Milanović, The Fintech Fund 🚀 This event would have not been possible without the logistical planning and oversight of Empire's Program Manager, Jasmine Boyce. #NYFinTechWeek #EmpireStartups

Standing-room only for our first debate of the afternoon: Who Will Win the AI Race, FinTechs or Incumbents? Featuring Akita Somani , Drew Glover, Jesse Reiss , Melissa Otto, CFA , Peter Hazlehurst and Laura Kornhauser. Led by their fearless moderator, Ally McCloskey 👩🏻⚖️ #NYFinTechWeek #EmpireStartups