Obvious Ventures

We’re thrilled to announce a new strategic partnership with Roche to advance next-generation #AAV gene therapies for neurological diseases. Since starting our relationship with Roche in 2020, Dyno has made tremendous progress towards finding concrete solutions to in vivo gene delivery through the application of AI models for sequence-function prediction. We’re excited to further our collaboration with Roche and continue working together towards a future where all gene therapies are safe, effective, and accessible to all patients who need them. More on this partnership milestone here: https://lnkd.in/eQ2AGndV

👏 It’s an exciting day for fintech! After more than a decade in the making, the CFPB published its final 1033 rule, which protects consumer financial data access. I spent years negotiating Plaid's first data access agreements with banks; limited regulatory guidance made this exceptionally challenging. Here is a quick recap on what happened, and - most importantly - what it means for fintech founders. ❓ What is 1033? 1033 is a section of Dodd Frank that states that a bank must make a consumer’s financial information (including txn detail) available to them in a portable format. Its critical to the functioning of fintechs and the millions of consumers they service. 🗞️ What happened today? The CFPB issued a FINAL Rulemaking for Dodd Frank Section 1033, which provides eagerly awaited details on exactly HOW banks, aggregators, and fintechs are expected to work together to make data available to consumers (data fields, format, fee structure, governance etc.). The timeline for compliance ranges from April 1, 2026, to April 1, 2030 depending on institution size. 👉 What does this mean for fintech founders?  👍 No additional bank fees - Several large banks have threatened to charge for data access - which would almost inevitably be passed on to the fintech customers of aggregators. The proposed rule prohibits this, which is a win for fintechs. (The downside of this is that aggregators still need to align incentives with banks in the absence of fees…) 👍 No technical standards - The rule is not prescriptive with regards to how the APIs are constructed, but does encourage standardization. This is good for fintechs because it allows the market to drive the solution and encourages more innovation on the aggregator side. We expect this to result in better data access for fintechs. Additionally, the emphasis on standardization will make it easier to retrieve and use consumer data across different financial institutions. 🚩 New Responsibilities - The proposed rule does impose some responsibilities on fintechs - notably, to disclose how the data is used, only use data for the consented use case, honor customer deletion requests, and to refrain from selling consumer data. Fintechs - even young ones - should start thinking now about how to comply and to consider these requirements in future product rollouts. Many of these terms are already included in aggregators' terms of use.  Additionally, all data access must be through APIs; screenscraping is prohibited. 👎 No protections for brokerage & payroll data access - While the rule explicitly covers bank accounts (deposit, credit, debit, prepaid), it’s silent on brokerage account & payroll data access, which is non-ideal for any fintechs accessing these categories of data today. Shameless VC plug: If you're an early stage fintech founder building something cool + world positive, let's chat at M2020! cc: Obvious Ventures

After 20 events in five days, my brain is buzzing with possibilities from #ClimateWeekNYC 2024. It was great to meet and catch up with so many incredible people. A huge thanks to Gaia Palliere at Curo, Prem Patel at Synop, Eduardo E. at Flash, Tori Deems at Prologis, and Sammie Hasen for co-hosting an eMobility happy hour with Obvious, and also to Norrsken, 8090 Partners , Newlab, Tierra Climate, WattCarbon, Deloitte, Climactic, Munich Re Ventures, Spring Lane Capital, Third Sphere, Montauk Climate, SE Ventures, NextEra Energy, Inc., MUUS Climate Partners, and all of the other wonderful hosts/co-hosts of events. Here are five trends that really stood out for me: Onward!

Flying is one of the world’s most carbon-intensive industries. Electrifying flight is hard -- but a few people are doing it really well already. Pyka's one of those teams. We recently led the company’s $40M Series B, with participation from Prelude Ventures, Piva Capital, Catapult Ventures, and others. I can't wait to see more and more of their autonomous, zero-emission planes flying around the world. Get ready for liftoff!

We’re thrilled to announce that we’ve teamed up with Equifax to bring Prism Data's cash flow underwriting capabilities–and the market-leading CashScore®–to new and existing Equifax clients! With the CFPB’s Open Banking rules expected next month, we’re helping some of the nation’s largest banks and fastest-growing fintechs to use deposit transaction data to its fullest potential–expanding access to credit, reducing credit and fraud losses, improving decision-making, and powering new product opportunities. Our collaboration with Equifax for Business pairs Prism’s best-in-class cash flow underwriting solutions with the extensive suite of analytics capabilities and differentiated data already available to Equifax clients. Reach out to your Equifax rep to learn how you can set up an evaluation! Read more on the Equifax Insights Blog: https://lnkd.in/ekSJHMG5 Mike Pecen Christopher Walker Christie Toelkes