Seven Episodes to Tell the Story of the Birth of Fintech, as Seen from the Inside…
Over the past six years in the US, as the head of fintech sales for IDEMIA, I have had the chance to work with all market leaders including Square, Stripe, Robinhood, Marqeta, SoFi, Galileo, Varo and more than fifty others. Now back to Europe, I want to share in this series of posts my experience living the birth of this wonderful fintech industry.
I have been fortunate enough to spend the last six years in the United States and to contribute to the birth of the fintech industry.
OK, this is not the Apollo project, we did not reach for the moon, but it was nonetheless a remarkable experience: we do not live every day the creation of a new universe called to change the way you, me and billions of other people around the world bank, pay, invest or use financial services.
Out of 66 fintech unicorns, 37 are currently American
Back in France in the midst of the COVID crisis (no, it’s not better in New York…), I wanted to share this unique experience with my network and with the European fintech community. My goal is to share the vision and culture of our friends across the Atlantic who have enabled them to take a decisive advantage in this revolution in financial services: out of 66 fintech unicorns, 37 are currently American [1].
To describe this extraordinary revolution, I will try to explain what is happening — at this very moment — because fintechs are already there, very present in the American market and to think about what it means for traditional banks. I want to write about their approach in terms of offers and products and see on what strengths, on what differentiators they are based, then about their internal culture which is sometimes surprising on this side of the ocean but so important to them. Finally, I will come back to their dizzying growth and expansion plans without forgetting to mention the impact of the COVID crisis, before concluding on the future by offering some avenues for reflection.
So stay tuned, the first post is coming soon…
— All opinions shared in these posts are my own —
- [1] CB Insights, The State of Fintech Q2'20 Report
