Issue 6: May 2024
In this issue:
Betsy Cohen and Sallie Krawcheck on Innovation, Fintech, and Investing
In April, American Banker hosted a fireside chat featuring two financial industry legends: Sallie Krawcheck and Betsy Cohen. Betsy, one of the first female law professors in the U.S. and founder of The Bancorp, discussed her criteria for evaluating fintech startups and strategies for fintechs to thrive during tough economic times. Sallie, whose firm Ellevest focuses on empowering women investors, revealed surprising statistics about the impending wealth transfer and shared her unique morning ritual with her cat. Their expertise offers valuable perspectives for anyone navigating the fintech landscape.
Full transcript and replay here.
5 Questions with FinTech Founders - Sure
We spoke with Wayne Slavin , CEO and Co-Founder of Sure , the global insurance technology leader that unlocks the potential of digital insurance.
A seasoned entrepreneur, Wayne stays at the forefront of innovation by creating disruptive technologies that improve the customer experience for industries relying on legacy tech stacks.?
Check out this newest founder spotlight to hear how a turbulent flight sparked the idea for a digital insurance company, plus Wayne's advice for founders raising capital, and his biggest lessons on scaling a business.
1. What inspired you to start Sure?
Sure’s journey is not unlike other startups. One idea led to another idea, which in turn led to the creation of Sure. It all started on an airplane. In 2014, I was mid-flight from San Francisco to Las Vegas when we suddenly experienced some pretty serious turbulence. As I was looking around at the other passengers, I could tell it was a really scary experience for them. It dawned on me that there should be an easy way to buy insurance on the spot. In this case, it was the idea of purchasing life insurance before boarding a flight.?
So we built a proprietary app for people to purchase insurance quickly and frictionlessly, starting first with flight insurance, baggage insurance, and shortly after smartphone insurance, to name just a few. We then realized that the technology we developed was so powerful that the opportunity for Sure was so much bigger. Instead of selling insurance digitally ourselves, we could use our technology to help others sell insurance online. Sure is now entirely focused on combining our insurance expertise with our technology as a Software as a Service solution to power the digital insurance programs of large brands and carriers, including the likes of Toyota, Mastercard, and Farmers Insurance.?
2. What problem were you trying to solve in the market?
Today’s consumers have proven that they want to buy insurance differently – they want the right product, at the right time, in the right place. The truth is that the large, legacy insurers haven’t been able to deliver the types of experiences consumers now expect. The biggest challenge with embedded insurance is having the technology expertise to build these new digital insurance experiences. While large carriers obviously have the insurance expertise, they don’t always have the technology expertise to deliver these experiences quickly and at scale.??
That’s where Sure comes in. For us, unlocking the potential of digital insurance means that we are able to help our partners solve the complex problems of digital insurance distribution. That means bringing the entire end-to-end journey of not only the application, rate, quote, and bind process, but also policy administration and claims into the digital age. We provide the rails to enable our partners to reach people where they are and deliver world-class customer experiences.?
Full interview here.
Girls into VC Podcast - Interview with Corinne Bortniker
领英推荐
We are excited to spotlight the latest episode of the Girls into VC podcast, featuring our very own Corinne Bortniker. Corinne shares insights on working with fintech trailblazers within a women-led team and her commitment to social impact investing.
Recognized as a Rising Star by Venture Capital Journal this year, tune in to hear the journey of a rising leader shaping the future of finance and social impact investing.
Helping Accelerate Fintech Growth Companies Through Investments And Resources
Excerpt from Pulse 2.0 Interview with Amanda Abrams
“Our founders, Betsy and Daniel Cohen, have been fintech pioneers for decades since founding The Bancorp in 1999, where they were at the forefront of fintech innovation by creating cutting-edge sponsor banking partnerships with the earliest fintechs, including PayPal, Chime, Varo, and others, and giving these disruptive platforms access to traditional financial rails. When we founded Cohen Circle in 2018, we primarily focused on providing late-stage fintech companies with transformative capital and access to our extensive network in the banking and fintech ecosystems. Over time, we have broadened our focus to invest across the capital stack in the fintech, health, and impact spaces.”?
“Our thesis has always centered around seeing opportunities where others don’t: finding the ‘negative space,’ or areas that are not being served today, and building or investing in platforms that can provide those services. Recently, we have added an impact lens to our investing focus as we believe access to essential health and financial services remains an unaddressed global issue. Rapid innovations in technology are generating and amplifying impact by expanding the accessibility and affordability of these services. We see a growing opportunity in this ‘negative space’ and are well positioned to address it thanks to our extensive global connectivity with leading institutions across both the public and private sectors.”
Read the full interview here.
Portfolio Updates
An Evening of Inclusive FinTech
In May, Cohen Circle teamed up with Kristen Castell from the Center for Accelerating Financial Equity (CAFE) to host an evening of connection for impact investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders at Rise, created by Barclays . The event featured a rapid-fire panel with fintech founders from Muse Tax (Techstars '22) , Nester , and Stratyfy , who pitched innovative solutions for advancing financial wellness among low- to moderate-income (LMI) populations.
A dynamic panel discussion brought together founders and investors— Laura Kornhauser , Busayo Ogunsanya, CPA MST , Amanda Abrams , and Rocío Redondo Alamillos . They tackled pressing questions such as:
? Should fintechs target a broad or narrow demographic to maximize social impact?
? What makes a bigger difference for financial wellness: access to products & services or financial education?
? Are impact investors the right group to support AI-driven financial services platforms for advancing financial inclusion?
Thank you to everyone who joined us for a night of networking and meaningful conversations.
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CMO | FinTech Marketing | VC
5 个月Lots to dive into :)