- il y a 2 jours
How Can Fintech Startups Succeed
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00:01Hello and welcome to everyone. Thank you for being here. We're the last session of the day and we're going
00:09to talk today about fintechs. We're going to talk about how they survive the market and how they succeed. And
00:16to do that, we have three interesting, very interesting people that came from really far in certain situations. So I'll
00:24let you introduce yourself. We'll start off with Michael.
00:27Thank you very much. My name is Michael Kent. Congratulations on making it through the day and being here for
00:33the last session. So thank you. I am a three times fintech entrepreneur. I started a remittance business, which I
00:40sold to private equity. I started a cross-border payments business, which I sold to Papaya Global. And I started
00:45a bank called Tandem Bank, which I still own quite a lot of.
00:48So I'm now an investor. So I'm one of those entrepreneur turned investors. I work for a firm called Headline.
00:54We're a global early and growth stage VC, about $5 billion under management based out of San Francisco with offices
01:02in Berlin and Paris, actually.
01:05Very exciting place to be doing fintech, Sao Paulo and out of Macau. So that's me.
01:12Hello, everyone. I'm Antoine, and I'm a partner and head of growth at Revolut. So Revolut is a fintech based
01:23in London. We are present in 40 countries, mostly Europe, but as well in Asia and across Americas.
01:31Today, we have more than 40 million customers, and we operate both on the retail and on the business side.
01:38So happy to to cover to cover the session today.
01:41Happy to be here. Hi. Hello, everyone. My name is Hama from MUFG from Japan, and I'm running that global
01:51corporate investment banking, not only just in a big corporate or financial institutions.
01:56We do support, we do make an investment in the form of debt and equity for the startups. So looking
02:05forward to having good discussions today.
02:08Thank you, everyone. So to start off, we wanted to have a bit of a discussion on the fintech market.
02:15We know that currently the market is more stabilized because usually there was a period where there was a lot
02:21of investment and now it's a bit more stabilized.
02:23So I want to get your opinion if it's still attractive, investing in fintechs. Michael and Hama, maybe start off
02:29with Michael and then no.
02:31Okay. Well, you know what I'm going to say. I'm going to say yes, because I've been investing in fintech
02:37either personally or with other people's money for 20 years.
02:40I think now is actually one of the most interesting times to put money to work in this sector.
02:45Can you hear that? Okay, that's better.
02:47So I think the answer is yes. I think it's a super interesting time to put money into fintech.
02:52I think a lot of the tourist capital has gone home. The Tiger Globals and the SoftBanks and the people
02:57who are really overhyping some of these companies are no longer deploying capital.
03:02But you've got a lot of specialist funds. You've got a lot of fintech specialists all over the world now
03:07who are deploying money into the space.
03:09I think emerging markets is one of the places that we haven't seen an awful lot of fintechs get built.
03:16You know, there's another neobank launch pretty much every other week in the UK.
03:19But actually, if you look at where the fintech makes a huge difference, it's parts of Africa, parts of India,
03:24Latin America, obviously with the new bank, which everyone talks about.
03:27But other Latin American markets are super interesting.
03:30So I think it's a great time.
03:32I think the other thing that's happening is, you know, I love Revolut, I love Wise, I love all of
03:37the sort of the decacorns, unicorns in the fintech space.
03:40But people who come from those places are very, very well trained.
03:44They know how to build good software. They know how to build good fintech.
03:47They know how to lead teams. They know how to be effective.
03:50And I think those teams and individuals coming out and with the capital now flowing back into the market, I
03:57think it's the most interesting time we've had for fintech ever, actually.
04:00Perfect.
04:01Right. Why don't I just talk from that, the bank's perspective.
04:08Our key clients are financial sponsors, institutional investors, and the corporate client.
04:15But we believe that there is big room for the bank like ourselves.
04:21The size of the balance sheet of MFC is nearly three trillion US dollars.
04:26And we have global, globally, we do have the offices, all of that in many places.
04:33But fintech is very, very attractive.
04:37We are very much regulated by the regulators.
04:42But if I just want to give an example, a country like India, there are still a lot of people
04:50who do not have their banking account.
04:53But they do need that to finance from that financial inclusion perspective.
04:59We made a $300 million investment in that Indian startup, which provided the smartphone lending type of things.
05:13This cannot be done by the regulated bank, but we can do support for them and we can match, we
05:22can introduce them to our client.
05:25So, as he said, it's still very attractive, I believe.
05:32Perfect.
05:34From my understanding, there's a lot of investment going on in less mature markets, if I may say, emerging markets,
05:41not less mature, less regulated, if I may.
05:44Why is that?
05:46Is it only because of regulation or are there other opportunities?
05:51Well, I always tell people that, you know, it's not that interesting to give people a new metal card, no
05:57offense, or a new, a coral card.
06:00I think those are the Monzo guys.
06:01You know, what's really interesting is giving a phone to somebody that has the ability to do savings and loans
06:07or the ability to borrow money or the ability to make payments and to hold cash at an individual level
06:13to somebody who's never had access to financial services before.
06:16So, I think the really transformational piece around FinTech is happening in some of those, you know, sometimes they're less
06:23developed, sometimes from a technology standpoint, they're much more developed.
06:26You know, things like Impacer have taken off in emerging markets, whereas, you know, they haven't really happened in the
06:31same speed in places like, you know, the US or America.
06:35So, I think there's, I think that's the, and it's, that's kind of like the really interesting place to play,
06:41you know.
06:41You know, the transformational impact of technology, the democratization of things like, that used to be only available to high
06:50net worths, you know, stocks and share portfolios, fractional ownership, Lombard loans where you can borrow against the collateralization of
06:57wealth that you hold.
06:59You know, that's all becoming available to everyone.
07:01So, I think that's kind of like, that's what's really interesting.
07:03So, you think about, from a VC or an investor perspective, you're always thinking about the TAM, and the TAM
07:08is just, you know, growing incredibly fast as more and more people become financially on grid.
07:13So, that's, that's kind of why it's happening.
07:16And then, you know, it's, it's capitalism.
07:18A lot of people have got very rich in, you know, in emerging markets, and that wasn't historically the case.
07:23There was a lot of sovereign risk.
07:24People were, you know, there's a very high risk premium that you'd have to, you'd have to pay for investing
07:29in places like Brazil.
07:31But, you know, you know, Headline just sold a company to Visa for a billion dollars.
07:36In Brazil, it was a banking infrastructure play.
07:39You know, Visa weren't shopping at a billion dollar tickets a few years ago.
07:43But, you know, that's all changed.
07:45So, I think, I think that's probably why you're seeing that happen.
07:49The, we, I think it's, for us at least, less mature market is more, how do you say, you have
07:59opportunities there.
08:01If I just give in a couple examples, we at MEFC had a joint venture with the Israel Fintech called
08:08the Liquidity Capital, which invented the AI credit model.
08:12And we call it the Mars Gross Capital.
08:15And we started this debt fund first because we knew that there is no proper venture debt house in Asia.
08:26A lot of regional banks or international banks cannot make lending available because of the regulation.
08:33But, they can do.
08:35So, we formed up the venture debt fund.
08:39Started that fund with $80 million two and a half years ago.
08:44It's a growth to the $1 billion US today.
08:48And what we do is just quickly is utilizing that AI technologies developed made by that Israel Fintech liquidity capital.
08:58That, if I try to be very, you know, summarized, what they do, they connect, they absorb the data from
09:08that potential borrowers through the API connections.
09:12Not only just the financial information, but also all the invoice and all the company's data.
09:18Usually, it takes a couple months or six months to come back to the client as to whether lending will
09:25be possible.
09:26But, if you use that data and using AI, we can come back to the client within 48 hours with
09:36the term sheet.
09:37So, people like that.
09:40And this is how we have developed.
09:42There was no venture debt.
09:45So, we started equity investment as well.
09:48So, AI credit model, you know, not only just in automating or making a credit process efficient.
09:55They are, they provide that opportunity for the bank like ourselves with a minimum, very, very effective, you know, operational
10:05model would be possible.
10:07Now, we're going to be strengthening this.
10:10This is a challenge a bit for us.
10:12We started in Asia, but now we've been coming to Europe.
10:17So, let's see how we can do in a matured market.
10:21Antoine, maybe because we've talked about Brazil, less matured market.
10:26I think you might have an example about that.
10:29Yeah, I would just make the distinction between emerging market and fintech maturity.
10:35Because, actually, the correlation is almost opposite in the sense that, like, more, let's say, more developed economies and so
10:43on have actually much greater entry barriers than the emerging markets.
10:49You know, and you have a few examples.
10:50You look at Germany.
10:52Germany is a super hard market to get into for a fintech.
10:56And it's a lot less developed, like, let's say, India.
10:59India is a lot more developed as a fintech market than Germany is.
11:03Think even about the U.S.
11:04U.S.
11:05We've been waiting for that U.S.
11:07It's not that big.
11:07It's not that big.
11:07For a very long time.
11:08But, like, so, the U.S. is such a big market.
11:13And if you think about how many fintechs there are, they're not that big considering the size of the U
11:18.S.
11:18And so, it's quite interesting about how emerging markets are actually really prime places for fintech to thrive.
11:29It's very, very interesting.
11:31Definitely.
11:32And what do you think?
11:35Is it a good guess?
11:36Do you invest in early-stage fintechs, then?
11:39Who?
11:40Revolut?
11:41No.
11:41No, just as an individual.
11:42Me?
11:43Yeah.
11:43Yes, I do, yeah.
11:44Yeah.
11:44So, that's the other interesting thing.
11:45Of course.
11:46These people are doing very, very well.
11:48You know, they're making...
11:49Wealth is being created.
11:51Yeah.
11:51And then those, you know, management and the sort of people who've made money in fintech are putting it back
11:56into, you know, people they know, other entrepreneurs.
11:59And it's kind of like that seed money, which is really valuable, you know.
12:03Later stage, there's a load of cash.
12:04You can see it.
12:05You go out there and look how much money there is swilling around.
12:08But a guy like Antoine coming in and giving you, you know, 50, 100,000 euros to get your business
12:13off, knowing what he knows, that's what makes it really interesting.
12:17Definitely.
12:18What do you think are the main issues that block fintechs from achieving their goal?
12:26What are the main items that block them to develop their activities?
12:31Could I?
12:32Of course.
12:33Because we made, in total, as an institution, we made a $5 billion investment for startups in the form of
12:43equity and debt.
12:46Quite significant amount.
12:48Our CEO is driving this.
12:51Our experience is two things.
12:54One is regulation.
12:56In each country, each region has the regulations.
13:00So, fintech also has to face that regulation, how they overcome.
13:05Second is scalability or balance sheet or funding cost.
13:10In many cases, if some fintech could try to be the lender, they need to raise the fund.
13:17But it's always cost stable, you know, sustainable funding is not easy.
13:23Some of the fintech focusing on that development of the technologies.
13:29In many cases, they are doing pretty well.
13:32Asset light.
13:32So, we believe the bank, like ourselves, can support these startups, which may need balance sheet.
13:41But again, that we cannot make a lending available to whole companies.
13:50At least, that lending should be examined by the regulator.
13:58So, we need to pass the test.
14:00So, this is a still gap.
14:02Yeah.
14:03So, that's the kind of area for us to need to cultivate, I think.
14:08I think Antoine has something, an input on scalability and regulatory.
14:13I think it's Michael.
14:14I think it'd be the one best to respond to that.
14:18I mean, at the end of the day, it's very basic.
14:19It's very simple, all right?
14:21You have two things to crack.
14:23You need to crack the regulatory aspect and the product aspect.
14:27And that's it, you know?
14:28And then, if something is not going well, it's one or the other, you know?
14:32Sometimes, it's too easy to blame.
14:33Oh, it's because of the regulatory.
14:35Sometimes, actually, you may think it's the product.
14:38It's definitely marketing, by the way.
14:40But, yeah, that's where it starts.
14:43It all starts and ends there, you know?
14:45And in order to crack, whether it's a market, whether it's segment, etc., etc.,
14:51you just need to make sure you have really the product that is just good enough to sell by itself
14:58because the growth is coming from the product, you know?
15:02Full stop, you know?
15:03And people, you know, I hear sometimes founders, CEOs,
15:08well, you know what?
15:08My product is great.
15:09I just have an awareness problem.
15:11I say, no.
15:12If your product was that great, you wouldn't have an awareness problem, you know?
15:16Like, at the end of the day, it's just like your product,
15:19yes, you can build up with more growth, marketing, and so on.
15:22But it's just a catalyst at the end of the day.
15:24It's a catalyst of something that has to be great from the get-go, you know?
15:28And yes, and then you can go faster, but it has to be good.
15:33You know, it has to be good.
15:34I think that's really one of the things.
15:36The other thing that I would add that is critical and that we've seen as well
15:39in the recent years with funding problems and so on
15:42is how important profitability is.
15:45And I think some startups have started to really grow before reaching profitability
15:53and they are paying this quite hard, you know?
15:56While I think what Revolut did, which I believe was successful
16:01and we're continuing to do that,
16:03we first make sure we're profitable
16:05so that the profitability of today is paying the growth of tomorrow, you know?
16:11And if you look at Revolut, we've been profitable since 2021 now,
16:18which is exactly the year where we accelerated our growth.
16:21So it's not this thing where you try to say,
16:24hey, it's either growth or profitability.
16:26No, it can be both.
16:27It can be both because if you have the profitability,
16:30ultimately things will auto-finance itself, you know?
16:33The growth just auto-finance itself
16:35and then you can really accelerate very, very hard.
16:37But that's why, and that's our approach that we have in expansion,
16:41emerging markets.
16:42First, we get the product.
16:44Then we need to make sure we have the right product
16:46with the right economics, the right profitability.
16:49And then the growth and the investment will come, you know?
16:55And the way we deal with it,
16:56I tell the team all the time, you know,
16:59like Revolut UK, your biggest competitor is not Monzo.
17:03It's Revolut Germany.
17:05Because if I have better profitability
17:07and better traction in Germany,
17:10the capital will come to Germany
17:11and we're going to grow Germany.
17:13Now, if you want to grow UK,
17:14you need to beat Revolut Germany, you know?
17:16And that's how, and by creating this system
17:18where you optimize your yield globally,
17:22then you just invest only where it works, you know?
17:25And you keep this internal competition
17:26in a very successful way.
17:28That's perfect.
17:29We had a discussion on scalability
17:32because you just talked about the product.
17:35Maybe if you can share some insight on the product,
17:38when you say the right product,
17:39what is the right product?
17:42It's a product that people love.
17:44Ah.
17:45So it's very cliche.
17:47But at the end of the day, you know,
17:49that's what it is, you know?
17:51That's the product that doesn't necessarily,
17:54at least at first,
17:55should not deliver the profitability at first,
17:58but drive usage.
18:00You need to have a product that people are using, all right?
18:03Once you know you have a product that people are using,
18:06then you can start, okay,
18:07can we try to make money on it?
18:09And then can we try to make profit of it?
18:11But if people are not even using your product at the beginning,
18:14then there's no hope, you know?
18:15Like, go back to the whiteboard.
18:17This is not good.
18:18You start again.
18:20And many products that we launch at Revolut,
18:22they just don't work, you know?
18:24So we say, okay, fine.
18:25We thought that would work.
18:27And we just cancel them and then we move on, you know?
18:30There's a technology piece as well there, isn't there?
18:33Because if I think, you know,
18:35the reason that, you know,
18:36these incredibly well capitalized French or Spanish
18:39or British banks can't actually do what you do
18:42and are not growing at the rate that you or Wise
18:45or some of the other sort of really successful European fintechs
18:49are doing it is partly people.
18:52It's also the culture, you know,
18:53the risk-taking culture,
18:55the deployment of capital where it, you know,
18:57where it should flow to,
18:58where it earns the best returns.
18:59But they're also sitting on this horrible, you know,
19:03spaghetti code, legacy tech,
19:06risk-adverse environment.
19:07And, you know, that's just not conducive
19:10to making good software choices.
19:13So I do think, you know,
19:14and there's a lot of infrastructure
19:16is very hot still in fintech.
19:18Maybe consumers less hot these days,
19:20but, you know, who just ignore VCs
19:22because they're just sheep and they follow fashion.
19:24But I do think there's every single bank
19:26is going to have to completely rip out its infrastructure,
19:29completely rebuild it
19:30so it can do a little bit of what you do,
19:33which is make, you know, very rapid decisions,
19:35very iterative choices
19:36and start serving customers much better.
19:38And if they don't do that,
19:40they're, you know,
19:41not to be overly dramatic,
19:43but they're going to be dead, you know.
19:45You know, let me talk a little bit about
19:48how the bank can support,
19:51you know, the issue of the scalability
19:53for startups.
19:55A bit aspirational,
19:57but hopefully we can do this
20:01sometime near future.
20:03I mean, securitization is a traditional way,
20:08right?
20:09But if we can help the startup,
20:12which have, you know, mainly B2C,
20:15they have a certain credit.
20:16and if we can have that external credit ratings,
20:20scoring,
20:22like, you know, credit cards
20:23or, you know, student loan in the US.
20:26And I'm talking about emerging market here,
20:29like Asia.
20:30If we do have a proper platform,
20:33infrastructure,
20:34for credit ratings or scoring,
20:37again, utilizing AI,
20:38I think under the Basel 3
20:42or Basel 4,
20:44the bank can lend these assets
20:47under the very, very effectively
20:51in terms of the risk-weighted assets.
20:53So, again,
20:54big challenge from legal perspective,
20:57but I believe that
20:58rather than direct lending,
21:01trying to, how do I say,
21:03to make securitization structure
21:05a possible,
21:09based upon the very, very well-diverced
21:11by the asset,
21:12I think that could be
21:13one of the solutions
21:15for the future.
21:17Definitely.
21:18What do you think,
21:19how can you keep innovating?
21:21Because you're at Finstack,
21:23and at a certain point,
21:25you're going to grow.
21:26And how do you ensure
21:27that you keep innovating
21:28and keep being ahead of the trend,
21:31if I may put it this way?
21:35Who wants to take that?
21:36I mean, look,
21:37it's freaking 10% of GDP, yeah?
21:41And there are millions and millions
21:43of people,
21:43as we just ascertained,
21:44around the world
21:45who have no access to capital,
21:47they have no access to lending,
21:48they have no access to payments,
21:49they can't store value.
21:51You know,
21:51there's innovation happening
21:52all over the world,
21:53all over FinTech.
21:55You know,
21:55new data sources.
21:56There's also a lot of,
21:59you know,
22:00AI or machine learning
22:01getting applied
22:02to all areas
22:03of financial services.
22:04it's been going on
22:05in capital markets
22:06where,
22:07for years,
22:08you know,
22:08there's not many hedge funds
22:09that aren't using
22:10some derivative
22:11of machine learning
22:12or AI.
22:13So,
22:14I'm not worried
22:15about the lack
22:16of innovation.
22:16I think there is
22:17this sort of natural cycle
22:19where,
22:19you know,
22:20people,
22:20it takes ages
22:21to build FinTechs.
22:22that's the one thing
22:23you have to remember.
22:24You know,
22:2410 years
22:25and you're getting started.
22:26It takes a long time
22:27to change people's view
22:28on money.
22:29It takes a long time
22:30to change people's behavior
22:31on money.
22:31And it takes a long time
22:32to gather assets,
22:34either from a payment side
22:35or a balance sheet side.
22:37So,
22:37I think it does take
22:37a very long time.
22:38And you need to keep
22:40getting new,
22:41enthusiastic people
22:42into your organizations.
22:44And so,
22:44I think that's,
22:45you know,
22:46there was a lot
22:46in the press recently
22:48about Stripe's need
22:49to IPO
22:49and starting to make liquidity
22:51and start to get
22:52more innovation
22:52and get people
22:53to wanting to come
22:54and join Stripe again.
22:55I think they've kind of
22:56managed to pull that off.
22:57But there is this,
22:58you know,
22:59if the IPO market
23:00sort of starts to open up,
23:01people start to make money,
23:02you'll start to see
23:03that innovative cycle.
23:05They talk a lot,
23:06I'm sure they've all
23:06been talking about
23:07all the last three days
23:08about the flywheel.
23:10France feels like
23:11it's got a really good
23:12flywheel going.
23:13But that,
23:14I think,
23:15is what's going to drive
23:16that innovation.
23:18Yeah,
23:18I think you can
23:20categorize innovation
23:20in probably two categories
23:22in fintech.
23:23One category is about
23:24reinventing the existence
23:26and the other one
23:27is inventing
23:27the non-existent.
23:29You know?
23:30So,
23:30and in the world
23:31of banking and so on,
23:33I think we're just,
23:35I mean,
23:36we're nowhere near
23:37reinventing the existence yet.
23:39You know,
23:39like there are still
23:40some basic banking products,
23:42whether it's in savings,
23:44whether it's in credit,
23:46mortgage,
23:47et cetera,
23:47et cetera,
23:47there's still a lot
23:48of innovation
23:49that we can do
23:50in reinventing
23:51the existence.
23:53And then on the other part,
23:55which is inventing
23:55the non-existent,
23:57well,
23:57that is
23:58that is
23:59the wide open ocean.
24:00You know,
24:00like with technologies
24:02like blockchain,
24:03technologies like AI,
24:04et cetera, et cetera.
24:04I think there is
24:05so much to be done
24:06and that,
24:07I think that's
24:08as well the way
24:09we look at it,
24:10you know,
24:10from a revolute perspective.
24:12You know,
24:13we go beyond
24:15just the banking thing.
24:16And I think
24:17that's the power
24:17as well of fintech
24:18is that
24:21you should never
24:22define yourself
24:23because if you
24:23start defining yourself,
24:25suddenly you're
24:25putting boundaries
24:26in your innovation.
24:27You know,
24:27so what is revolute?
24:29Is it a new bank?
24:30What is it?
24:30We don't,
24:31I mean,
24:31we just launched
24:32our crypto exchange,
24:33for example,
24:34just a few weeks ago.
24:35You know,
24:36we added now
24:37eSIM,
24:37you know,
24:38so we sell eSIM,
24:39which makes sense.
24:40We're great in travel.
24:41You know,
24:41so now anyone
24:42who has an ultra subscription
24:44has data unlimited
24:46everywhere in the world.
24:47It has nothing to do
24:48with banking.
24:49It's just part of it.
24:50You know,
24:50so we just have now
24:51this and so on.
24:52So you start innovating
24:54by trying to understand
24:56where are the leads,
24:58try things,
25:00break things,
25:01and move on.
25:02You know,
25:02and I think,
25:03and it's a culture thing.
25:05You know,
25:05it needs to be deep
25:07in the company culture
25:07to get into that.
25:09It's definitely
25:09a culture thing.
25:10How much do you have
25:11any perspective
25:12on how you're going
25:14to maintain
25:14this innovation
25:15within the companies
25:16you invest?
25:17Is it something
25:17you follow up?
25:19Right.
25:22Again,
25:23from the bank's perspective
25:25that we continuously
25:29and we keep that,
25:31you know,
25:31trying to find out
25:32that innovation
25:34is sometimes
25:37it's,
25:37you know,
25:38for a wish,
25:39but sometimes
25:39it's so depending
25:40on that needs.
25:41So very,
25:42very not easy
25:44to find out
25:45is,
25:45well,
25:46winning course.
25:48But to find out
25:50that the right
25:50technologies
25:51or innovation,
25:52I think what we can do
25:54is that we need
25:54to continuously,
25:56sustainably,
25:57to support
25:58these companies.
26:01Definitely.
26:02Okay.
26:05Globally,
26:06we've talked about people,
26:08from my understanding,
26:08it's not enough
26:09to have technology,
26:10we need a culture
26:11and we need people.
26:12And do you think
26:14we have enough,
26:15there's enough people
26:16to continue
26:17these developments,
26:19this push
26:20towards fintechs
26:21for them
26:21to become
26:23a really large size
26:24and to be competing,
26:26they're already competing
26:27with banks,
26:28but to be at the same level
26:29as banks.
26:32I mean,
26:32I hope so.
26:33Look,
26:33there's still a,
26:34it's half past,
26:35well,
26:35no,
26:35it's five o'clock
26:36on a Friday in France.
26:37You've still got people
26:38in the room
26:39that should be
26:40having a beer
26:40or whatever.
26:41People,
26:42when I started
26:43my first business,
26:43which was 22,
26:4523 years ago,
26:47I know,
26:47much older than I look.
26:49You look young.
26:50Yeah,
26:50exactly.
26:51Thank you.
26:51No,
26:52nobody,
26:53everyone thought
26:53I was insane.
26:54I was doing
26:55corporate development,
26:56I was doing M&A
26:57at News Corp
26:57and everyone,
26:58you know,
26:58why would you pack it in?
26:59Why would you go
27:00and be an entrepreneur?
27:00Why would you try
27:01and do the business?
27:02That has completely changed.
27:04You know,
27:04if I talk to my kids' generation
27:06or people coming through now,
27:08you know,
27:09the aspiration
27:09is to work in business.
27:11It's something
27:11that people are proud of doing.
27:13It's something people are,
27:14I think the educational,
27:15you know,
27:16the education lets us down
27:17a little bit,
27:18certainly in the UK.
27:19I'm not a big expert
27:20on French education system,
27:22but I think that will change
27:23radically beyond
27:24all recognition
27:26with AI
27:27very,
27:27very fast,
27:28actually.
27:29And so I don't worry about,
27:30I do worry about
27:31having the right kind of talent.
27:33I do actually worry about
27:34people having
27:34the right motivations
27:36because one of the things
27:37that I learned
27:37as I sort of
27:38exited businesses
27:40and, you know,
27:41it's very nice
27:41to get the money,
27:42but that's a very
27:42one-time hit.
27:44You know,
27:45you've got to love
27:45what you do
27:46and I spend a lot of time
27:47going into places
27:48and telling people,
27:49you know,
27:49don't go and be
27:50a management consultant.
27:51No offense
27:52to all the management
27:52consultants out there.
27:53Thank you.
27:55Management consultant.
27:56Don't go and be a banker.
27:58You can do that
27:58at any point
27:59in your life,
28:00but, you know,
28:01go and be an entrepreneur,
28:02go and work in a startup,
28:03go and work in that
28:04kind of environment
28:05where risk-taking
28:06is really appreciated,
28:08where it's a lot more
28:09meritocratic
28:10in terms of what you do.
28:11So, you know,
28:12I think if we can keep
28:13getting that message out,
28:14it's going to be good.
28:15I really agree
28:16with what you said.
28:17I think so.
28:18I think the talent pool
28:19is huge.
28:21I think the young generations
28:24have a lot more creativity
28:27and they can be very innovative.
28:30I think the biggest challenge
28:31is resilience.
28:33Yeah.
28:33You know,
28:34because being an entrepreneur,
28:36being in a place
28:37like FinTech
28:38and so on,
28:40it's not easy.
28:41You know,
28:42it's not easy.
28:42It's tough out there.
28:44You know,
28:44and you need to accept
28:46that maybe
28:46your great idea
28:48is not so great,
28:50you know,
28:50but it's okay.
28:51It's okay.
28:52You know,
28:52you move on
28:53and you try again
28:54and you fail again
28:55and you try again
28:56and you fail again.
28:57You know,
28:58I think,
28:58and I think
28:59while the passion is there,
29:04I think we need to make sure
29:06we keep the resilience
29:07in the way
29:08and what you find
29:10is that the best entrepreneurs,
29:12yes,
29:13are some creative ones,
29:15but it's actually
29:16the ones that have the resilience
29:17to really go deep
29:18into the execution
29:20because at the end of the day,
29:21the strategy,
29:22it really doesn't matter.
29:23You know,
29:24you can put it on the slide
29:25and bear with me.
29:26I was a management consultant
29:27and I started there
29:29and I've done a few slides
29:30and now I know
29:31that basically
29:32it's not the slides that matter
29:33is what you do
29:34and that's,
29:35and at the end of the day,
29:36the strategy,
29:37it really doesn't matter.
29:39What matters
29:39is what you're going to do
29:40in the next three months.
29:41That's what matters.
29:42The rest is literature.
29:44Okay.
29:45Right.
29:46I think it's regulated
29:48the bank like ourselves.
29:51Rather than competition,
29:53rather than competing
29:54with the FinTech,
29:55we are delighted
29:56to work with them.
29:57Okay.
29:58Yeah.
29:58We are regulated.
30:00There is always
30:00something that we cannot do,
30:03but with the FinTech,
30:06there is a kind of new area
30:08that we can support innovation
30:10and so as I just briefly said,
30:15securitization is a very traditional
30:17financing way,
30:19but perhaps what we can do
30:21is to using these
30:23in a traditional way
30:24to help and support
30:26the FinTech
30:28to achieve that scalability.
30:30I think maybe that's a route
30:31that we are looking for,
30:33I guess.
30:35If we have to sum up
30:36in one word,
30:37what would make
30:38a successful FinTech
30:40for each one of you?
30:41What is the key component?
30:45So, I think the biggest,
30:47if you think about money
30:48and you think what money
30:49means to most people,
30:51there is still a huge swathe
30:52of society who feel
30:54money is restrictive,
30:55it's something they're scared of,
30:57it's not something
30:58that sets them free.
30:59So, if, you know,
31:00I think if we could all
31:01get together
31:02and change people's view
31:04through technology
31:05of money,
31:06understanding it,
31:07how it can enable
31:07good things in their lives,
31:09you know,
31:09taking it right back
31:10to that level,
31:11to me that would be
31:12you know,
31:13that would be great.
31:14And if we could do it
31:14all over the world
31:16and we could do it with,
31:17you know,
31:17if we could do it
31:18for lots of diverse
31:19different sets of people
31:20and maybe we could
31:21headquarter it in France,
31:22that would be great.
31:24I think linked to what I said,
31:26for me it's execution.
31:28It's not about
31:29doing great things,
31:30it's about doing things great,
31:33which is very different,
31:34you know.
31:35Do a few things,
31:36but do them great.
31:37Maybe they're not so great,
31:38but, I mean,
31:39but I think it's very important.
31:41It's really the,
31:42the excellence
31:43in the execution
31:43needs to be there.
31:46For me is,
31:47again,
31:48we met a lot
31:50of founders
31:50of startups.
31:52For me,
31:53the first is
31:56logic
31:57or story,
31:59I would say,
32:00a convincing story
32:01and passion
32:04of the founder
32:05and finally,
32:08it's the finest.
32:09So, this is how
32:10we are supporting
32:11these startups,
32:13the founders.
32:15Okay.
32:15And maybe just,
32:17what is the most
32:18innovative,
32:21innovative startup
32:22you have currently
32:23invested in
32:24or I know
32:25you can't prefer
32:26one to another.
32:28They're like children,
32:29aren't they?
32:29You can't have a phone for it.
32:30Yes, it's so.
32:31So, we,
32:32we,
32:32headline of just
32:33back to team,
32:34actually,
32:35out of Revolut,
32:36amazing entrepreneurs,
32:38dblock,
32:39it's a non-custodial
32:40crypto wallet,
32:40you should all download it.
32:42It's fantastic.
32:43It's only live in France yet,
32:44so you guys are
32:45getting the world preview,
32:46but they are,
32:47they are phenomenal entrepreneurs
32:49and it's just when you,
32:50when you sort of sit
32:51next to a team
32:52who've been at somewhere
32:53like Revolut
32:53and they just execute
32:55so, so fast
32:56and like you say,
32:57it's all about execution
32:58and I think we haven't
32:59even talked about crypto.
33:00We could talk about,
33:00a lot about crypto.
33:01We haven't,
33:02it's going to be
33:02transformational
33:03for financial services.
33:04So, I'd say
33:04dblock is my,
33:06sort of,
33:07I'm super excited
33:07about that business
33:08at the moment,
33:08but I love all my children.
33:09Okay.
33:10And maybe for Revolut,
33:11what is your ultimate product
33:13or what's your favorite
33:14thing about it?
33:16My favorite thing
33:16about Revolut?
33:18Yeah, I mean,
33:18I think it's the pace
33:20is having the ability
33:22to keep the size
33:23and the agility
33:23because that is tough,
33:25you know,
33:25that is very tough
33:26when you reach a size
33:27for 10,000 employees
33:28and still you keep the pace.
33:30That is...
33:31How do you do it?
33:32Well, it's all about
33:33keeping small teams,
33:34keeping the culture,
33:35keeping focus
33:36on the execution
33:36and so on
33:37and then you manage
33:38to keep it,
33:39but it's hard work.
33:41It's really hard work.
33:43And Hama,
33:44what's the most innovative
33:47or fintech
33:49that you've invested in?
33:51What's the one
33:53that's currently shining?
33:54I need a couple of hours,
33:57but in a half minute.
33:59Yeah.
34:00Well, the...
34:01I was looking for the monitor there.
34:03That's okay.
34:04That's okay.
34:05For us, yes.
34:07The liquidity capital
34:09I just mentioned,
34:10our joint venture partner.
34:12Okay.
34:12They created AI
34:13credit model,
34:14very, very efficient.
34:16Okay.
34:17Thank you.
34:18Thank you all
34:19for being here.
34:21So,
34:22we...
34:22To sum up,
34:23you need to stay
34:24innovative,
34:26execute well,
34:27and invest well.
34:30Yeah.
34:31Thank you very much
34:31for...
34:31Thank you.
34:32Thank you very much.
34:33Thank you.
34:34It's a great event.
34:35Thank you.
34:36Thank you.
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