Lend Academy Podcast

One of the things the last couple of years has taught us is that, while the value of cryptocurrencies can be exceeding volatile, they have staying power. While no one can predict the future price of bitcoin or other crypto they are becoming an asset class in their own right. As this niche industry matures […] The post Podcast 213: Zac Prince of BlockFi appeared first on Lend Academy.

Point of sale lending in physical stores has been around for decades, even centuries. But the process has never been a trivial task, it has usually involved filling out a long form answering dozens of questions. And after all that the would-be borrower is often rejected. Thankfully, fintech is providing a better way. Our next […] The post Podcast 212: Arad Levertov of Sunbit appeared first on Lend Academy.

There are several fintech companies attacking different parts of the real estate market in the UK. Despite the challenges surrounding Brexit this is still and vibrant and healthy market. The fintech leader in what is called the “buy-to-let” segment is Landbay. They began lending in 2014 and just recently closed a $1 billion funding commitment […] The post Podcast 211: John Goodall of Landbay appeared first on Lend Academy.

When you think of cutting edge cryptocurrency technology you generally don’t associate it with small business lending. Even the new fintech lenders that are doing really innovative work in small business lending have tended to stay away from crypto. But our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast has combined these two niches into a […] The post Podcast 210: Radko Albrecht of Bitbond appeared first on Lend Academy.

We last had Al Goldstein, the CEO and Chairman of Avant and Amount, on the show back in 2015. So much has changed since then not just in the personal loan space but in the banking space as well. And Avant has evolved to meet those challenges. We spend a lot of time in this […] The post Podcast 209: Al Goldstein of Avant and Amount appeared first on Lend Academy.

One of the things that has been lacking in the fintech space is an independent research organization that conducts deep dives into topics that would be of interest to regulators and lawmakers. We now have one such company and they have just completed their first research report. Our next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast […] The post Podcast 208: Melissa Koide of FinRegLab appeared first on Lend Academy.

Identity verification has been around for decades, ever since the advent of the driver’s license and social security cards. But in the digital age where anyone has the ability to conduct financial transactions remotely it has become more challenging. And with all the data breaches that have been happening today companies are less secure in […] The post Podcast 207: John Dancu of IDology appeared first on Lend Academy.

The fintech space has done a decent job of helping small businesses get more access to capital. Obviously, there is more work to do there but the situation is much better than what it was a decade ago. But for growth companies looking to borrow more than $500,000 good fintech-based options are still lacking. My […] The post Podcast 206: Rishi Khosla of OakNorth appeared first on Lend Academy.

The large credit bureaus do an excellent job of aggregating data and providing credit scores for the majority of the population. But there are still tens of millions of people who remain unscored and one credit bureau is doing their best to try to change that. My next guest on the Lend Academy Podcast is […] The post Podcast 205: Alex Lintner of Experian appeared first on Lend Academy.

The current system of identity verification is broken. With so many data breaches happening today most of our personal information is readily available on the dark web. We can no longer truly rely on any personal information as a way to verify identity. A completely new system is needed. Our next guest on the Lend […] The post Podcast 204: Husayn Kassai of Onfido appeared first on Lend Academy.

There is an interesting juxtaposition in Africa. On the one hand you have incredibly successful mobile payment initiatives like M-Pesa in Kenya and Paga in Nigeria. On the other hand you have most of the 1.1 billion people that are incredibly underserved when it comes to financial services. Small business funding may be one of […] The post Podcast 203: Viola Llewellyn of Ovamba appeared first on Lend Academy.

Before there was such a thing as fintech, before peer to peer lending was invented, a group of young executives had the crazy idea to start an eBay for money in the UK. Originally named Rialto (a bridge linking two market squares in Venice) the company that would become Zopa needed to raise some money […] The post Podcast 202: Giles Andrews, Fintech Pioneer appeared first on Lend Academy.

Short term lending has a bad reputation in some circles, often deservedly so. But there are tens of millions of consumers in middle America who are non-prime but still have credit needs. They don’t qualify for a loan at any of the prime online lenders like LendingClub, Prosper or Marcus. So where do they go? […] The post Podcast 201: Jared Kaplan of OppLoans appeared first on Lend Academy.

Banking as a service is a concept that is still in its infancy. There are a few companies today offering different white label services for banks and even consumer brands to enable them to offer different banking services. BankMobile has put their stake in the ground here with their fascinating new partnership with T-Mobile. The […] The post Podcast 200: Luvleen Sidhu of BankMobile appeared first on Lend Academy.

Small businesses across the country are still not getting all the capital they need. Many small business owners do not see banks as a viable funding alternative either from a time or ease of use perspective. So, they are turning to online lending platforms in record numbers. When it comes to longer term (three to […] The post Podcast 199: Bernardo Martinez of Funding Circle USA appeared first on Lend Academy.

A travesty of today’s financial system is how easy it is to launder money. Despite billions of dollars in expense and tens of thousands of people attacking this problem banks stop around 1% of money from financial crime. Incremental change is not going to help here, we need a new approach. Our next guest on […] The post Podcast 198: Charlie Delingpole of ComplyAdvantage appeared first on Lend Academy.

It is one of the great challenges of our time. Despite low unemployment and a booming economy there is still a large sector of the population that is struggling financially. As I wrote earlier this week there is a new breed of entrepreneurs attacking this problem but they need significant amounts of capital to get […] The post Podcast 197: Emmalyn Shaw of Flourish appeared first on Lend Academy.

The CEO and Founder of NerdWallet talks fintech, consumer finance and the changes that are coming Ten years ago there was nowhere to go to compare consumer finance products via an independent site. Whether it was credit cards, personal loans, saving accounts you were pretty much on your own when it came to research. Today […] The post Podcast 196: Tim Chen of NerdWallet appeared first on Lend Academy.

The CEO and Co-Founder of LendStreet talks financial health with a new approach to debt settlement The debt settlement space has not had a great reputation. But there are situations where it truly is the best option for consumers who are in over their heads financially. But for consumers going through the debt settlement process […] The post Podcast 195: Jerry Nemorin of LendStreet appeared first on Lend Academy.

The fintech world will be gathering in San Francisco next week for LendIt Fintech USA 2019. To help you navigate the show I chatted with my two LendIt colleagues, Todd Anderson and Ryan Lichtenwald, who have been working with me for the past several months on the agenda for the show. We cover the different […] The post Podcast 194: LendIt Fintech USA 2019 Preview appeared first on Lend Academy.