Tearsheet Podcast: Exploring Financial Services Together

It's tough to raise capital these days – VC wallets are tightening as many investors are opting for a wait-and-see approach. This makes it harder to land a deal and get more cash through the door. For entrepreneurs in need of financing for their companies, equity capital is still the most popular approach but harder to come by in an inflationary environment. However, dilution by selling ownership shares in your company for a part of future cash flows is not the only way to get capital. There's also debt, which comes in the form of bond issues or loans, a means of financing operations without dilution, as long as – again — you have the cash flow to pay back the loan. But today we're talking about another way of accessing capital – recurring revenue financing - so if there's cash flow coming in, this recurring revenue is made into a tradable asset that can be sold to investors. It's a dilution-free and debt-free form of financing, which I'm exploring in more detail with Michal Cieplinski, Chief Business Officer of Pipe and Farhan Lalj, Investor at Anthemis.

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s founder and editor-in-chief, Zack Miller. American Express' Kabbage is growing and evolving. As a standalone company, we’ve known Kabbage as a small business lender, and post-acquisition, as part of Amex’s strategy, it’s expanding its lending capabilities into becoming a cash flow home base for the firm’s SMB clients. CMO Brett Sussman joins me on the podcast today to talk about the opportunities and challenges SMBs face, and how Amex and Kabbage are working to support them. We discuss the evolution of Kabbage as a product, and Amex in general as it expands to meet the needs of small businesses. We also talk about Amex’s two-pronged strategy to grow Kabbage. Kabbage’s Brett Sussman is my guest today on the podcast.

Welcome back to the Power of Payments podcast. I’m your host Ismail Umar, and in today’s episode, we discuss JPMorgan’s acquisition of payments firms Renovite and why it matters, the CFPB’s recent report on BNPL firms, which suggests that regulation is coming for the sector, and why lease-to-own, which is another type of installment payment option, has been gaining popularity in recent months.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with employment and income data platform Argyle to create a podcast about how alternative lending options such as earned wage access, early pay and paycheck-linked lending can solve some of the challenges for consumers who do not qualify for traditional credit today. More than 50% of Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck and may have thin or no credit history. In today’s podcast, we’re speaking to Matt Gomes, Director of Strategy at Argyle. He breaks down how alternative options like paycheck-linked lending, earned wage access, early pay, and cash advance can offer different solutions.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with payments provider Fiserv to create a podcast series about open finance and the work of empowering fintechs, brands, and FIs to collaborate and innovate together. In our fifth conversation in the series, we’re speaking to Niranjan Ramaswamy, vice president and general manager of embedded fintech at Fiserv. As we continue talking about the evolution of open finance, Niranjan shares how Fiserv is helping developers create amazing experiences as they bridge the gap between fintechs and FIs.

I've got a great episode for you today, starring special guest Peter Krull, CEO of Earth Equity Advisors. I always love talking to Peter about all things climate, especially ESG. I feel like he's got a really healthy way of looking at it, because there's a lot of hype in this sector. So don't believe the hype, and always look under the hood. On today's podcast, Peter and I are talking about how to think about ESG, with a sprinkle of politics – we've seen that a number of states have started to ban financial institutions that sought to distance themselves from fossil fuel industries, so the drama in this sector shows no signs of slowing down. All of that and more, in today's show, so let's dive right in.

In today's episode we're talking about buy now, pay later. No, not the consumer version that first comes to mind - we're diving into the B2B version. While B2C BNPL continues to dominate the headlines, its less talked about cousin in the more significant B2B world is just starting to get the spotlight. An increasing number of businesses are transacting online, but the payment rails still disappoint many times. And given the shake up in supply chains, companies could truly benefit from a product that can help them navigate cash flow problems. This is what B2B BNPL aims to do - bringing the latest digital tools to age-old methods of business to business transactions. We're talking about this today with my guests Jamie Beaumont, CEO at Playter, a B2B BNPL fintech based in the UK and Yasamin Karimi, Head of Product at Codat.

When I was a kid, my father had a successful friend who prided himself on carrying an Amex card. But frequently, when we went out to a sporting event or a restaurant, he'd have to fumble around for another card because the establishing didn't accept Amex. That’s changing. Amex has reached parity in the US with other cards. That’s thanks to the work of Raymond Joabar’s team. Raymond is the Group President, Global Merchant and Network Services at American Express and manages direct and indirect channels for expanding the card network’s acceptance. We talk about the channels Amex is using to expand its footprint and the fintech partners helping it get there. We also talk about the work Amex is doing within transportation, B2B, and crypto. It’s an interesting conversation with Raymond – hope you appreciate it.

Welcome back to the Power of Payments podcast. I’m your host Ismail Umar, and on today’s episode, I’m joined by Eric Rosenthal, vice president of corporate development, strategy and partnerships at Rapyd. Rapyd is a London-based payments firm that markets itself as a fintech-as-a-service platform, which provides APIs to help businesses integrate local payments and fintech capabilities into their applications in a simple way. In our conversation, Eric talks about the meaning of fintech-as-a-service, how Rapyd caters to businesses of different sizes including major firms like Uber, what American companies can learn from payments firms in Latin America, Asia, and Europe, and how startups in the space should try to deal with the current downturn.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with payments provider Fiserv to create a podcast series about open finance and the work of empowering fintechs, brands, and FIs to collaborate and innovate together. In our fourth conversation in the series, we’re speaking to Jon Nordhausen, VP of product management for the fintech organization within Fiserv. As we continue talking about the evolution of open finance, Jon shares how cloud data integration is removing friction and enabling new capabilities for collaborations between fintechs and FIs.

For the season finale of the Acquire Podcast, I’m speaking to the CMO of Square, Lauren Weinberg. We’ll be talking about the thirteen year evolution of Square’s growth, creating a unified brand ecosystem across totally different markets (from farmers markets stands to all of SoFi stadium), on exporting Square’s familiar at-home brand across oceans by going to market in new cultures and geographies like Spain and France, and how the different teams in the company work together to make it all happen.

Tearsheet's Power of Payments Conference: https://bit.ly/3R6oENt There's an increasing demand for services that help banks and financial institutions discern between all these new labels that have grown in popularity almost overnight. And the supply side is responding – Temenos, one of the biggest banking infrastructure providers in the world, has launched ESG Investing-as-a-service I've invited Temenos' Chief ESG Officer Kalliopi Chioti to tell us more about their approach. Kalliopi had some really inspiring perspectives on sustainable finance, the rising demand of sustainability investment tools, as ESG moves into the mainstream. We're also chatting about the new sectors to watch as finance becomes more environmentally conscious and more digital - as AI and data have their role to play in green finance too.

Join us at Tearsheet's Power of Payments Conference, on September 15th at Current, Chelsea Piers, NYC. Apply for tickets here: https://bit.ly/3R6oENt When we talk about lending nowadays, it's no longer just about big banks with large underwriting teams. Advancements in technology are completely changing the lending and loan management practices. It's all about AI these days - a cost-effective way to reduce that long time it usually takes to close a loan, boosting competitiveness and profitability. Automation allows lenders and banks to focus more on the customer experience and less on looking at data from all kinds of standardized forms. Digital lenders have shown that their bet is on technology, rather than balance sheets. Plus, through the use of alternative data, lenders can access a wider customer base, as folks who maybe didn't qualify for a loan under FICO can now be found eligible. We're exploring this topic today with my guests Zest AI CEO Mike de Vere and Informed.IQ CEO Justin Wickett.

Welcome back to the Power of Payments podcast. I’m your host Ismail Umar, and in today’s episode, we discuss what financial firms need to know about payments in the metaverse, and why building a sonic brand is becoming increasingly important as consumers become more reliant on contactless payments and voice technology. We also talk about crypto payment adoption patterns among consumers and merchants, and whether crypto could ever replace cash.

The following was produced by Tearsheet Studios. We worked with payments provider Fiserv to create a podcast series about open finance and the work of empowering fintechs, brands, and FIs to collaborate and innovate together. In our third conversation in the series we’re speaking to Jamie DelMedico, General Manager of Fiserv’s Aggregation and Information Services Unit. As we continue talking about the evolution of open finance, Jamie gives us some insight into the evolution of data processes within the fintech environment.