April roundup

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Photo by Henrique Ferreira on Unsplash

In case you missed out on the April episodes of the Voice of FinTech podcast, here is your monthly roundup! You can listen to all the episodes on the Episodes pages of this website or when you subscribe to your favorite podcast apps under Subscribe.

Programmable money with Shamir Karkal, co-founder and CEO of Sila

Shamir Karkal, co-founder and CEO of Sila, a US-headquartered FinTech software platform spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about ways how to program your money to do what you want with it.

Specifically, here is what they covered:

  • Shamir's background and journey to Sila

  • Why are we only in the early stages of FinTech, and what it's exciting about the future?

  • Sila seeks to provide the next generation of financial services – why and how?

  • What is programmable money?

  • What's your unfair competitive advantage?

  • What's the technology behind your solution?

  • How do you make money?

  • What will Web3 mean in terms of financial services, and how blockchain and crypto integrate into it?

  • How big is your team, and where are you based?

  • Shamir's favorite business book: Debt: The First 5000 Years

  • What's the best way to reach out: Sila Money

Nuances of Marketing in Financial Services with Alexandra Levis, President of Arro Financial Communications

In this podcast episode, Alexandra Levis, President of Arro Financial Communications, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about the unique nuances and challenges of Marketing in Financial Services.

Here is what they covered:

  • Alex's background and journey to Marketing in Financial Services

  • Challenges Alex had to face running a company that's at the intersection of marketing and traditional finance

  • Best marketing tools to focus on? Digital marketing, SEO, PR?

  • Does one still need a website to promote their business?

  • Key clients - large companies vs. FinTechs; how do they differ?

  • How can FinTechs create a robust marketing plan on a budget? Should FinTechs try to build a B2C brand, or are they better off going through the B2B route?

  • Many entrepreneurs would love to build another platform. How do you overcome a cold start problem, though?

  • The most significant changes in financial marketing over the last few years?

  • Recommended for to aspiring FinTech entrepreneurs, related to Marketing: Hegarty on Advertising

  • Best way to reach out: alevis@arrocomm.com

Americas Series with David Yakobovitch: Disrupting the archaic payments system with Astra CEO Gil Akos

In this episode of the Americas Series, David Yakobovitch speaks to Gil Akos, CEO of Astra, about disrupting and upgrading the archaic payments system in America.

Here is what they covered:

Background:

  • Gil’s background and what led him to found Astra

  • What do you see driving the recent boom of the financial transfer market? How has Astra grown as a company in conjunction with this boom?

  • Who are some of Astra’s customers?

  • What types of companies can benefit from Astra’s technology?

  • How does Astra differentiate itself from others in the crowded fintech space?

The current state of the payments system:

  • What are the current issues you see with the payment system and what can be done to solve these challenges? Specifically, how does Astra solve these challenges?

  • How do you expect the payments space to change over the next couple of years?

  • How do you see real-time payments (RTP) affecting the ACH network and the payments system as a whole?

  • How can banks and financial institutions effectively and safely handle ACH transfers?

Account-to-account and instant transfers:

  • How does Astra enable account-to-account (A2A) transfers? How are you able to simplify A2A transfers for both developers and consumers?

  • Why have A2A transfers historically been difficult for banks and financial institutions to execute effectively?

  • What is Astra’s role in the instant payment space?

Bridging the gap between fiat money and cryptocurrency:

  • What are the inherent challenges for all Web3 infrastructure?

  • What steps need to be taken in order to bridge the gap between these two dramatically opposed ecosystems?

  • How does Astra handle risk mitigation within fiat-crypto transactions to help prevent fraud losses?

  • How will the rapid growth of crypto/DeFi/Web3 impact the evolution of the payments systems?

Follow Astra on LinkedIn, Twitter, and visit their website for more information.

Autonomous drones & insurance with Margarita Chli, Head of the Vision for Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich, Switzerland

In this episode, Margarita Chli, Swiss National Science Professor in Computer Vision for Robotics at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about improving drone vision and building autonomous drones and their use cases in Insurance.

Specifically, here is what they covered:

  • How did Margarita become a professor at ETH in Zurich in drones and robots' vision? See Margarita's profile at ETH website.

  • Many people talk about self-driving cars, but less attention is paid to autonomous drones. What are the use cases for intelligent drones that can fly by themselves, and what are their challenges vs. self-driving cars?

  • The critical focus of Margarita's research is improving the vision of drones and robots. So what technology are we talking about? How does it compare to mainstream hobby drones like DJI?

  • Many people are concerned with safety and privacy when it comes to drones. Yet, Margarita is helping drones to see even better! So, how would Margarita alleviate these concerns?

  • Insurance companies in many countries have already eliminated many claims adjustor roles – they use humans to survey the damage, but data is sent to HQ for assessment and processing. With autonomous drones, can these roles be replaced too? For example, the staff in HQ can use drones for a survey and then use the pictures or videos for the assessment?

  • What are the differences between using drones for surveying damage indoors (say, a building near collapse) and a substantial flooded area? Do you need a different drone size? Undoubtedly, but what about its navigation abilities?

  • What about urban use (e.g., for assessing car accidents) – would you be comfortable using autonomous drones there

  • How does one deal with challenges like battery life or accidents when the drone works independently?

  • Further resources: Margarita's TEDx Talk on Computer Vision. You can also subscribe to the Vision for Robotics Youtube channel.

  • The best way to reach out - e-mail: chlim@ethz.ch

Metaverse opportunities for FinTech with Marc Hauser, Head of F10 Switzerland & Stefan Kaemper, Chairman of Cowlevel

Marc Hauser, Head F10 Incubator and Accelerator Europe and Stefan Kaemper, co-founder of Cow Level, a FinTech for gaming company spoke to Rudolf Falat, founder of the Voice of FinTech podcast, about latest push by F10 into gaming and metaverse and Cow Level's efforts to build a marketplace for gaming assets.

Here is what they covered:

  • Marc's motivation to change ships from a large incumbent to an ecosystem hub

  • Current key FinTech verticals F10 wants to focus on

  • Stefan's background and entrepreneurial journey that led to co-founding of Cow Level

  • F10 recently announced a concentrated push to metaverse and gaming. Marc explains why it is relevant for a FinTech hub

  • Key opportunities for FinTech to cross over with the world of gaming and eSports?

  • What’s the difference between gaming and eSports

  • Cow Level key services: The first project brought to life and are committed to is the First international Play Money Exchange (FiPME). FiPME produces marketplace software for virtual goods, similar to Nasdaq – an Exchange for stocks.

  • The technology behind their solution

  • The target addressable market and business model of Cow Level

  • Cow Level’s endgame plan and how can F10 help companies like Cow Level

  • Recommended games: Chain, Out Run, Axie Infinity, Farming Simulator

  • What’s the best way to reach out: marc.hauser@f10.global and sk@cowlevel.ch or LinkedIn

Americas Series with David Yakobovitch: They hack your phone. They hack your life. Here's how to stop them

In this episode of the Americas Series, David Yakobovitch speaks to Haseeb Awan, Founder & CEO of Efani Secure Mobile about how to fight SIM-related fraud and protect your hard-earned money.

Here is what they covered:

  • Efani story: from family to friends to finance community - crypto and fiat

  • What is a SIM swap and why should crypto investors, high profile and high net worth individuals and organizations care about this?

  • What are other methods for hacking?

  • Why is the current solution not working?

  • What can investors and other high profile and high net worth individuals and organizations do to increase their security?

  • How is Efani doing it differently and better?

Conclusion: Protect your assets, crypto and intellectual property by going to Efani.com and subscribing to receive secure mobile services.

If you have suggestions for topics or guests on the show or have ideas about how to make this podcast better for you, please e-mail us at info@voiceoffintech.com. Alternatively, you can also leave a voicemail here.

Keep safe!

Sincerely,

Rudolf Falat