Wharton FinTech

03/18/2026

🚀 Calling all fintech enthusiasts!
🌟 The Wharton Fintech Conference is back & better than ever. Join us on April 24th at AWS’s New York Office for a day of networking opportunities and insights from the forefront of the fintech industry.
🔥 Engage with Industry Pioneers: Immerse yourself in a series of engaging panel discussions and intimate fireside chats. Get up close and personal with luminaries from your favorite fintech companies and investors, including Square Financial Services, Obin AI, and FinTech Collective, plus many more. Keep an eye out for our full lineup announcement!
🎟 Secure Your Early Bird Ticket: Don’t miss out on this opportunity to be part of the fintech conversation. Reserve your early bird tickets for the conference below.
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📅 Date: April 24th
📍 Location: AWS New York Office
🔗 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-wharton-fintech-conference-tickets-1985381090286?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true
🌐Website: https://www.whartonfintech.org/conference

02/10/2026

Mark your calendars!

The 2026 Wharton FinTech Conference is heading back to NYC on April 24th.

A full day with founders, investors, and operators shaping the future of fintech. Registration info coming soon.

08/19/2021

“The first thing you should do is figure out what is the right question to ask - because it makes answering it that much easier.”

Miguel Armaza sits down with Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners, a global multi-stage VC with over $10B in AUM, focused on accelerating disruptive innovations and trends in the Enterprise and Consumer sectors. They’ve backed some amazing companies, including Snap, Affirm, and Grubhub.

Alex focuses on online marketplaces and co-leads Lightspeed’s investment efforts in Latin America. He is also the author of the popular weekly newsletter, Drinking from the Firehose, in which he writes about recent trends in commerce, media, tech, climate, science, and popular culture,

We discuss

- Alex’s story and why he decided to stop pursuing a PhD and left academia to join the tech investing world

- The intersection of marketplaces and fintech and why payment technology is the motor oil that makes transactions flow smoothly

- Why in Venture Capital it’s very important to ask the best possible questions and pay close attention to the answers that reveal an underlying truth

- Early investing mistakes and the importance of focus

- Five great characteristics of every great founder

- Lessons from several years of writing a successful newsletter… and a lot more!

Miguel Armaza sits down with Alex Taussig, Partner at Lightspeed Ventures, a global multi-stage VC with over $10B in AUM, focused on…

08/14/2021

"Capital in isolation is not the solution. What does that mean? We need to offer our members resources to better maximize the return on the investment they're going to make with our loan."

Miguel Armaza sits down with Sean Salas, Co-Founder and CEO of Camino Financial, a fintech company pioneering access to affordable credit to underbanked Latino businesses. Since inception, the company has raised over $125 million in debt and equity from top industry investors.

Sean grew up in between Mexico and the US and got his MBA at Harvard Business School.

In this episode, we discuss:

- Sean’s journey between the US and Mexico

- Launching Camino Financial while at Harvard and the incredible benefits of using your MBA time to start a company

- Importance of serving SMBs and how the company is leveraging technology to provide a more inclusive solution and improve underwriting decisions

- How Camino continues to innovate and why education and cultural nuances are important for clients

- Lessons and reflections for aspiring entrepreneurs... and a lot more!

Miguel Armaza sits down with Sean Salas, Co-Founder and CEO of Camino Financial, a Fintech company pioneering access to affordable credit…

08/02/2021

"Right now, Mexico can be seen as the next San Francisco of Spanish-speaking countries. A lot of people are moving to Mexico to start a company or join a startup."

Miguel Armaza sits down with the amazing Sebastian Kreis, Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Xepelin, a Latin American fintech that aims to be the leading SMB digital bank in the region.

Founded in 2019 by Sebastian and Nicolas de Camino, they are one of the fastest-growing fintechs in the history of Latin America - having loaned $400+ million in the last couple of years, onboarded 4,000+ clients, and have been doubling in size every three months throughout the last year.

They are also backed by some of the best fintech investors, including KASZEK, DST Global, Picus Capital, FJ Labs, Gilgamesh Ventures, Jacqueline Reses, and many more.

In this episode, we discuss:

- Sebastian’s journey and what inspired him to pursue an entrepreneurial career in fintech

- The importance of a strong co-founder relationship and how Sebastian and Nico work together

- Company culture and why honesty and transparency are at the very center of Xepelin

- The dramatic reality that almost 95% of Latin American companies are unbanked or underbanked and how Xepelin is fixing this

- Lessons for entrepreneurs, fundraising reflections… And just a lot more!

America

Miguel Armaza sits down with the amazing Sebastian Kreis, Co-Founder/Co-CEO of Xepelin, a Latin American fintech company that aims to be…

07/29/2021

How did the son of Mexican immigrants become CEO of a publicly-traded company?

Miguel Armaza sits down with the very genuine Raul Vazquez, CEO of Oportun, a Nasdaq-listed company that provides responsible consumer credit. Founded 15 years ago, Oportun has extended more than 4 million loans and over $10 billion in affordable credit.

Raul has been Oportun’s CEO since 2012 and previously served as CEO of Walmart.com. Currently, he also serves on the board of Intuit and the National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders. He is also a proud MBA graduate of The Wharton School.

In this episode, we discuss

- Raul’s fascinating story and how the oldest son of Mexican immigrants became the CEO of a publicly-traded company

- Oportun’s digital and retail hybrid approach and the importance of being a mission-driven company

- Reasons why ~100 million people are not fully served by the US mainstream financial system and what Oportun is doing about it

- Reflections from Oportun’s IPO process

- The power of compassionate leadership, management lessons, and the hardest business decisions he’s had to make… And a lot more!

Miguel Armaza sits down with the very genuine Raul Vazquez, CEO of Oportun, a Nasdaq-listed company that provides responsible consumer…

07/26/2021

How has Irishman Dave Nangle become one of the best emerging market fintech investors?

Miguel Armaza sits down with the fascinating Dave, CEO of VEF, an investment company focused on growth-stage fintech companies across the emerging world.

Born and raised in Ireland, Dave has spent his career focused on emerging markets, having worked in places like Moscow and London, and has backed some of the top fintech names across Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, India, Kenya, and beyond. Some of VEF’s current and past portfolio companies include Creditas, Konfío, JUMO, Guiabolso, and Tinkoff Bank.

In this fun episode, we discuss:

- David’s story and why he quit his London job and moved to Moscow in the early 2000s without speaking a word of Russian

- Advantages of being a publicly listed firm with a permanent capital structure

- The incredible investment opportunities within fintech in emerging markets

- Why VEF actually invests harder and doubles down during volatile periods and how he even closed a deal in Turkey in the middle of an attempted coup with tanks on the streets

- Investment lessons and why you should always invest along with local VCs

- The exciting future of fintech in frontier markets like Pakistan, Egypt, and Nigeria… and a lot more!

I sit down with the fascinating David Nangle, CEO of Vostok Emerging Finance (VEF), an investment company publicly listed in Sweden that…

07/23/2021

"The digitization of financial markets will bring African capital markets closer to the rest of the world... It will also become easier for the world to access opportunities within Africa."

Miguel Armaza sits down with Tosin Osibodu, Co-Founder and CEO of Chaka, a Nigerian digital investment platform that is bringing access to trade over 4,000 Nigerian and US stocks.

Tosin is a fintech veteran, serial entrepreneur, and also a proud alum of our very own University of Pennsylvania.

In this episode, we discuss:

- Chaka’s journey and what it means to be the first Nigerian Fintech to receive a license by the Securities & Exchange Commission of Nigeria (SEC).

- Challenges and opportunities of building startups in emerging markets

- The amazing state of fintech in Africa and why these are the early days of a tech revolution

- Entrepreneurial lessons … and a lot more!

Miguel Armaza sits down with Tosin Osibodu, Co-Founder and CEO of Chaka, a Nigerian digital investment platform that is bringing access to…

07/21/2021

“Opportunity lies where there's broken user interfaces experiences or where things are more expensive than they should be. The banking system is one of the places where the user experiences are the most dysfunctional.”

Miguel Armaza sits down with legendary tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Fabrice Grinda, Founding Partner at FJ Labs, a stage-agnostic Venture Capital fund that focuses on marketplaces and consumer facing startups.

Born and raised in France, Fabrice is amongst the world’s leading tech leaders.

As an investor, he has over 250 exits on almost 700 investments. With impressive investments such as Alibaba, Lending Club, Delivery Hero, Betterment, Klarna, Stripe, Palantir and Rappi.

As an entrepreneur, Fabrice co-founded OLX, one of the largest websites in the world with over 300 million unique visitors per month. Having previously founded Zingy and Aucland, two highly successful sites.

In this fun episode, we discuss:

- Investing during COVID - why FJ labs never stopped writing checks during the pandemic

- FJ Labs’ investing strategy and the kind of team and company they look for

- Fintech trends and verticals Fabrice is excited about

- Investing mistakes and why he knew he was gonna regret passing on Uber… but did it anyway.

- The exciting democratization and explosion of tech Latin America… and a lot more!

Miguel Armaza sits down with legendary tech entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Fabrice Grinda, Founding Partner at FJ Labs, a…

07/16/2021

“I always joke with my colleagues… the writing is not the hard part at all, the interviewing is not hard. The hardest part is just managing that inbox and the volume of pitches!”

Miguel Armaza sits down with the fantastic Mary Ann Azevedo, Senior Reporter at TechCrunch covering all things Fintech and Latin America Tech.

Mary Ann is a renowned journalist, who’s been covering tech for 25 years! She’s seen and heard it all and this was a great conversation where we covered a ton of ground, including:

- Some of the biggest trends she’s seeing in the fintech space.

- Managing the insane volume of industry news on a daily basis

- The main differences between US-based entrepreneurs and Latin American founders

- Ever wondered what goes behind the screen at Techcrunch HQ? We cover that too!

- Plus, tips and best practices to pitch a story to a reporter and some things you should absolutely avoid doing… and a lot more!



Thank you for joining us, Mary Ann!

Miguel Armaza sits down with the fantastic Mary Ann Azevedo, Senior Reporter at TechCrunch covering all things Fintech and Latin America…

07/13/2021

“I don't even know how to describe that... I don't think I would be where I am today, without being an immigrant. It's just realizing that you really have nothing to lose.”

Miguel Armaza sits down with the brilliant Mahmoud Abdelkader, Co-Founder/CEO of Very Good Security, a company that’s on a mission to protect the world’s information by providing essential security and compliance infrastructure for other businesses.

Founded in 2016, VGS has raised $100+ million from top industry investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Visa, Goldman Sachs, Nyca Partners, Slow Ventures, and many more.

In this episode, we talk about:
- Mahmoud’s journey – from Egypt to New York City
- Discovering his love for entrepreneurship
- Launching Balanced Payments, his first startup, and building Very Good Security as a “Shadow Startup” within Balanced
- Very Good Security’s mission to secure the world's information.
- Challenges of unintended side effects of regulation and what VGS is doing about it
- Getting comfortable with rejection and why you should never underestimate the hunger of immigrant entrepreneurs… And a lot more!

Miguel Armaza sits down with the brilliant Mahmoud Abdelkader, serial entrepreneur and CEO/Co-Founder of Very Good Security, a company…