In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer sits down with Dor Eligula, co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Bridgewise, to explore how artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the investment and wealth management industries. Dor shares insights into his personal journey, the founding of Bridgewise, and the company’s mission to bridge the wisdom gap in financial services. With a focus on enabling smarter investment decisions, Bridgewise leverages cutting-edge AI technologies to serve a diverse range of clients, from retail investors to brokers, advisors, and quant hedge funds.

Dor delves into the transformative impact of AI on both individual and institutional investors. He explains how Bridgewise uses AI to analyze 70,000 financial instruments daily across 18 languages, providing detailed insights into stocks, ETFs, ESG factors, and more. The platform’s ability to convert unstructured data into actionable intelligence empowers users to make informed decisions, while its agentic AI layer orchestrates portfolio management at an unprecedented scale. Dor also highlights the psychological benefits of informed investing, emphasizing how better tools and processes can enhance investor confidence—even in the face of losses.

The conversation concludes with a look at global trends and the future of AI in wealth management. Dor discusses regional differences in AI adoption, comparing markets like the US and Japan, and predicts the rise of niche-focused AI applications as the next wave of innovation. He shares his vision for Bridgewise as a leader in AI for wealth and offers insights into the broader economic implications of AI advancements. Packed with valuable perspectives, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of technology and finance.

More info:

Bridgewise: https://bridgewise.com/; https://www.linkedin.com/company/bridgewise/

Dor Eligula: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doreligula/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

FinovateEurope: https://informaconnect.com/finovateeurope/

#Finovate #FinovateEurope #Banking #banks #investing #wealthmanagement #AI #research #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #innovation #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization #businessintelligence #capital #wealth

In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer sits down with Matt Ober, Managing Partner at Social Leverage, to discuss the dynamic world of venture capital in the fintech space. Matt shares insights into Social Leverage’s focus on seed-stage investments, highlighting their success as early investors in companies like Robinhood, eToro, and Alpaca. With the recent close of their fifth fund, an $85 million venture, Matt reflects on the current investment landscape, emphasizing the influx of capital into AI-driven solutions and the evolving opportunities in financial services driven by regulatory changes and technological advancements.

The conversation delves into the role of AI in reshaping industries, particularly in financial services. Matt discusses how AI is enabling companies to streamline operations, reduce costs, and rethink traditional business models. He highlights the importance of leveraging AI for tasks like data collection, organization, and analysis, which can significantly enhance decision-making processes. While acknowledging the imperfections of AI, Matt stresses the importance of transparency, auditability, and critical thinking when utilizing AI tools. He also shares his perspective on the future of financial services, predicting the rise of super apps, tokenization, and global investment opportunities that will simplify access to private and public markets.

Finally, Matt offers valuable advice for fintech founders looking to stand out in a crowded space. He emphasizes the importance of networking, securing warm introductions, and targeting the right investors who align with their vision. He also warns against common mistakes, such as raising money from unsuitable investors or structuring teams ineffectively. The episode concludes with Matt’s predictions for the next five years, including the blending of investing, gambling, and prediction markets, as well as the global expansion of investment opportunities. With San Diego hosting FinovateSpring, Matt also shares his enthusiasm for the city’s vibrant business ecosystem and lifestyle, making it an ideal destination for innovators and investors alike.

More info:

Social Leverage: https://www.socialleverage.com/; https://www.linkedin.com/company/socialleverage/

Matt Ober: https://www.linkedin.com/in/obermattj/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

FinovateSpring: https://informaconnect.com/finovatespring/

#Finovate #FinovateSpring #Banking #banks #venturecapital #fintechVC #AI #SMEfintech #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #innovation #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization #diversity #capital

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Krida’s AI layer is transforming the lending process and deepening relationships to make the process easier for everyone.

Detailed Summary:

Krida, cofounders by Shivangi Khanna and Sophie Jewsbury join Greg on this episode to talk about their assistive AI tools for commercial loan officers in relationship banking and localized community banking. Krida focuses on streamlining the commercial lending process through workflow automation. The platform they demoed in New York addresses the universal pain point of document collection and processing by automating the feedback loops between borrowers and loan officers, pre-filling forms, and reducing overall cycle time from lead generation to loan application completion. The system can work as a standalone solution that integrates with existing core banking systems or it can function alongside loan origination systems to maintain established workflows.

Shivangi and Sophie share their experience post-demo, where they discovered broader market appeal than they anticipated. While they originally designed their product alongside community and regional banks, they were pleasantly surprised by significant interest from credit unions looking to build out their commercial banking platforms. Additionally, super regional and national banks approached them, expanding their potential customer base beyond their initial target market. Both co-founders emphasized that the pain points they address – manual document processing, understanding diverse business requirements across different locations, and data entry work – are universal across all types of financial institutions, regardless of size or organizational structure.

The conversation concludes with some personal background for both Sophie and Shivangi. Shivangi talks about spending nearly a decade in finance and technology, including time at JPMorgan Chase working with interest rates and regional bank balance sheets, which provided deep insights into banking operations and regulatory compliance. For her part, Sophie previously built an SME lender in Southeast Asia and worked as a bank consultant at McKinsey, giving her firsthand experience with manual processes in lending workflows. These experiences have helped them to make Krida into the Best of Show winning solution that it is today.

More info:

Krida: https://www.krida.ai/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/krida-ai/

FinovateFall Demo: https://finovate.com/videos/finovatefall-2025-krida/

Shivangi Khanna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivangik/

Sophie Jewsbury: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophiejewsbury/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

#Finovate #Krida #FinovateFall #BestofShow #lending #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #AI #relationshipbanking #loanorigination #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization #innovation #startup #banking #creditunions #communitybanks

Discussing the fintech funding landscape with a focus on DEI initiatives and Credit Unions

Community banks and tech implementation – hear from Lone Star National Bank on tech priorities, tips for engaging with banks like them, and how to make a partnership work

Geopolitical risk and fintech – hear from FinovateFall keynote Manas Chawla on what’s coming and what you should be doing now.

FinovateFall Speaker Luke Williams on the strategy behind innovation

FinovateSpring Best of Show winner QuickFi on reimagining business financing and successfully managing rapid growth.

FinovateSpring Best of Show winner 9Spokes on open banking and personalization in the SMB space.

FinovateSpring Best of Show winner 1Kosmos on the future of password-optional authentication

FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Flybits on bringing personalization from mobile to Metaverse

FinovateSpring Best of Show winner SAVVI AI on no-code AI solutions you can implement right now

FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Wink on the future of biometric payments

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Eko Investments is bringing investment opportunities to early-stage investors, growing individual wealth and helping FIs of all sizes retain their customers.

Detailed Summary:

Mart Vos, CEO of Eko Investments, joins Greg to talk about his company’s role as a leading digital investment provider for credit unions and banks. Eko’s mission stems from Mart’s personal experience when he moved from the Netherlands to the US and discovered that traditional banks only offered investment services to wealthy clients through financial advisors, requiring minimums like $100,000 rather than accommodating smaller amounts like $100. This contrasted sharply with the Netherlands, where every bank offers accessible investment products, eliminating the need for third-party apps like Betterment, Robinhood, or Acorns. Eko enables financial institutions to offer investments to all their clients, not just the top 1%, through a low-threshold investment solution natively integrated within digital banking platforms.

Eko has achieved remarkable success, winning Best of Show at Finovate Fall for the second consecutive year. The company’s evolution is driven by their commitment to listening to financial institutions and members, with a significant portion of engineering hours reserved for client requests that can be implemented within one to two weeks. Recent feature developments include IRAs and Roth IRAs, faster money movement capabilities, and a unique structure providing core integration benefits without actual core dependency. Eko serves a diverse range of clients, from their smallest credit union with 7,000 members to their largest with 20 billion in assets, demonstrating their scalable solution across different institutional sizes.

Mart continues by describing how the Eko platform serves as an essential tool for financial institutions looking to retain clients who might otherwise migrate to third-party investment apps. With 68% of users making their first investment ever, and an average investment amount of $1,200, Eko focuses heavily on financial literacy and education, particularly serving millennials and Gen Z users. Rather than competing with traditional wealth advisory firms, Eko operates as a complementary funnel, providing warm leads for wealth services when clients reach higher investment thresholds like $50,000 or $100,000. This collaborative approach prevents financial institutions from having to “sell no” to smaller investors while creating pathways for future wealth management relationships.

More info:

Eko: https://eko.investments/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/ekoinvestments/

FinovateFall Demo: https://finovate.com/videos/finovatefall-2025-eko/

Mart Vos: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mart-vos/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

#Finovate #Eko #FinovateFall #BestofShow #investment #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #wealthmanagement #deposits # #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization #innovation #startup #banking #creditunions #communitybanks

How to think about Distributed Ledger Technology and what it can do for you

Flexibility, trust, and the importance of having the right executive team

Leadership advice for everyone, C-suite or not

FinovateEurope Best of Show winner Tazi.ai on using AI where it will impact the bottom line.

FinovateEurope Best of Show winner 10X Banking on streamlining product development and getting to market faster.

FinovateEurope Best of Show winner Fintech Insights on understanding the competitive landscape.

A Preview of FinovateSpring with Scholarship Winners Pave.dev and The Lazu Group.

FinovateEurope Best of Show winner NayaOne on streamlining and de-risking the onboarding process.

The CEO of the original internet bank shares his thoughts on the online banking surge, BaaS, and the future of banking.

The need for open source digital wallets – who builds them and who benefits?

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Vertice AI: Using AI to help smaller FI’s punch above their weight.

Detailed Summary:

In this episode, Greg catches up with Mitch Rutledge, CEO and co-founder of Vertice AI, who won Best of Show at FinovateFall. Mitch starts out by discussing his company’s mission to empower community financial institutions through AI-powered solutions. Vertice serves as an AI-driven growth engine that transforms institutional data into actionable insights, enabling smaller community banks and credit unions to compete effectively with larger financial institutions. The platform specifically targets community FIs with lean marketing teams, helping them deliver personalized customer engagement and measurable growth outcomes. Rutledge emphasizes that while big banks like Bank of America employ over 3,000 data scientists and JP Morgan invests over $4 billion in AI, community banks possess a crucial advantage: the trust factor that can be leveraged alongside modern technology.

The conversation then explores Vertice’s approach to personalization, which Rutledge defines as delivering relevance by understanding customer needs and serving appropriate products at the right time. The platform utilizes multiple AI applications including propensity scoring to predict product adoption and churn risk, automated campaign creation that generates targeted messaging for different demographics while maintaining regulatory compliance, and real-time campaign performance analysis. This comprehensive approach addresses the significant gap between consumer expectations for personalized financial experiences (74% want it) and actual delivery (only 22% feel they receive it). The technology enables marketing teams of one or two people to achieve the same level of personalization as larger institutions with extensive data science teams.

A notable aspect of Vertice’s journey is their decision to remain bootstrapped without taking venture capital funding. Rutledge explains this choice allowed the company to maintain control over their mission and vision while building according to client needs rather than investor timelines. The company achieved cash flow positivity from day one and focused on thoughtful, sustainable growth. For startup founders considering funding options, Rutledge advises being clear about the “why” behind raising funds, noting that while VC funding may be necessary for businesses requiring hyperscaling, companies that can grow profitably through customer revenue shouldn’t underestimate the bootstrap path. This approach creates discipline and efficiency, ensuring every dollar earned is tied to value creation and customer satisfaction.

More info:

Vertice AI: https://verticeanalytics.ai/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/verticeai/

FinovateFall Demo: https://finovate.com/videos/finovatefall-2025-vertice-ai/

Mitch Rutledge: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchrutledge/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

#Finovate #VerticeAI #FinovateFall #BestofShow #marketing #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #credit #payments #orchestration #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization #innovation #startup #banking #cx #creditunions #communitybanks

What happened, and what happens next, and what it means for the fintech industry

Credit Unions and fintech – discussing the size of the opportunity and how to take advantage of it.

This episode will feature interviews with two of our scholarship winners for FinovateEurope, Ulyana Shtybel of Quoroom, and Margot De Broglie of Juno. I’ve also recorded an intro and outro to bookend the episode.

No code fintech, an inclusive financial ecosystem, and badass customer experiences.

AI, inclusive credit decisioning, and tips for evaluating potential partners.

James Robert Lay turns the tables on Greg, interviewing him for the Banking on Digital Growth podcast. Listen in as they discuss big-picture trends in fintech and best-practices for engaging people across the fintech ecosystem.

Marketing like a media company. Find the Fintech Marketing Playbook referenced in the episode here (link to https://www.wearerival.com/content-hub-articles/the-fintech-marketing-playbook).

All about insuretech — where are we now, and what’s coming next?

Is this the right time to found a fintech company? One VC’s perspective.

FinovateFall Best of Show winner LendAPI on the future of lending (spoiler: it’s gonna be a lot faster)

Detailed Summary:

In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg interviews Tim Li, CEO and Co-Founder of LendAPI, a recent Best of Show winner at FinovateFall. LendAPI is described as a “super orchestration platform” that allows users to build various financial products through an intuitive browser interface. The platform features a product studio where FI’s can create everything from personal loans to mortgages by customizing templates, with integrated rule studios, model studios, pricing engines, and third-party plugins. Tim emphasizes that the platform dramatically reduces the traditional timeline for launching financial products from years to potentially just days or weeks.

Tim explains that LendAPI was born from his own 20 years of frustration working in various financial roles, where he experienced firsthand the pain points of slow implementation and inefficient processes. The company has received enthusiastic responses from financial executives, particularly chief lending and risk officers from credit unions and banks who see the potential to finally launch products they’ve wanted to implement for years. Following their Finovate success, LendAPI has decided to focus specifically on embedded finance opportunities, even changing their tagline from “onboard anyone” to “embedded anywhere.”

Looking toward the future of lending, Tim envisions reducing friction at what he calls “the moment of truth,” that critical moment when consumers or small businesses want to make purchases or access credit. He believes financing, lending, and payments should blend seamlessly, creating a “magical” experience where credit decisions happen instantly without requiring extensive applications. This approach would prevent situations where people delay important purchases or decisions because of the onerous loan application process, ultimately making financial services more accessible and user-friendly.

More info:

LendAPI: https://www.lendapi.com/; https://www.linkedin.com/company/lendapi/

FinovateFall Demo: https://finovate.com/videos/finovatefall-2025-lendapi/

Tim Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timothytli/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

#Finovate #LendAPI #FinovateFall #BestofShow #lending #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #credit #payments #orchestration #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization #innovation #startup #banking #cx #creditunions #communitybanks

Exploring one bank’s digital journey — the CIO perspective

Build, buy, or partner? Unpacking Northern Trust’s digital journey.

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Themis on expecting more from your compliance department

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Quilo’s transformative approach to funding loans. And yes, it really is a game-changer.

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Debbie on a more effective, human-centric debt-recovery solution

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Stratyfy on bias-mitigation in lending.

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Lemonade on boosting digital adoption through intelligent front-line training

A VC perspective on inclusion-based opportunity

Exploring FV Bank’s mission to serve fintechs and bring new technologies into the mainstream.

Building a more inclusive fintech ecosystem — thoughts and lessons learned from a unicorn CEO and Founder.

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Casap on the biggest opportunity you’re missing to prove to your customers that you’re on their side.

Detailed Summary:

In this Finovate podcast episode, Greg interviews Shanthi Shanmugam, co-founder and CEO of Casap, a Best of Show winner at FinovateFall 2025. Shanthi explains that Casap was founded after she and her co-founder discovered that negative dispute experiences were the primary non-life-event reason customers left financial institutions. Casap addresses this by instantly resolving disputes for honest customers while protecting banks from fraudsters. The current dispute process typically takes 90 days with little communication, creating frustration for customers who need resolution.

Shanthi highlights that first-party fraud has become the leading fraud attack vector globally, surpassing account takeovers and scams. This type of fraud—where customers falsely claim they didn’t make purchases they actually did—costs financial institutions $100 billion annually. Casap’s solution uses AI agents that ask objective questions like expert investigators while analyzing transaction data to generate a “win score” that determines if a dispute is legitimate. For honest customers with high win scores, Casap provides instant resolution, while creating friction for potential fraudsters.

Following her Finovate demo, Shanthi received significant interest from various financial institutions, including fintechs, banks, and credit unions. Casap serves issuers of all sizes, from public fintechs to top 25 banks and credit unions with assets ranging from $200 million to $20 billion. Shanthi closes by envisioning a future where Casap helps create a financial system where trust is a given, fraud is minimized, and financial services are truly democratized. The solution is designed for any issuer handling at least 200 dispute cases monthly, providing immediate savings and improved customer experiences.

More info:

Casap: https://www.casaphq.com/ ; https://www.linkedin.com/company/casaphq/

FinovateFall Demo: https://finovate.com/videos/finovatefall-2025-casap/

Shanthi Shanmugam: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanthi-shanmugam-4057284a/

Greg Palmer: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregbpalmer/

Finovate: https://www.finovate.com; https://www.linkedin.com/company/finovate-conference-series/

#Finovate #Casap #FinovateFall #BestofShow #ai #podcast #fintechpodcast #financialservices #disputes #fraud #antifraud #digitraltransformation #fintech #finserv #modernization #innovation #startup #banking #cx

Helix and Microsoft’s partnership: banking the underbanked and unbanked.

Exploring virtual worlds and virtual economies to find opportunities and avoid pitfalls.

Supporting your customers to live their best lives – lessons learned from an LGBTQ-supporting digital bank.