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Interview with Matteo Rizzi

by | Sep 13, 2021 | Interviews,

Matteo Rizzi

Matteo Rizzi

Venture Partner at Bamboo Capital Partners

Key Topics:Financial Inclusion, FinTech, Venture Capital, PropTech, Insurtech
Location:Portugal
Bio:

Matteo Rizzi is an unconventional entrepreneur with two decades of experience in Financial Services, constantly referred amongst the top executives in the industry. He spent 13 years at SWIFT – where he co-founded Innotribe, the innovation arm of the cooperative, launching the first global startup challenge. Since 2013, he has a FinTech Investor and/or Venture Partner role with global VCs and CVCs (20+ deals, 5 exits) currently at Bamboo Capital Partners). In 2015, he co-founded FinTechStage (now FTS Group.eu) – a platform for Investors and Innovators to boost FinTech innovation globally. In 2019, Matteo founded Timepledge.org a global initiative to foster financial inclusion and entrepreneurship. The same year he launched Breaking Banks Europe (as the Executive Producer). He is the author of The FinTech Revolution and Talents & Rebels and fluent in 5 languages.

Matteo recently featured in Onalytica's Who's Who in Fintech? report.

How did you get to become an expert in your key topics?

I worked 13 years at SWIFT, until 2013, but in 2008 I co-founded Innotribe considered one fo the pioneers of the FinTech industry and launched the first global startup challenge which gave visibility to most of the unicorns of today (Transferwise, Revolut, Mambu, and many others). I also co-founded FTSGroup.eu, a boutique Innovation consulting company focusing on Financial Services, and Producing Breaking Banks Europe, a popular podcast in this field. I published two books: FinTech Revolution (2016) and Talents&Rebels (2019) 

What sub topics are you most passionate about?

Financial Inclusion and empowering people through financial literacy, and related investments in the field. Also the satellite topics such as Proptech or Insurtech, both as an investor and an NED or an advisor.

Who influences you within these topics?

Most of the influencers network have started over a decade ago with me, may of them are good friends, and some of the CEOs of the early Fintechs are inspiring my journey. Also, most of the FinTech investors of the last decade have a pretty good view of the market.

What challenges are brands facing in this space?

Fintech has become so popular that sometimes the “fake it until you make it” or the “noise over substance” strategy are predominant in some ecosystem. Challenge is deliver real value rather then pretending to.

What do you think the future holds in this space?

Fintech consolidation, neobanks in emerging markets, and open modular banking will make this world more agile and hopefully fairer and more affordable for everyone. I am a believer in Decentralised Finance as the way to democratise finance, and the future will be decentralised, technologically, I am certain.

If a brand wanted to work with you, which activities would you be most interested in collaborating on?

Podcasts, webinars, whitepaper, speaking opportunities, product innovation, video interviews.

What are your passions outside of work?

I love to empower young entrepreneurs and build diverse businesses, in tech and real estate particularly. Former volleyball player, I still play as much beach volley as I can and keep learning new sports. I also write books, and explore as much as I can. Freedom over comfort is my mantra.

What would be the best way for a brand to contact you?

Email or DM on Twitter.


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