Fiat Ventures

So many people idealize Venture Capital. They equate investing money to power, when in fact, it is the exact opposite. Venture Capital is a responsibility. Traditionally, 98% or more of the capital in a VC fund belongs to outside investors. These investors are foundations, pensions, endowments, strategic minded businesses, families and individuals. They have entrusted the partners of a VC Fund to be good stewards of their capital and do everything in their power to bring them a strong return. In most cases, a VC Fund will align ahead of time with investors on a vision, a goal or the impact they seek to make. That's it. The aligned vision and goal of returns are what governs all decisions. The Venture Capitalist isn't inherently powerful. They are merely a tool for investors and founders. Being a Venture Capitalist is an honor. An honor that investors have entrusted you with their capital, and founders who have given you the opportunity to build together. Words like honor and opportunity aren't about false humility. They are reality. Look through the mirage of perceptions of power and decide the type of person you want to be. Not just what side of the table you want to sit on, but on the real reasons you want to sit there. I am grateful every day that Marcos Fernandez, Drew Glover and Caitlin Keep have chosen this path at Fiat Ventures for the right reasons. They along with the entire team at Fiat Growth are builders who do not take our responsibilities or opportunities lightly, and consistently rise to the occasion.

-Startup of the Week: Voxia (Nimrod Ron) 🤩 -VC Spotlight: Fiat Ventures (Drew Glover Alex Harris Marcos Fernandez) 🤩

Fiat Ventures talks to 2000+ founders per year. Founder DNA is everything. It takes a unique set of skills, experience and sheet grit to be successful. Lamine Zarrad of StellarFi 🚀 has all three. Lamine is a 3-time fintech founder. A refugee from the Soviet Republic of Azerbaijan to the US. Ex US Marine and Army Elite Unit. And One of the best Fintech Operators in the business. After leaving ZenBusiness where he sold his previous company Joust - we were one of Lamine's first calls. Over a two hour meeting in Austin Lamine told me about his new company and his vision to re-imagine consumer credit. His vision was clear: I want to build a credit builder platform that will improve the credit of the 100M+ Americans with subprime scores, are credit invisible and completely unscorable. That was 2 years ago. What have we learned thus far? Our instincts were right 🙏 And, founder DNA is everything 🚀 Today our Fiat Ventures and Fiat Growth teams are proud to highlight Stellarfi and it’s amazing progress. StellarFi is a consumer app that helps build consumer credit with every bill you pay. By connecting your bills, Stellar pays on your behalf which reports these positive attributes to all major credit bureaus. This raises credit profile by 50+ points on average. Take a read and feel free to reach out to Lamine directly if you’re interested in partnering and/or learning more. https://lnkd.in/gSMNMYRt

M13 Partner Lizzie Francis had a great time connecting with other VCs and early-stage startups in the Bay Area at Startup Grind! In the “Startup Funding in 2024: AI and the Evolving Founder-VC Dynamic” panel, she discussed how the early-stage investment market has changed in the last 18 months, recommendations for founders when considering how much to raise at pre-seed and seed, and more with defy.vc Partner Medha Agarwal, Fiat Ventures Partner Marcos Fernandez, and Point72 Ventures Partner Sri Chandrasekar. Thanks for having us, Startup Grind!

America has a credit problem 57 Million Americans have subprime credit scores 28 million Americans are “credit invisible” - lacking a mainstream credit profile 21 Million Americans are considered completely unscorable diving deeper These challenges are impacting the most at risk populations Lower credit scores align to lower median household incomes It's mostly impacting underrepresented racial demographics like Black and Hispanic populations And largely impacting highly diverse states and cities like Louisiana and Alabama These gaps have significantly grown since the introduction of credit cards in 1967 and continue widen as credit card adoption grows (82% America have a credit card) The good news America is also in the middle of a credit revolution Revolution’s tend to inspire radical innovation Currently, some of best founders in the fintech space are working to solve Americas credit challenges Fiat Ventures & Fiat Growth just published our "Evolution of Consumer Credit" though piece We discuss the origin story of the credit in America along with the top 5 startups in Fintech, tirelessly working to solve the credit challenges we face. Possible StellarFi 🚀 Grain Technology (YC W20) Sawa UpsideFi Take read and share with the world

Headed to Startup Grind's Accelerate Summit next week? So are we! M13 Partner & Head of Propulsion Lizzie Francis will be on a panel with defy.vc Partner Medha Agarwal, Fiat Ventures Partner Marcos Fernandez, and Point72 Ventures Partner Sri Chandrasekar exploring founder & investor expectations in today's market. M13 Partner & Head of Product Rob Smith will join Point72 Ventures Partner Sri Chandrasekar, Canvas Ventures Partner Rebecca Lynn, and 500 Global Partner Clayton Bryan for a VC discussion about AI’s influence on startup fundraising. Check out the whole lineup here: https://lnkd.in/g5idJyp 

The healthcare services and technology space is poised to grow to a $81bn market by 2026 🏥 Despite large strides over the last few years, US healthcare payers and providers spend an excess of $248bn on billing and insurance-related (BIR) costs annually due to administrative complexities alone. Even worse, 38% of Americans say that they or a family member postponed medical treatments due to prohibitive costs. Like other recently digitized verticals, healthcare tech is on a collision course with financial technology creating "win-win" opportunities for consumers and founders alike. This is the fastest growing "Fintech+" vertical we're focused on, and one that will continue to accelerate over the coming years. Some of the companies leading the way include: ☀ Sunfish providing better loans for aspiring families seeking fertility treatments 🤖 Brellium helping clinics automatically audit their charts reducing inacurracies with billing 🤝 Sheer Health Inc providing a PFM experience to help consumers better navigate a complex system 💉 Join Parachute creating a better experience for plasma donation while improving broken payments infrastructure 👩⚕️ Dani Pay, Inc. who allows users to exchange content viewing for free dental insurance 🏃♂️ Paceline who rewards users with physical goods for reaching health and workout related goals You can read more about the "Intersection of Healthcare and Fintech" and companies who are leading the way in the blog post below 👇 Appreciation to all the founders we're able to back from Fiat Ventures and work alongside at Fiat Growth 🙏 Zach Rosen Jeffrey Witten Angela Rastegar Darren Barnes Drew Glover Alex Harris Maria Alejandra Horta Ochoa Caitlin Keep https://lnkd.in/gjFN_5_V

Startup's succeed because of one key factor... the founder(s) and founding team 👩💼 👨💼 Angela Rastegar is a perfect example of what it means to have "founder-market-fit" with the impactful work she's doing with Sunfish. It's also a great example of a company that can "do good" and "do well." Sunfish provides better financial resources for families seeking fertility treatments. The company is also the first to offer a “refund” of up to 90% for aspiring families so that they’re able to recoup some of their finances if treatments aren’t successful. Read more about the team, the market and the great work they're doing via the link below 👇 https://lnkd.in/gEu_Mi9K Grateful to have invested with Fiat Ventures and to advise from Fiat Growth and Fiat Advisors. Drew Glover Alex Harris Caitlin Keep Maria Alejandra Horta Ochoa Adrian Hunter

Fintech and financial innovation is at an inflection point. The collapse of 3 large US banks and the Fed rate at a 22 year high in 2023 have created a misnomer that "Fintech is dead". We couldn't disagree more 🚫 Financial innovation is at an inflection point and it'll be the founders, operators and investors who will be rewarded for their ability to look around corners. Excited to share our updated 2024 Market Trends Report that highlights 10+ of the macro and micro trends that will define every industry over the coming decade 🔮 In short, fintech is much more than just siloed in finance... it's on a collision course with every business unit in most every industry. Here's a sneak peak: 1️⃣ The "Fintech+" trend or financial innovation as part of every industry 2️⃣ Fintech's are embedding their solutions to gain better distribution models 3️⃣ Digitization within the healthcare space creates new fintech opportunities 4️⃣ AI's very real role in improving compliance, Regtech and data 5️⃣ Finnancial innovation across legacy vertical SaaS solutions 6️⃣ The intersection of climate, mobility and finance 7️⃣ The evolution of consumer credit and credit building 8️⃣ Embedded rewards and the next generation of consumer engagement 9️⃣ AgeTech and the great wealth transfer There's lots more to we cover in the report, so make sure to give it a read via the link below. A special THANK YOU to the founders, operators and investors that we get to work alongside that provides these valuable insights 🙏 Also the Fiat Ventures team that helped put this report together including Drew Glover, Alex Harris, Caitlin Keep, Maria, and Ana María. Especially to Todd Dack and Shannon Flood for your amazing eye for design. Especially to the Fiat Growth and Fiat Advisors team who's work with 150+ fintech leading firms helping them drive $1bn+ in revenues. Thanks for your hard work and leadership Victor Colombo, Kristin Manoogian, Ayesha Dillon, Adrian Hunter, Stephen Smith, Peter Garea and so many more. https://lnkd.in/gBXFwytH

The Fiat team is headed to Fintech Meetup next week! Please reach out to Alex Harris, Marcos Fernandez, or Shwetabh Gautam to schedule time to talk all things growth.