Data is perhaps the most important commodity in today’s world. Indeed, some have posited that data is the new oil. This is especially true in financial services, where firms have access to a massive amount of data, but often struggle to glean actionable insight and information out of that.  We recently spoke with Barry L. Star, CEO of Wall Street Horizon, a provider of corporate event data for institutional investors and traders, about how investors can use data to find alpha and gain a competitive edge. 

Founded in 2013, Groundfloor is an Atlanta-based company that allows non-accredited and accredited investors to participate in short-term, high-yielding loans that are collateralized by real estate. These loans are typically taken out by real estate entrepreneurs, known to some as “flippers,” who are looking for sources of flexible capital that many banks can’t or won’t provide.

Mike Cagney’s return to fintech’s center stage had been foreshadowed by a handful of reports suggesting that his new company would be focused on the origination of real estate-related assets and that, somehow, blockchain would figure into the mix. But Cagney, who played a foundational role in building SoFi into one of fintech’s biggest success stories before his departure, isn’t the type of entrepreneur who thinks small and nichey.

Whatever you think of Michael Lewis’s book Flash Boys, there’s no denying its significant impact on the overall perception of the high-frequency trading sector. Before the book, even many markets professionals understood little about the strategies and techniques employed by the arcane fund fortresses of rocket scientists who execute a huge number of trades in nanoseconds. Subsequent to the book’s release, the HFT world has needed a fresh face, an ambassador that can show that high-frequency strategies are not incompatible with fairness and basic transparency.

We’ve been interested in (and cheering for) start-ups taking aim at the commercial real estate sector for some time. Why? Because commercial real estate is a lucrative and enduring sector, but in our opinion, it’s also too clubby and resistant to technology-fueled innovation. One of the start-ups leading the charge to transform the industry is New York-based Cadre. Led by Ryan Williams, a young, dynamic Baton Rouge native, Cadre has generated a disproportionate amount of attention because of its high-profile investors and eye-catching announcements, such as its recent $250-million partnership with Goldman Sachs’ wealth division.

Founded in 2014 by fintech entrepreneurs Ben Curren, Andrew Katz and Trae Robrock, the company’s point-of-sale software helps dispensaries and other retailers keep track of their inventory, stay compliant with a myriad of rules and regulations and facilitate customer loyalty offerings. Last week, the company’s impressive momentum and the industry in which it operates received a new boost when it was announced that Tiger Global led the company’s $17-million Series A.

We’ve made no secret of our disdain for the deceptive practices employed by bad actors within the payday sector. We’ve also had misgivings over the stratospheric rates that subprime borrowers face in order to access credit. Over time, we hope that financial literacy, private sector innovation and common sense regulation transform the environment for lower credit borrowers and lead to the extinction of predatory practices. 

In recent months, positive energy looks to have returned to the halls of Zenefits. Multiple factors are likely involved, but clearly, the company’s streamlining and narrowed focus on being a provider of HR software (and not an insurance broker) has helped to set the stage. As part of the company’s pivot ...

Max Levchin may look as though he could still be a student in the computer science school of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. However, the co-founder of PayPal has evolved since his early days into a kind of disruptor adult who balances boldness with a thorough understanding of business realities.

SIX Financial Information, a subsidiary of SIX Group, is a global financial data company that provides mission-critical data to financial institutions, asset managers, insurers and other corporations in over 20 countries around the world. That reach extends to the US, which has become an increasingly large market for the Zurich-based company. That’s because regulatory and compliance demands have grown in scope and complexity in the wake of the financial crisis. 

Building a successful fintech platform is a seductive dream. That aspiration has led many smart entrepreneurs to sketch out carefully calibrated plans to build robust two-sided loan marketplaces that will bask in the glow of rising transaction volumes.

There are few people better qualified to sit at the intersection of financial services, the capital markets and innovation than Nino Fanlo, SoFi’s CFO and President. That’s because Fanlo started a commercial mortgages desk at Goldman Sachs, served as the CEO of KKR Financial and held increasingly important roles at Wells Fargo before becoming the bank’s treasurer.