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Hey fintech fam, 💜

What a wild ride it’s been to make it to this July 4th holiday weekend. Personally, I’m more than ready to slam my laptop shut until Monday.

Together, we’ve accomplished so much already this year that I had to take a moment to reflect—and round it all up in a LinkedIn post (complete with photos of some of my favorite outfit slays so far).

While I’m looking forward to soaking up some easy, breezy summer days, I’m still hustling hard behind the scenes to build the stages, content, podcasts, and Fintech Is Femme cinematic universe that keeps us all ahead of the curve.

I’ve had a blast—through every high and low—creating this space with you, and I can’t wait to see what we pull off in the second half of 2025.

In the meantime, I’ve got you covered with fresh stories and a few iconic throwbacks—because what’s more all-American than fintech leaders redefining the rules?

Let’s get into it.

#TRENDING

What’s Up In Fintech

Every Thursday, I bring you the latest fintech news and trends, delivering the key insights that matter most to the industry—and you.

#1 Ryan Breslow Returns to Bolt: Inside the Comeback and the Race to Build the Fintech Super App

When Ryan Breslow stepped back into the CEO role at Bolt this spring, it wasn’t just a comeback. It was a test of what happens when founders refuse to let go of the companies they built—no matter how high the stakes.

In our latest Fintech Mavericks episode, Breslow sat down to share what he’s learned in the trenches—about scaling leaner, choosing the right partners, and building products that challenge the old guard.

Known for pioneering one-click checkout and making waves with his unfiltered takes, Breslow is back with an audacious new vision: transforming Bolt into fintech’s everything app.

In this episode, he opens up about the infamous loan saga—and why his real regret wasn’t taking the loan but trusting the wrong investors. He shares how building Love.com reshaped his leadership, why storytelling has become one of his most powerful tools, and what’s next for Bolt, including a major partnership with Palantir.

Here are three takeaways that stood out:

1. Reinvention is a decision, not a side effect.

After stepping away, Breslow returned to find a business he says had lost its momentum. Instead of easing in, he gave the team 60 days to prove where they could win. Then, he made cuts and rebuilt.

“You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone,” he told us. “Returning to your own company is the greatest feeling on the planet—but you have to be willing to make radical moves to get it back on track.”

2. Obsession isn’t optional—it’s the cost of entry.

Breslow describes himself as “unreasonably demanding” and made no apologies for it. At Bolt, he expects the team to be “all in,” responding the same day and pushing through late nights when needed. “If you don’t have deep conviction in what you’re doing, there’s a million other companies to join,” he said.

He’s transparent and straightforward: hyper-focus and urgency are what fuel outsized results. Since his return, Bolt has closed more deals in three weeks than in the prior three years.

3. The biggest moat is cultural energy.

Beyond product, Breslow believes momentum is contagious. “The energy affects everything—the code, the design, the customers,” he explained. Part of that energy comes from conviction and part comes from love.

A Grateful Dead lyric—“Without love in the dream, it will never come true”—sits in all his bios. As he put it, “I don’t think I could get Bolt to work without love.”

From scaling a 140-person team as lean as possible to rolling out a super app for the 99%, Breslow’s playbook feels unmistakably American—bold, relentless, and unwilling to settle for the status quo.

Listen to the full episode here for more on how Ryan is building the future of fintech, with conviction as his strongest differentiator. Powered by our friends at Brex.

#2 Tanya Van Court’s Strategy to Make Financial Literacy a Cornerstone of Family Wealth

Tanya Van Court was born on July 2, 1972—eight years to the day after the Civil Rights Act became law.

It was a date that marked a seismic shift in American history, but Van Court points out that while the law changed the belly of America, it did little to touch its heart. And that heart, she says, is capitalism.

Today, as the founder and CEO of Goalsetter—a fintech platform focused on financial education for families—Van Court is working to rewrite that reality.

One investment account at a time.

Her journey didn’t start in a boardroom. It started in a public school classroom in East Oakland, where her mother, a teacher and counselor, instilled in her daughter a relentless drive to learn.

That drive carried Van Court to Stanford for two engineering degrees and then to Silicon Valley. But even with all her credentials, no one had taught her how to navigate equity compensation, stock options, or the fundamentals of financial literacy.

By the time she realized the million-dollar potential of her early stock package, the dot-com crash had reduced it to $20,000.

That financial whiplash wasn’t just a personal loss—it was a wake-up call. And it would become the catalyst for a mission rooted in education, equity, and intergenerational impact.

Goalsetter was born when Van Court’s daughter Gabrielle asked for two birthday gifts:

1. A bike

2. Enough money to open an investment account

That moment reframed everything. If she could get every eight-year-old in America to say the same thing, Van Court believed, she could change the trajectory of wealth in this country.

The Long Road to Capital

But building a fintech company as a Black woman meant navigating a very different path than her counterparts.

In Van Court’s words, "They get the Acela to Manhattan. I get rerouted through Birmingham, Cincinnati, and finally dropped in Newark."

Her story is a masterclass in persistence. Early funding was scarce, and she was nearly out of money when a few key allies stepped up: Linda Wilson introduced her to billionaire investor Robert F. Smith, who invested $200,000. Barbara Clarke, an angel investor focused on women of color, wrote a check and connected her with Astia, which led to her seed round.

As she recounts, the journey forward was often lit by others holding their own small torches.

People like David Stiffler at Edward Jones, Sue Harnett who joined Goalsetter in an operating role without pay, and Liz Roberts at MassMutual. Their support was critical.

"Those lights are the only reason that Goalsetter and I remain standing," Van Court says.

Since then, she’s gone head-to-head with sharks on Shark Tank, earned the backing of investors like Kevin Durant, Mark Cuban, Sterling K. Brown, and Nike, and built a financial education platform used by schools, banks, credit unions, and families across the country.

And the momentum hasn’t stopped.

In 2021, Van Court closed a $3.9 million seed round, with commitments from a star-studded investor list. One month later, Mark Cuban joined as a strategic partner to help one million kids—particularly Black youth—open their first savings accounts.

Then came Nike, investing $1 million as part of its $140 million racial equity initiative.

Today, Goalsetter is scaling with innovative features like “Learn to Earn” and “Learn Before You Burn”, gamified tools designed to help kids master money early. And with brand partnerships including Delta Air Lines, American Express, and The Edward Jones Foundation. 

Van Court has now raised $30 million for Goalsetter. And she’s just getting started. 

Why It Matters

Van Court’s story is a powerful reminder that systemic barriers in fintech aren’t going away on their own. Founders like Van Court are building the infrastructure for a more inclusive financial future, but they need the ecosystem to meet them halfway.

True transformation comes when capital, access, and opportunity are shared. That means:

• VCs funding outside their comfort zone.

• Corporates investing in founders who don't look like them.

• Communities showing up not just as consumers, but as co-builders.

Goalsetter isn’t just teaching kids about compound interest—it’s modeling it, socially and economically. And Van Court is proving that while some paths are longer and harder, they can still lead to power, purpose, and profound impact.

So the question remains: Who are you leaving your light on for?

Want her blueprint? 🎧 Listen to my interview with Tanya on the Fintech Mavericks podcast.

#3 How FIS CEO Stephanie Ferris Led a $24 Billion Fintech Deal

In a moment when many fintech CEOs are playing it safe, Stephanie Ferris is playing to win.

In April, the CEO and President of Fidelity National Information Services (FIS) announced a $24.25 billion deal—one of the biggest fintech transactions of the year.

The move? A three-way reshuffling of assets that allows FIS to double down on its core infrastructure business, while Global Payments acquires Worldpay and private equity firm GTCR takes home a tidy return.

It’s the kind of decision that turns heads on Wall Street—but what stood out to me most was how Ferris made it.

I caught up with her just days after the announcement, and she said something that stuck with me:

“If you’re not making a decision where you feel nervous or uncomfortable, you’re probably not playing the game hard enough.”

This wasn’t a rash leap—it was a calculated one, built on data, instinct, and a clear understanding of where fintech is heading.

And it’s not just about the numbers. It’s about focus.

The Era of Focused Fintech

The age of sprawling, catch-all fintech platforms is fading. What’s replacing it? Infrastructure-first models with precision. The Worldpay carve-out lets FIS get back to what it does best: powering issuer and banking infrastructure at scale.

To deliver those experiences—onboarding, real-time payments, seamless back-end systems—you need clarity. Discipline. Focus. That’s what this deal delivers.

It also turns a non-cash generating minority stake into something with more predictable returns: recurring revenue, improved EBITDA, and an estimated $500 million in free cash flow in year one.

This is what strategic clarity looks like in motion.

Leadership in Motion—And in Real Life

Here’s the part I think Fintech Is Femme readers will really appreciate: Ferris doesn’t pretend this was easy.

The day before the announcement, interest rate news shook the market. And Ferris? She was in Cancun on a mother-daughter trip—a promise she wasn’t willing to break.

That kind of leadership—grounded, present, and still unshakably committed to the big picture—is rare. She calls it “feeding the human.” Because balance isn’t about perfection. It’s about knowing what matters in every moment.

“You just have to chop wood and keep moving,” she said. “And sometimes, that means doing both.”

What We Can Learn From Leaders Like Ferris

She leads 50,000 people across the globe. And she’s navigating one of the most uncertain markets fintech has seen in years.

But what makes her leadership resonate isn’t just scale. It’s her mindset.

In a market starved for clarity, Ferris is offering exactly that. She’s leading with conviction, acting decisively, and—most importantly—she’s doing it her way.

For the full deep dive on how Ferris’s leadership made a $24B fintech deal come together, read my latest Forbes column: How FIS CEO Stephanie Ferris Led a $24 Billion Fintech Deal.

_{MARK YOUR CALENDARS}

Join us every Thursday to keep up with fintech events!

_{FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 19}

[NEW YORK] EMERALD CLIMATE FINTECH SUMMIT

It’s Happening: Sept 19 in NYC, During Climate Week

Where climate meets capital.

Where women lead.

Where fintech scales what actually matters.

At Fintech Is Femme, we follow the money—and it’s charging straight toward climate.

🌎 Climate fintech isn’t a niche. It’s the next power move in business strategy.

💸 $12B in ROI if we close the gender funding gap

🚀 Women-led startups are scaling smarter, faster

⚡ Clean energy, carbon markets, ESG—this is where the real growth is happening

I’m teaming up with Bhuva Shakti to launch something bold.

A strategy session.

A blueprint for what’s next.

Want in? We’re calling in sponsors, speakers, and climate fintech builders.

Let’s shape the future together.

🔥 Early bird tickets are already flying. Don’t miss out.

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_FINTUNES

🎶 Olivia Rodrigo - all-american

An appropriate song to blast this holiday weekend. Enjoy!

_{LET’S CONNECT}

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🎤 Host an epic event by booking me as a speaker, moderator, or emcee.

📚 Increase your expertise by ordering your copy of my book, Fintech Feminists: Increasing Inclusion, Redefining Innovation, and Changing the Future for Women Around the World.

⭐️ P.S. If you’ve read Fintech Feminists (or listened to the audiobook!), I’d be so grateful if you could take 30 seconds to leave a review or rating on Amazon here. Your support means the world to me. A million thanks in advance!

That wraps up today’s edition—thanks for reading! Until next week, keep innovating and challenging the status quo. See you Tuesday!

Love,

Nicole 💜