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Hi, fintech fam! 💜

The Female Quotient recently shared an inspiring highlight reel featuring Pharrell, where he passionately supports women and equality.

He poses an intriguing question: “What would a world look like if 75% of our world leaders, prime ministers, and presidents were female? That’d be a very different world.”

This got me thinking about similar themes I explore in my upcoming book, Fintech Feminists.

It was a refreshing change in my feed, especially considering some recent news about certain venture capitalists (looking at you, a16z founders) who have openly shown no interest in supporting women founders.

But that’s a topic for next Tuesday’s newsletter.

For today, let’s dive into the latest movers and shakers in the fintech world!

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#TRENDING

What’s Up In Fintech

Every Thursday, I share the latest news, popular trends, and new fintech startups I follow. Get the most important updates to stay informed about the industry.

#1 Lule Demmissie Steps Down as CEO of eToro US

After nearly three years as CEO of eToro US, Lule Demmissie is stepping down.

She will transition to an advisory role for the rest of 2024, helping her successor, Andrew McCormick, who has been eToro’s US Senior Counsel, to take over.

On LinkedIn, Demmissie reflected on her tenure, saying she’s “lived a thousand lives,” achieving milestones like managing M&A integrations, securing key regulatory licenses, and strengthening eToro US amid challenging conditions.

Joining eToro in 2021 after serving as president of Ally Financial’s Ally Invest, Demmissie has had a significant impact. 

After a short break, she plans to return to the “operator seat” advocating for retail investors.

Why It Matters

With a distinguished career spanning Wall Street and fintech, Demmissie deftly leverages her potent blend of finance expertise, emotional intelligence, and diverse identity facets—as a Black woman, immigrant, and member of the LGBTQ+ community—to propel her career to unparalleled heights. 

The best part about her is that she's always ready and willing to teach others how to masterfully circumvent obstacles when climbing the upper echelons of corporate America.

I am lucky to call her a friend and mentor over the years. Her inspiring teachings have influenced what I built as founder and CEO of Fintech Is Femme and how I continue to lead with curiosity as a journalist. 

Let's take a moment to recognize just how impressive and vital her leadership is. 

With experiences in high-profile leadership roles across banks, brokerages, and fintech, she has created a historical mark for women in the industry, especially considering women hold less than 10% of leadership positions as founders and members of executive boards of fintech firms, and only 5.6% of CEOs in fintech are women, according to research from the International Monetary Fund. 

While there is limited data on the demographic breakdown of fintech CEOs, Black women in America face a significant disparity in leadership roles across business sectors. Only four Black women have ever been CEOs in a Fortune 500 company. 

Ursula Burns served as CEO of Xerox Co. from 2010 to 2016, and Mary Winston was the interim CEO at Bed Bath & Beyond in 2019. In March 2021, Rosalind Brewer became the third Black female CEO when she assumed the role of CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. In May 2021, Thasunda Brown Duckett was appointed as the fourth Black woman to join the ranks of CEOs as she became the President & CEO of TIAA.

“I don't want to be a unicorn; I want to be a farm horse,” Demmissie told me in my first interview with her in 2021, when she was still president of Ally Invest (see my old InvestmentNews reporting here).

As a journalist, my encounters with Demmissie have been as varied as they've been enriching. It's not surprising, considering she has sat in the decision-making room of institutions that wield significant influence over our societal fabric and economic landscape. 

Yet she continuously presents a perspective dedicated to propelling positive change within the financial sector, which is evident in every exchange we've shared.

Over the years, I've learned that Demmissie's multicultural upbringing is the foundation for her ability to relate to diverse individuals and maintain an aspirational mindset.

“What's helped me is expanding my closest network to include people from dozens of countries,” Demmissie shared. “The more diverse my connections, the more I realize bridges and tunnels exist for all cultures.”

Research shows leaders with a global mindset do more than uphold equity and inclusion – they fundamentally understand how cultural identity influences the communication styles, values, and needs of communities worldwide.

Embracing her intersectionality, Demmissie refers to her heightened emotional intelligence as her “third eye,” a tool she strategically wields to connect with people from all walks of life.

It's a strategy she credits propelling her up corporate leadership ranks to build diverse teams. “People are willing to connect and be open when they feel seen,” she said. “They're motivated by it.”

Looking ahead, Demmissie remains resolute in her conviction that, amidst the chaos, fintech has an opportunity to transform financial outcomes and promote inclusivity on a global scale. 

#2 Tala Stacks Leadership Team With Women

Women in fintech face the "triple glass ceiling" at the intersection of financial, technological, and entrepreneurial gender inequalities. A 2024 study shows that women account for only 7.69% of founders, 18.2% of executive committee members, and a mere 4.04% of fintech companies are led by women. 

However, fintech company Tala is defying this trend. The company announced this week it recently hired Damier Xandrine as its new Chief Legal Officer. 

With over two decades of experience at companies like Wells Fargo, SVB, and Marqeta, and as board chair of Girls Who Code, Xandrine is set to shape Tala's legal strategies to provide financial access to millions in emerging markets.

Xandrine joins a leadership team already rich with female talent: Shivani Siroya, founder and CEO; Jen Loo, CFO; Kelly Uphoff, CTO; Lauren Pruneski, Head of Brand and impact; and Julia Kaissling, Head of People. This diversity is a cornerstone of Tala's success.

“[Diversity] is a natural priority at Tala,” Siroya wrote on LinkedIn. “Because of the nature of our work and the markets we operate in, diversity is essential to solve our problems successfully. This needs to become second nature across the industry.”

Why It Matters

Excluding half the world's population weakens businesses and customer bases. Data from the World Economic Forum highlights female representation's crucial role in fintech success. 

Companies with over 30% women leaders are more likely to outperform less diverse firms. These companies also see a 12% increase in their female customer base and a 30% increase in products targeting female customers. Embracing gender equality in leadership drives financial success and promotes global gender equality.

More than ten years ago, Siroya set out to address the inadequacies of the global financial infrastructure. She developed a new kind of credit score based on cell phone data, offering a way to understand the financial behavior of underserved populations. 

In 2011, she founded Tala, which officially launched in 2014. Tala's Android app evaluates customer data and delivers personalized financial services in minutes. It makes loans of $10 to $500 to customers with little or no formal borrowing history in the Philippines, Mexico, Kenya, and India, and offers a digital wallet in the Philippines, enabling over a million customers to pay bills through the app.

The Santa Monica, California-based fintech company has delivered over $4.5 billion in credit access, reached 9 million customers by the end of 2023, and raised nearly $500 million in debt and equity funding since its inception. 

#3 Startup Katapulte Brings Fintech Solution to CPG Industry

For small business owners in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, securing shelf space in major retailers like Target and Walmart is akin to getting drafted into the NBA.

That’s according to Michelle Dalzon, founder of Katapulte, a startup dedicated to providing equitable access to loans for micro-businesses through technology solutions.

During a virtual pitch hosted by Lisa Carmen Wang, Founder & GP of Bad Bitch Empire, Dalzon highlighted this challenge faced by the CPG sector—a significant component of the US economy that includes companies producing, selling, and delivering frequently replaced consumer products.

Dalzon explained that over 70% of the 33 million small businesses in the U.S. require funding, yet only 48% have their needs met. 

Businesses seeking $100,000 to $250,000 are particularly underserved. 

Despite over $200 billion in available funding from 1,300 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), many small businesses remain unaware of these resources.

Why It Matters

Small businesses are a cornerstone of the U.S. economy, employing about 61.6 million workers and generating 44% of the country's economic activity.

Connecting these businesses with CDFIs is crucial. Only 5% of the 7 million small businesses eligible for CDFI funding are currently applying. 

Katapulte aims to change this by building an active lender pipeline.

For example, in 2022, Katapulte helped a skincare company in Union City, New Jersey, launch into 300 JCPenney stores with a $120,000 loan.

The startup discovered that over a million minority-owned businesses are unaware of CDFI funders, and only 5% are connected to these opportunities. Katapulte has partnered with lenders like ACCION and TDC to secure necessary funding for small CPG businesses.

Katapulte’s back-end solution includes a pre-qualification tool on its website, allowing businesses to specify their needs and undergo a pre-qualification check. This increases the likelihood of loan approval when connected with lenders. Katapulte has built a network of over 500 CPG brands and partnered with multiple CDFIs, banks, and community organizations.

Katapulte charges a 3% fee for each loan deployed—2% from the lender and 1% from the borrower—for assisting with documentation and loan readiness. 

The pre-qualification tool is set to be white-labeled within the next year. Partnerships extend to major retailers like Target and Walmart, as well as Slack groups such as Startup CPG. 

Katapulte also engages in digital outreach, newsletters, and other support channels to assist businesses throughout their journey.

The Katapulte team comprises industry veterans, including Dalzon as CEO, with co-founders experienced in top consulting firms and major banks. The roadmap includes launching the pre-qualification tool soon, aiming for $600K in revenue within a year and $4 million by 2027.

Katapulte caught my attention by bringing a fintech solution to an adjacent industry, the CPG industry, by bridging the funding gap and providing essential support to small businesses, ensuring they have the resources to thrive in major retail spaces.

_{MARK YOUR CALENDARS}

Join me and a network of incredible leaders in fintech at one of our upcoming events! These events are usually hosted by Fintech Is Femme, but sometimes by a friend or partner.

_{WEDNESDAY 12/6}

[VIRTUAL] Next Wednesday, I’m joining my friend Ben Lewis from the Financial Planning Association (FPA) to discuss building Fintech Is Femme and the work I’m doing to bring tech-forward, human-centric vibes to the FPA Annual Conference 2024 in Columbus from September 18-20. It’s all about how financial planners can use technology to enhance the very human practice of financial planning. Join us!

_FINTUNES

🎵Lose Yourself to Dance (feat. Pharrell Williams)

Giving our feminist ally Pharrell Williams a shoutout. Enjoy this throwback as we dance into another summer Friday.

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That’s all for now! See you Tuesday!

Love,

Nicole 💜