Episodes

Talk to me – connecting with FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Illuma Labs on their AI CX and authentication agent Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Milind Borkar, founder and CEO of Illuma, a two-time Best of Show winner at Finovate events. Illuma specializes in voice authentication and fraud prevention solutions for mid-market financial institutions like credit unions, community banks, and regional banks. The company has evolved from prim...

I’m sold! – connecting with FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Solda.ai on their award-winning solution. Detailed Summary: In this Finovate podcast episode, host Greg interviews Andrew Reese, the U.S. go-to-market lead for Solda.ai, a FinovateSpring Best of Show winner. Solda builds artificial intelligence sales representatives that help financial institutions boost revenue and cut costs by mirroring their best sales representatives at scale across phone, text, email, and chat channels. The te...

True personalization is here – connecting with FinovateSpring Best of Show winner Finalytics on their award-winning solution. Detailed Summary: This episode of the Finovate Podcast features Craig McLaughlin (CEO) and Baron Conway (CSO) of Finalytics, a Best of Show winner at FinovateSpring. They join host Greg Palmer to talk about how their platform delivers real-time AI-driven personalization across digital channels by combining behavioral data with transactional and third-party data to creat...

FinovateSpring keynoter Javier Perez on taking AI out of the experimental and scaling it up for maximum impact. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, Javier Perez, Global Director at VASS Financial Services, shares key insights from his recent keynote at FinovateSpring. He emphasizes that although AI holds immense potential for banks and fintechs, 85% of AI projects in the sector fail to reach production due to poor execution and misaligned teams. To overcome this, organiz...

Blockchain at a key inflection point – where we are now in the innovation cycle, what’s coming next, and where to find your next opportunity. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer chats with Matthew Le Merle of Blockchain Coinvestors about the current state and trajectory of blockchain technology. He explains that his firm has invested in over 1,250 blockchain startups, including major players like Coinbase and Kraken. With a background in internet and fin...

Exploring CU-specific fintech solutions, with a preview of the CU Spotlight session at FinovateSpring. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer interviews Nick Evens, President and CEO of Curql, ahead of FinovateSpring. Nick shares his journey from working within credit unions to leading Curql, a strategic investment fund focused on credit union innovation. He explains how Curql was born from a need to support credit unions in staying competitive with big ban...

Building and growing winning teams – thoughts from a seasoned fintech leader on managing high-performing engineering teams. Detailed Summary: In this episode Naga Rishyender, Manager of Software Engineering at Discover Financial Services, shares his thoughts on building and managing high-performing engineering teams in the fast-evolving fintech space. He begins by discussing his career journey—from his education at UNCC to roles at Wells Fargo, Oracle, Amazon, and now Discover—highlighting the...

Former pro athlete and founder of the Male Mogul Initiative Walter Mendenhall on the recent acquisition of Help With My Loan, and the importance of fair access to credit. Detailed Summary: In this episode of the Finovate Podcast, host Greg Palmer talks with Walter Mendenhall, founder of the Male Mogul Initiative, a Chicago-based nonprofit aimed at empowering young men through leadership, entrepreneurship, and workforce development. Walter shares his unique path from the NFL to teaching, and ev...

Innovate without needing to update your legacy tech stack. FinovateEurope Best of Show winner Tweezr explains how. Detailed episode description: In this episode, Greg sits down with FinovateEurope Best of Show winner Tweezr to learn more about their innovative approach to maintaining and modifying complex legacy systems. Co-founders Ohad Kotler and Lior Vernia created Tweezr to help financial institutions modernize without replacing their core systems. By enabling developers to make precise co...

FinovateEurope Best of Show winner Keyless on using facial recognition without storing sensitive biometric data on a specific device. Detailed Summary: In this episode, Tobin Broadfoot and host Greg Palmer highlight the challenges of traditional authentication methods, such as remembering passwords and using SMS one-time passcodes, which are both inconvenient and vulnerable to security breaches. Keyless addresses these issues by offering a decentralized, privacy-focused solution that allows us...

Streamlining complex system integrations with FinovateEurope Best of Show winner R34DY. Detailed summary: in this episode, host Greg Palmer speaks with Márk Katenyi, CEO and founder of R34DY, a company that won Best of Show at FinovateEurope. The two talk about Ablements, an integration platform designed for banks and financial institutions to simplify IT architecture and streamline complex system integrations. Márk explains how the platform uses AI, including retrieval-augmented generation (R...

A different approach to connecting community banks with fintechs, and predictions for the coming year

Collaboration and co-creation between fintechs and credit unions – a recap of a FinovateEurope conversation, and a preview of FinovateSpring

AI, data apps, and a preview of FinovateEurope.

The investment landscape, IPO and M&A predictions, and what to expect in 2025.

Crypto, the SEC, and what shifting regulations mean for the fintech industry.

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Nest on their partnership with Efigence, conversational banking, and the future of customer service

Neobanks, 2025 predictions, and a preview of FinovateEurope

Expanding credit for women entrepreneurs in the Global South, and how fintech can help.

Exploring opportunities and challenges in fintech for private wealth

Cryptocurrency in 2025 – where we are now, and what’s coming next

Is fintech too crowded? A high-level examination of the ecosystem now, and where we’re going from here.

FinovateFall Best of Show winner Themis on compliance administration and avoiding becoming a target for regulators

FinovateFall 2024 Best of Show winners Delfi on the dangers of balance sheet risk and its macroeconomic impact.