We had many distinguished, accomplished, fascinating speakers at Boston Fintech Week in September, but perhaps none attracted as much attention as Alexander Hamilton.
What’s that, you say?
One of our most popular participants was Alexander Hamilton, the “ten dollar founding father,” the first U.S. secretary of the treasury, and a leading proponent of a central banking system for the United States.
Through a collaboration between the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT®) and the Museum of American Finance (MoAF), attendees of Boston Fintech Week had the opportunity to engage in conversation with Alexander Hamilton and ask him questions about U.S. financial history, his life, current events, and fintech.
A conversation between Sarah Biller, Co-Founder of Fintech Sandbox, and an intelligent avatar of Alexander Hamilton during Boston Fintech Week.
This intelligent avatar of Hamilton is powered by generative AI. It’s much more than just a visual representation – it’s a subject matter expert capable of engaging in bi-directional conversation about U.S. financial history and current events. It demonstrates how AI can be used to create immersive and informative experiences.
AI Hamilton will be a permanent part at the Museum of American Finance, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, when it opens in Boston’s Seaport District in 2026. The museum’s mission is to illuminate U.S. financial history and to make financial education accessible to all. The museum will also make space available for use by the community for public program.
David Cowen is the CEO & President of MoAF.
Q. David, what kind of reaction did attendees have to Alexander Hamilton during Boston Fintech Week?
A. Fintech Week attendees were amazed by their interactions with AI Alexander Hamilton. They asked him questions on a wide variety of topics related to finance, economics and history, and he provided thoughtful responses to each question. He even gave some insightful opinions on current topics, such as tariffs and taxes, and he replied in whatever language the question was asked. The most surprising moment came when an attendee asked him a question in Swahili, and he answered the question appropriately with perfect diction!
Q. What can you tell us about your collaboration with FCAT?
A. Our Museum has a strong relationship with the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology (FCAT) and a shared vision for moving forward. Our collective goal is nothing short of reimagining the field of financial literacy, given the incredible progress of technology and AI learning in the past few years. We are currently working with FCAT and their vendors to provide an incredible interactive visitor experience at our new exhibit headquarters on Commonwealth Pier in the Boston Seaport, where we will reach visitors in innovative ways on the topic of personal finance.
Q. How was this intelligent avatar trained?
A. The Alexander Hamilton avatar was trained through a proprietary model using a Large Language Model (LLM).
Q. Why has the Museum of American Finance chosen to relocate to Boston?
A. Our Museum had been looking for a new exhibit headquarters for the past few years, and we were very excited to learn about the opportunity available on the newly developed Commonwealth Pier. This location is an excellent fit for our Museum, as Boston and Massachusetts were the leading center of American financial innovation for two centuries, from the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s. Our plan is to build on that tradition at the Boston Seaport.
Q. How will MoAF help visitors with the own financial lives?
A. We have a 36-year track record of creating engaging, state-of-the-art exhibits, and we are dedicated to educating the public on finance and financial history through our financial literacy programs and public events. Our mission is to improve understanding of the influence of financial institutions and capital markets on the US and global economies, and on individuals’ lives. An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, we seek to empower individuals of all backgrounds to strive toward financial independence, while encouraging curiosity and discovery.
In Boston, all of our exhibits and programming will be offered free of charge— eliminating barriers to enter and learn. This includes a high-tech, interactive Personal Finance gallery, where visitors will explore topics such as budgeting, spending, saving and compounding. This will equip visitors with the tools and strategies to achieve and maintain healthy financial lives.
Q. What can people learn from an exhibition of paper currency?
A. We know that finance can be intimidating, so the topic of our first exhibit gallery will be something everyone knows well—money. Most Americans don’t realize that for a good part of our history, banks issued the currency, or that it was backed by gold and silver. These historical notes are often beautiful in design, and we let them speak for themselves as artwork. Multiple in-depth touch screens will allow visitors to interact with the notes and learn more about them. We will also display high denomination notes—like the $500 and $1,000 bills—which are no longer in circulation.
Q. Which historical financial documents are in the MoAF collection? You brought one very interesting and important document to Boston Fintech Week.
A. As part of our mission to preserve the history of finance in the United States, we actively collect important documents and artifacts related to the capital markets, money, banking and free enterprise. Our archive houses thousands of documents, currencies, photographs, periodicals and certificates, including the nation’s premier collection of 18th century US financial documents. We also collect artifacts relating to the financial markets—ranging from vintage stock tickers to Wall Street memorabilia.
The document you mention from Fintech Week was George Washington’s Treasury bonds, and there is a direct line from those bonds to today’s national debt!
Q. The United States will celebrate its 250th birthday in 2026. What does the Museum have planned?
A. We are planning to open in Boston in time for the nation’s 250th birthday celebration and the Tall Ships coming into Boston Harbor. One of our featured exhibits will be “A Financial Revolution,” on the origins of the financial markets, which were conceived and created by Alexander Hamilton and his contemporaries around the time of the nation’s founding. Plans are currently in development for our opening events. Information on the Boston project is available at www.moaf.org/Boston and will be updated as we get closer to the opening.
The Fintech 5 is a series of blog posts consisting of questions and answers designed to help you get to know the people in the Fintech Sandbox community. Today, we’re talking to Erika Alter, the head of marketing at FundGuard, where she leads their marketing and brand strategies. Before FundGuard, Erika held marketing leadership roles at IHS Markit, Tradeweb, Thomson Financial, BISAM, and RIMES. Erika is also a certified Financial Information Associate (FISD), a member of 100 Women in Finance, and previously served on the Associate Board of Literacy Partners.
FundGuard is transforming legacy investment operations with an AI-powered, cloud native and multi-asset class SaaS platform for asset managers, asset owners, custodian banks and fund administrators. Their mission is to help investors around the world to accumulate and grow their assets safely and efficiently.
FundGuard is a sponsor of Boston Fintech Week this years and the exclusive sponsor and host of our opening reception.
Erika Alter of FundGuard
#1. Erika, What problem does FundGuard solve, and why does it matter now?
At its core, FundGuard solves the limitations of legacy investment accounting platforms. These systems were designed decades ago for a very different market environment, and the workarounds firms have been forced to build on top of them are costly and unsustainable. By rebuilding investment accounting as a truly cloud-native, AI-powered platform, we enable asset managers and servicers to unify books of record, scale seamlessly across asset classes and geographies, and eliminate the operational friction that’s been holding the industry back. The timing matters because the demands on operations are only getting more complex. Regulatory pressure, new asset types and real-time client expectations don’t wait for outdated systems to catch up.
#2. How does FundGuard support operational resilience?
FundGuard was built for resilience from day one. Our cloud-native, API-first architecture runs multiple books of record in real time across asset classes, products, and jurisdictions. That means instant failover, always-on NAV oversight, and no batch bottlenecks. Firms get live transparency, faster recovery, and the agility to adapt as regulations and market conditions change, without the drag of legacy tech.
#3. What role do partnerships play in your growth?
They’re critical. The asset management ecosystem is interconnected, and no single platform can transform it in isolation. We’re partnering with leading asset servicers, custodians, implementation consultants, and technology providers to accelerate adoption and make FundGuard’s capabilities available where our clients already operate. The best partnerships are the ones where both sides are aligned on a vision for modernization, where we’re not just plugging into an existing process but rethinking what that process should look like in a cloud-native, real-time world.
#4. What’s next for FundGuard and the industry?
I think we’re at a tipping point. A few years ago, an asset management industry fully powered by cloud-native operations was still viewed as aspirational. Today, it’s an evolving reality and powering some of the world’s largest asset managers and servicers. The conversation has shifted from “if” to “how fast.” What’s next is broader adoption, more collaboration across the ecosystem, and new innovations we haven’t even imagined yet, because once you move off the constraints of legacy systems, the opportunities to transform are limitless.
#5. How does FundGuard engage with the startup ecosystem?
We see ourselves as part of the fintech community that’s challenging the status quo in financial services. FundGuard is a fintech startup and will always carry that DNA: we’re agile, collaborative, and relentlessly focused on solving real problems. We engage with the ecosystem through programs like Fintech Sandbox, through collaborations with other early-stage innovators, and by contributing thought leadership that pushes the industry conversation forward. Most importantly, we serve as proof that fintechs can drive transformation even in the most conservative corners of financial services. If FundGuard can help modernize investment accounting — a function that many thought could never change — that sends a powerful signal about what’s possible.
Bonus Question! What’s the most interesting thing you’ve read recently?
This study, Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task. I think the premise of the study certainly addresses a valid concern, but subsequent articles I’ve read about the story are mostly framing the findings as “AI is making us lazy,” which is perhaps too reductive. History (and science!) shows that human habits and thinking are ever‑evolving, and I believe our intelligence will successfully adapt to AI and other future‑state tech — as we always have.
Another Bonus Question! What is the best career or life advice you have received?
“There’s no race, there’s only a runner. Just keep one foot in front of the other.” It’s a line from a Lucius song that I’ve adopted as a mantra for both life and business. It’s a reminder to just keep going, whether that means taking a small step on a hard day or staying patient when progress feels slow.
Last week, at our 11th Demo Day, we saw five fintech innovators succinctly showcase their solutions to the most pressing challenges in financial services. The companies they founded built these solutions during their recent participation in our Data Access Residency with the support of several of our Data Partners.
The presentations were fast paced, and some of you may have missed the interactions between founders and members of the audience. So, here are a few of the questions audience members asked after seeing what these teams have built, and the answers these founders provided.
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Sandbox Wealth has built a turnkey open banking solution for wealth managers, including independent advisors and family offices, allowing them to offer sophisticated cash management and credit products to their clients. Ray Denis, the Founder and CEO, provided the product demonstration to the hundreds of people who tuned in for Demo Day.
JS: How are you thinking about Agentic AI?
Ray Denis: We’re looking closely at agentic workflows for document ingestion and yield optimization (for both assets and liabilities). Very focused on getting the data layer right before we dive into those features, but it’s a major part of the roadmap.
BC: How are high-net-worth clients onboarded (one at a time or through datasets)?
Ray Denis: We can handle onboarding one at a time or by mass onboarding with an integration to a firm or advisor’s CRM. We let our partners decide how they’d like to address.
BC: Also, how long to integrate for Registered Investment Advisors?
Ray Denis: The process is intended to be quick. After contracting, we can handle the one at a time onboarding almost immediately. I’d budget 60-90 days for mass onboarding to ensure connectivity with the CRM and the accuracy of the data.
Serene is transforming customer care in financial services by helping banks and financial organizations proactively identify, predict, and support customers in vulnerable circumstances. Savannah Price, Serene’s Founder and CEO, provided our Demo Day audience with a demonstration of the capabilities this London-headquartered fintech built while taking part in our Data Access Residency.
SD: What data and systems do you need access to?
Savannah Price: Open banking/ transactional data (current, credit card, savings accounts). Interaction data, voice-to-text (for sentiment analysis).
JB: Who is the end user of Serene? Which business unit of the customer would be the purchaser of this product?
Savannah Price: End user is the financial institution – Heads of Credit Risk, Heads of Collections, Customer Ops. Exploring scam susceptibility use cases at the moment with Fraud/Fincrime teams.
7Analytics has developed AI-driven flood risk modeling for insurers and asset owners, leveraging high-resolution datasets and 600+ physical parameters. 7Analytics can provide crucial information of flood risk, all the way down to the building level. Helge Jørgensen is Co-founder and CEO of 7Analytics, the first insurtech founded in Norway to present at Demo Day.
WC: What is your geographical coverage? Do you have data for commercial and industrial sites? What is the time horizon for your simulations? Which long-term scenarios do you use?
Helge Jørgensen: Yes – we cover commercial sites. We have several industrial customers in the US today that use our technology. Geographical coverage is based on where we see traction. Our technology is scalable, so we are ready to enter new markets.
EM: Are you also considering to expand to the UK?
Helge Jørgensen: We have our technology ready for the UK. We are running several POC in the UK now.
RK: How are your models/products different than First Street?
Helge Jørgensen: Our approach is different in how we are approaching the modeling of flooding. We use high resolution models (3x3ft), high resolution landuse cover, and ML on claims from insurance companies. We provide flood risk covering all flood types – urban, fluvial and storm surge. We also keep our input data up-to-date by using advanced tech for updating/enhancing the terrain and land use data.
Calculum is offering an AI-powered supply chain analytics platform that helps companies unlock working capital, improve supplier intelligence, and generate free cash flow by optimizing payment terms. Co-founder Eric Zager presented Calculum’s capabilities to our Demo Day audience.
JS: Can Calculum help corporates address disruptions in their supply chains caused by tariffs?
Eric Zager: Yes—by leveraging data and benchmarking, Calculum helps corporates negotiate improved payment terms and optimize working capital, providing flexibility to mitigate the impact of tariffs and other cost pressures.
TM: Any intention of supporting your customers on their receivables side, as well?
Eric Zager: Absolutely. While our core focus has been on payables, we’re seeing strong demand on the receivables side and plan to support clients in optimizing their entire working capital cycle.
BL: What are your thoughts about addressing opportunities in supply chain finance yourselves?
Eric Zager: We believe there’s significant potential in integrating supply chain finance capabilities into our platform. While we currently partner with leading providers, we’re actively exploring how we can offer direct solutions to better serve our clients.
Level2 offers the first fully visual no-code systematic trading strategy creation platform built for active traders. Andrew Grevett, Co-founder and CEO, provided a demonstration of the company’s product and an explanation of their B2B2C model. Level2 is making data-driven trading simple and accessible for all.
CS: Does the platform offer any type of education? I understand it enables a lot of resources for traders, but UI seems to assume the user already has a lot of knowledge around trading, and understanding trades.
Andrew Grevett: Yes, education is a key part of our strategy as the visual approach makes learning and understanding simple. It’s something we intend to enhance in the next version, moving more towards a more dynamic approach along with an immersive trading mode.
LZ: Does this include direct feeds (rather than the consolidated SIP tape)?
Andrew Grevett: We do not have any direct feeds at the moment; it’s all from the SIP tape.
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If you’d like to talk to any of these entrepreneurs about what they are building, please reach out to us here. If you weren’t able to attend Demo Day 11, we’ll be posting a recording showcasing the presentations of these five outstanding startups, as well as insights from thought leaders representing the Fidelity Center for Applied Technology, MassMutual, and KKR, to our YouTube channel shortly.
This year, Fintech Sandbox Demo Day will take place on April 28. The presentations will be virtual and the event, as always, is free. Demo Days are exciting because we get to showcase startups that are on the very cutting edge of innovation and you get to see what they’re up to before they’re discovered.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll highlight this year’s presenting entrepreneurs. Today, we’re talking to Helge Jørgensen, Co-founder and CEO of Norwegian fintech 7Analytics. 7Analytics develops highly precise predictive models for flood risk for insurers and asset owners.
Helge Joergensen, Co-Founder & CEO of 7Analytics
Helge, tell us a bit about 7Analytics. What problems are you solving?
Floods are frequent and expensive. And this keeps growing. Without much better data people cannot insure their homes and businesses keep their operations going. We provide that data at a much greater granularity.
Why is granularity in flood prediction important and how do you achieve it?
Insurers need to understand flood risk in-depth – property by property. Water moves along the landscape and even a few inches of height difference here or a green spot there makes a huge difference for flood risk. Only the best data tells you the difference in risk from one side of the street to the other.
What is your company’s origin story?
Our founder team built their skills in the offshore oil and gas sector which remains one of the most knowledge intensive industries in one of the toughest environments on Earth. From here a drive to learn and apply the best possible data tool to produce the best possible solutions has led us to flood risk and to breaking away from traditional approaches.
Can you describe what it’s been like to be part of the Fintech Sandbox community?
7Analytics has moved in two dimensions recently and Fintech Sandbox has been an important partner in both consolidating our services to the financial industry and establishing our US organization.
Why is data access important to your startup?
Data is all we do. Much geodata is open source, but we have only made it this far by building partnerships with leading industry players around data access.
What milestones has 7Analytics achieved so far?
Being live on four continents is a major thing that I am super proud of – this includes my own relocation from Europe to Boston and setting up shop here.
What trends in fintech are you most excited about?
Climate innovation has for a long time been very focused on getting emissions down. For good reasons. Now, adaptation is growing in importance and this basically is a matter of risk. Climate risk. And here fintechs play a key part in getting the banks and insurers up to speed.
How does 7Analytics think about leveraging AI in a differentiated way?
AI and Machine Learning is driving a paradigm shift in water risk modelling. The focus is going in a direction of high-quality, rich input data and really understanding patterns and building predictive power. But: many – also insurers – remain anchored in traditional models.
What’s next for 7Analytics?
Kicking in doors to more insurance companies that are realizing that they need much better data to handle the increasing flood risk.
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To hear more about 7Analytics and 4 other exciting fintech startups, be sure to register for Fintech Sandbox Demo Day 11!
The Fintech 5 is a series of blog posts consisting of questions and answers designed to help you get to know the people in the Fintech Sandbox community.
Ashlyn Lackey is a Director on the Emerging Technology team at Prudential Financial. In this role, she works with business units to identify compelling technologies and startups for potential partnership.
Ashlyn is a mentor for the Global Insurance Accelerator and in the mentor pool for RevTech Labs, two of our accelerator partners. She has also participated at Mass Fintech Hub events as a speaker on the future of insurance innovation. Ashlyn was previously named to Innovate Finance’s Women in Fintech Powerlist for her involvement in the fintech ecosystem.
#1. Ashlyn, what fintech problem has your attention right now?
One fintech problem that has my attention is something I’m calling ‘The Widow’s Windfall,’ where women, who typically outlive their partners, inherit, and manage significant wealth before it moves to the next generation. Despite this, the wealth management industry remains heavily male-dominated, with few tailored strategies for advising and retaining female clients. I’m particularly interested in fintech solutions that address this gap — whether through financial planning tools, education, or advisory models that better support women navigating wealth transitions.
#2. What Trends in Fintech are you most excited about?
There is one technological and one structural trend in fintech that I’m excited about.
First, agentic AI for hyper-personalization, which holds incredible potential for large financial institutions (FIs). As AI increasingly takes on customer-facing roles, these institutions are at a crossroads: How do you automate everything for scale while still maintaining that deeply personal, human touch that customers value? In industries like insurance, where companies have historically prided themselves on close relationships — whether sitting at kitchen tables or hand-delivering life insurance payouts — there’s a challenge in preserving that ethos. I’m excited to see how AI can evolve to embody a company’s personality, making interactions feel personal and empathetic, while automating large volumes of customer engagement without sacrificing warmth or trust.
The structural shift I’m excited about is the growing collaboration between governments, financial institutions, and fintechs. It’s helping to standardize regulations and create better infrastructure across the board. States like Utah and New Jersey are great examples of this in action — Utah’s fintech initiatives have made huge strides in creating a supportive environment for growth, and New Jersey is doing its part with the development of programs like those at Stevens Institute of Technology. On top of that, the rise of academic programs focused on fintech over the last decade has built a stronger talent pipeline and fostered more innovation between the public and private sectors.
#3. What are some of the biggest learnings from your career journey in fintech and/or entrepreneurship?
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned in my career — whether in fintech or entrepreneurship — is that the only opportunities are the ones you make. It’s easy to sit back and wait for the right moment or for things to fall into place, but I’ve found that the real breakthroughs happen when you go out and create your own opportunities. Whether it’s making connections, spotting market gaps, or just pushing through challenges, success really comes down to taking action, even when the path ahead isn’t obvious.
#4. What fintech founder / company are you keeping on eye on right now/think is working on something especially innovative?
Instead of zeroing in on a particular fintech founder or company, I’m more interested in how financial institutions (FIs) are thinking about spinning out innovative products or business units. In the tech world, it’s common for companies to spin out successful ventures — like Confluent, which spun out of LinkedIn in 2014 to commercialize Apache Kafka, or Microsoft spinning out cybersecurity software firm Rubrik. What I find intriguing in fintech is the potential for FIs to do something similar. With their deep data, strong product backgrounds, and solid understanding of regulation, FIs have a unique advantage when it comes to building startups. It’ll be exciting to see how they use those assets to spin off new, innovative businesses that can stand on their own while still tapping into the rich resources of the parent organization.
#5. Hot take! What are your thoughts on AI in the industry? Are we about to see a major transformation? Is fintech the key to unlocking AI at scale for financial services? Overrated or underestimated? What are the biggest areas ready to be changed by AI in finance? What problems need to be solved? What’s here to stay vs passing trend? We want to hear your thoughts!
Right now, there’s a lot of tentative excitement around AI. A few months ago, Money 2020 and Acrew Capital put out a report that said 76% of financial services firms have announced some sort of AI initiative — and that is just what they are willing to publicly share. Leaders are now asking what the ROI of these projects have been. The true value of AI in finance isn’t just about fancy interactions — t’s about improving efficiency, enabling seamless customer experiences, and solving complex problems like data privacy and bias detection. While there will be passing trends, AI’s core potential lies in making financial services more effective and equitable for everyone.
Bonus question! What’s the most interesting thing you’ve read recently?
By Darton Rose, Principal, Data Solutions, Wolf & Company
Success depends on making the most of one of our most valuable assets: data. However, as we navigate the age of artificial intelligence (AI), data has become more than just an asset – it’s the currency of this new age, driving innovation, growth, and competitive advantage. Whether for fintech startups or established companies, embracing a data-first mindset is no longer optional – it’s essential for maintaining your competitive edge.
How Data Became the New Currency Within the Fintech Industry
In my view, fintech thrives on personalization, speed, and trust. Whether it’s seamless payment systems or AI-driven investment advice, every product or service relies on a deep understanding of customer behaviors, needs, and preferences. As a data science expert, I’ve seen firsthand how AI has amplified this dependence, enabling advanced analytics, predictive modeling, and automation.
These technologies have the potential to unlock new revenue streams, streamline operations, and deliver hyper-personalized customer experiences. But I firmly believe that this can only happen if the underlying data is accurate, accessible, and actionable. Without that foundation, even the most advanced technologies can’t deliver their full potential.
From my perspective, companies that invest in robust data strategies aren’t just responding to market trends – they’re future-proofing their business. Data empowers us as leaders to anticipate customer needs, spot market opportunities, and make decisions based on real insights. In today’s competitive landscape, those who fail to prioritize data risk falling behind their competitors who are more agile, informed, and prepared to adapt.
Invest in Customer Data for Significant Returns
In my experience, understanding every aspect of customer data is essential for driving growth and building loyalty in fintech. Yet, I’ve seen many organizations of all sizes struggle with fragmented data systems and siloed teams, leaving valuable insights untapped.
This is where data mapping becomes a game-changer. By identifying, categorizing, and linking all customer data points across the organization, data mapping creates a comprehensive, 360-degree view of the customer journey. Below are three use cases of how I see managers and executives using data today.
Optimize Customer Segmentation
When we organize data into meaningful segments, we gain a clearer understanding of customer behaviors and can tailor offerings more effectively. For instance, I’ve seen how a fintech startup offering personal loans can use segmentation to identify customers who would benefit most from premium credit products. This approach allows for targeted marketing campaigns that not only resonate with the right audience but also drive higher conversion rates.
Unlock Upselling Opportunities
I believe data mapping is also a powerful way to uncover patterns that reveal upselling opportunities. For example, clients using basic financial management tools might display behavior that signals they’re ready for more advanced investment products. With these insights, fintech companies can create personalized experiences that not only meet customer needs but also drive meaningful revenue growth.
Strengthen Compliance & Risk Management
In a heavily regulated industry, I’ve found that data mapping plays a crucial role in helping fintechs stay compliant. It ensures transparency and consistency in how data is collected, stored, and used. By taking a proactive approach to regulatory requirements, fintechs can not only avoid costly penalties but also build trust with both customers and regulators – a trust that’s vital in today’s business environment.
Data-First Leadership Turns Vision into Reality
Adopting a data-first mindset begins with leadership. At Wolf, where we work closely with fintech innovators, we’ve prioritized data strategy for decision-making. Therefore, as a data expert driving this transformation, I believe there are four key strategies that growth-focused fintechs should implement today.
1. Build a Culture of Data-Driven Decision-Making
Fostering a culture where data drives every decision starts with empowering employees to use data effectively in their roles. This means investing in the right training and tools to build data literacy, ensuring that insights are not only accessible but actionable for everyone across the organization.
2. Invest in Scalable Data Infrastructure
I always emphasize the importance of building systems that can handle growing volumes of data securely and efficiently. In my experience, a modern data stack with robust analytics capabilities isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s the foundation for scaling AI and advanced machine learning initiatives effectively.
3. Collaborate Across Teams
I’ve seen firsthand how data silos can stifle innovation. Breaking down these barriers and fostering collaboration between data scientists, product teams, and customer-facing departments is essential to fully harnessing the power of your data. When everyone works together, the opportunities for growth and transformation are limitless.
4. Leverage AI for Continuous Improvement
In my experience, AI tools have transformed how organizations operate by enabling real-time monitoring of key performance indicators, automating routine tasks, and uncovering actionable insights with incredible speed. When paired with a strong data foundation, AI allows fintechs to shift their focus to delivering value where it truly matters most.
Win the Fintech Race by Investing in Data
In the age of AI, I’ve come to believe that data isn’t just a tool for decision-making – it’s the very foundation of innovation and the key to drive growth. I’ve seen our fintech clients who adopt a data-first mindset are not only better equipped to deliver personalized experiences and optimize operations, but also to stay ahead of the competition.
By embracing strategies like data mapping and customer segmentation, fintech companies like yours can transform data into a powerful engine for growth. The future belongs to organizations that view data not as a byproduct of their operations, but as their most critical asset – a currency that, when managed effectively, creates endless opportunities.
At Wolf Data Solutions, we partner with fintech companies to harness the full power of their data, driving strategic decisions and delivering measurable outcomes. If you’re ready to lead with a data-first mindset, I’d love to start the conversation.
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This guest post is provided by our friends at Wolf & Company, which provides industry-focused innovative public accounting, risk management, and consulting services to companies of all sizes. We are grateful to them for sharing their expertise. To learn more about Wolf & Company, please visit https://www.wolfandco.com/.
The Fintech 5 is a series of blog posts consisting of questions and answers designed to help you get to know the people in the Fintech Sandbox community.
Commonwealth is a national nonprofit that builds financial security and opportunities for financially vulnerable people through innovation and partnerships. These are interests we share. Through action-oriented innovation, Commonwealth is reshaping the financial industry to better serve individuals with low-to-moderate incomes (LMI) through collaboration with partners, policymakers, and employers on integrated solutions that transform communities and strengthen the economy.
Commonwealth collaborates with industry leaders to launch cutting-edge financial tools, security benefits, and transformative technologies to drive widespread adoption to create lasting change in financial security and wealth-building. Commonwealth’s mission is to make wealth possible for all through systemic workplace, financial and fintech innovation, and next-gen tech solutions.
Their recent research and initiatives include:
Transforming Investor Identity, which offers insight into the ways in which the development of an investor identity can act as an enabler for beginner investors, conducted with support from the Nasdaq Foundation and in partnership with three leading financial platforms (Ellevest, Public, and Stash).
Generative AI and Emerging Technologies, a national survey report that offers actionable insights around larger trends in using generative AI, chatbots, and digital financial services.
Paula Grieco is a Senior Vice President at Commonwealth, where she oversees a number of the organization’s initiatives, including inclusive investing and financial AI, as well as strategic marketing and development. Paula spoke at Boston Fintech Week in October on the topic of emerging technologies, such as generative AI, and their practical use in retail investing and other financial service solutions.
#1. Paula, tell us about Commonwealth’s vision to have more than one million new low- and moderate-income investors by 2027, and to serve these investors responsibly.
Participation in capital markets is a proven driver of wealth creation. A growing body of research, both Commonwealth’s own and others, finds that people realize this—including and especially people living on low and moderate incomes (LMI), and that many want to participate and become investors. Yet there is an enormous gap between those who aspire to invest and those who actually participate in capital markets today.
We are embarking on a multi-year, national initiative to enable 1 million new investors—alongside a coalition of industry leaders committed to serving these new investors responsibly. This ambitious undertaking will showcase what is possible, demonstrate what we’ve learned, identify where and what policy actions are required, and foster new conversations about who can and should build wealth. Partnerships and sector collaborations are critical to effecting systemic change in the investing industry. Building the right coalition for this work is vital. The financial services industry will be critical to this coalition, as we see leadership and action by industry as the single most powerful lever of change. We welcome conversations with those entities looking to blaze new pathways for broader wealth creation.
#2. Why does Commonwealth want to get more college students interested in investing?
Actually, research demonstrates that college students are already interested in investing. We have a recent report where 80% of non-investor students from LMI backgrounds express a desire to invest. Commonwealth’s work is to ensure that this early investor market is recognized and served. Early investing presents an important opportunity for the 16.6 million undergraduate students enrolled at academic institutions and those who are recent graduates, providing a fundamental strategy for building long-term wealth and addressing pervasive racial and gender wealth gaps. Federal Reserve data shows white households hold on average eight times more wealth than Black households, with that figure growing to 17 times for the Millennial population and Gen Z.
However, despite an increase in the number of investors over the past decade, participation in capital markets remains lower among college students living on LMI, according to recent Commonwealth research.
#3. What are some of the barriers student investors from low- to moderate-income households encounter?
Commonwealth’s research reveals that while college students with LMI demonstrate an interest in capital market investing, they face significant barriers to building wealth. Our survey identifies three primary barriers that are likely to deter students with LMI from investing: fear of losing money, gender disparities, and knowledge gaps. These challenges highlight the importance of addressing the systemic concerns that may hinder college students with LMI and provide the necessary support to empower them.
Our work also offers areas of opportunity where industry leaders – financial institutions and fintechs, higher education bodies, and government—may play a role in fostering an inclusive investing ecosystem for college students with LMI. For financial institutions and fintechs, these include developing inclusive products tailored to the needs of these students and integrating streamlined technology features and positive messaging into educational resources and tools.
#4. What should we know about the potential of employer-provided student debt solutions?
Americans owe about $1.76 trillion in student loans, and one in four U.S. adults under the age of 40 has student loan debt. The average U.S. household with student debt owes $55,777. Clearly, student debt is a daunting issue for a significant portion of the population.
More than six in 10 people with student loans report that their student loan debt is a source of stress and emotional challenges (TIAA, 2020). Student loan repayment often takes priority over competing financial goals, preventing many Americans from building short-term savings or investing in retirement savings, and causing them to delay buying homes, getting married, and having children.
Employers can play a critical role in improving the financial well-being of their employees. Tens of millions of workers are feeling financial pressure and this financial stress is bleeding over into the workplace. In our research, we’ve found that nearly one-third of financially stressed employees say their finances are a detriment to their productivity. This is especially true for workers earning LMI. Yet, fewer than one-third of workers have access to workplace benefits that would help them manage critical financial needs. Employers can help build financial resilience for these employees with benefits like student debt assistance.
A 2021 survey by Betterment found that 74% of respondents would be likely to leave their job for an employer that offered better financial benefits; 24% overall, and 49% of Gen Z respondents, noted that student loan financial assistance or repayment programs could entice them to do so.
Many employers are offering student loan repayment assistance as a benefit to their employees to alleviate the student debt burden, and recent policies present new opportunities to do so. For example, the SECURE 2.0 Act allows employers to provide retirement contributions as a match for student loan payments, making retirement savings more possible for employees who are prioritizing paying off education loans.
Our research showed that 40% of respondents said student loan repayment benefits are very or extremely important to their overall employer benefit package. Asked to select the top three benefits they would participate in today if offered by their employer, 60% of respondents selected student debt relief; 47% selected an employer-sponsored retirement plan, and 38% selected an emergency savings solution.
By matching student debt payments with retirement contributions, workers may be able to double their 401(k) balances at retirement. In addition, focusing on student debt reduction and other benefits that address financial vulnerability such as emergency savings can help strengthen the health of the retirement plan benefit by increasing participation and reducing leakage from the plan.
#5. What is an “investor identity” and what can investment firms do to cultivate it among people who aren’t but could be investing today?
Tens of millions of Americans live paycheck to paycheck with little savings cushion and no meaningful wealth. This is a significant market of “regular working people” who want to save and invest, but are not well served today. This customer wants to invest in capital markets. They want to build wealth. However, there are barriers to their participation, creating a gap between desire and action. Investor identity is one of these barriers.
Investor identity refers to perceiving oneself as the kind of person that can or should invest, and that one belongs in the community of people who invest. It is the feeling that investing is “for me” rather than a space where a customer feels like an outsider. Our research showed that investor identity can be cultivated and developed over time: in fact, 71% of participants told us investing was easier than they thought once they got started.
With support from the Nasdaq Foundation, we launched the “Transforming Investor Identity Research Project,” a groundbreaking, national research and pilot program designed to expand the investing community and make it more inclusive. Over a year, we followed more than 850 beginner investors who each received $150 in seed funding to invest at one of three leading financial platforms: Ellevest, Public, and Stash. Our research unearthed what attracts, motivates, and sustains these new investors so they feel welcome in the wider investing community.
The project provides insight into how the development of an investor identity can allow new investors to fully take advantage of the wealth-building opportunities afforded by retail investing by overcoming initial feelings of doubt, discomfort, or not belonging.
Alongside the research, we created a toolkit for practitioners who would like to better understand investors earning LMI and apply best practices to how to enable and support the development of investor identity. All of our recommendations are based on the research and vary in the level of effort required from incremental, “low-hanging fruit” to new strategic initiatives.
These solutions correspond to each stage of the consumer journey (attract, activate, and retain). For instance, in the “attract” stage, you might use identifiers that address this group directly such as “new investors” or “first-time investors” along with warm, welcoming imagery and content that demystifies the investing experience. In the “activate” stage, consider providing opportunities for beginner investors to participate without the risk of feeling embarrassed through things like chatbots, individual live chats, dedicated webinars, and AI tools that provide safe spaces to ask questions.
#6. Which fintech problem or solution are you personally most interested in right now?
I’m actually really interested in two issues. Over 42 million households are living on LMI. I’m personally most interested in democratizing investing for these individuals who have traditionally been underserved by the investment ecosystem. While technology has expanded access in recent years, the gaps remain stark, particularly for Black, Latinx investors, and women.
Having conducted extensive research into the needs and wants of LMI investors, we’ve piloted human-centered solutions that we believe can increase access and close the interest/action investing gap: modest seed funding, access to quality products, relevant and actionable investing knowledge, and a fundamental shift in who we expect can and should be an investor. The next step is to use this growing body of evidence to drive action by financial service providers, by fintechs, by policymakers, and by people living on LMI themselves.
Second, I’m interested in how financial AI can be unlocked to transform financial security for those living on low to moderate incomes. As has been the case historically, next-generation technologies provide new and creative ways to improve financial security and opportunity for everyone, but they can also carry new risks if they’re distributed unevenly.
Financial services leaders, fintech entrepreneurs, social impact innovators, and others shaping the financial system can have a major impact on creating financial security through the thoughtful use of these technologies. Harnessing the power of AI to serve these previously untapped consumer segments also opens up potential new customer opportunities. This is a pivotal moment for innovators to expand and engage their customer base and bring more people into the financial system.
For instance, our Emerging Tech for All research initiative shows that conversational AI provides a key opportunity to improve access for households living on LMI. These households are nearly twice as likely to want to bank through in-person interactions, yet have significantly lower access rates to local bank branches. Conversational AI can provide the personalized and context-sensitive support this group seeks at scale in a way that has never been possible before. In a Commonwealth field test, we also found that a majority (57%) of LMI participants felt that using a chatbot positively impacted their financial situation.
That said, concerns about privacy and security remain barriers to engagement with conversational AI in finance. Overcoming these barriers through clearer communication and transparent policies will be an important part of building the kind of trust that will allow conversational AI to better support customer financial health.
Our 2024 national survey report, Generative AI and Emerging Technologies, additionally offers actionable insights around larger trends in using generative AI, chatbots, and digital financial services.
#7. If you could change one thing about the fintech ecosystem, what would it be?
Financial insecurity and wealth gaps remain widespread. They cause concern across the political spectrum, and they create social and economic harm. If I could change one thing it would be to ensure that the needs of financially vulnerable people are understood, visible, introduced early into relevant conversations, and integrated into solutions. To that end, in 2023, Commonwealth set a bold four-year strategic vision to drive systemic change in the workplace, in emerging technologies, and in financial services, enabling 10 million working families to build $15 billion in equitable financial security and wealth by the end of 2027. Commonwealth remains dedicated to achieving broad financial security and opportunity for all through continued innovation and partnerships.
Bonus question!What is the best career or life advice you have received?
Commit to your goal – but pair that commitment with adaptability in terms of how to reach this goal. You will inevitably encounter obstacles. The path to achieving a bold vision is rarely exactly as you planned it. I have found that a willingness and ability to pivot and to adapt, to be able to ask yourself, “How else might we do this?” or “What are our other options?” – is highly necessary to be effective.
Another bonus question! What’s the most interesting thing you’ve read recently?
I recently re-read “The Psychology of Money” by Morgan Housel. In the book, Morgan weaves historical and personal anecdotes on success and failures in capital markets as he shares both this theory on “the psychology of money” and evidence-based practical approaches to building wealth.
The Fintech 5 is a series of blog posts consisting of questions and answers designed to help you get to know the people in the Fintech Sandbox community.
Dev Worah is Senior Client Partner & Head, Capital Markets, Asset & Wealth Management at Slalom, a global consulting company. Dev has over 25 years of experience leading strategy and innovation initiatives. He works with both multinational firms and technology startups and is skilled at guiding financial services firms through business transformations.
Slalom is a sponsor of Fintech Sandbox and Boston Fintech Week.
#1. Dev, what can I do at a Slalom Element Lab?
At Slalom Element Lab, we offer a unique environment where our customers and technology partners can quite literally experience the future. It’s a hands-on space designed to push the boundaries of what’s possible with emerging technologies. We curate interactive experiences tailored to specific industry challenges, enabling our customers to explore and experiment with cutting-edge solutions in a tangible way. The Element Lab empowers customers to not just talk about innovation but to actively shape it. It’s where they can test-drive the latest technology in a high-powered environment, unleash their creativity, and build innovative energy into the DNA of their businesses.
For instance, the Slalom Element Lab can help a brokerage company reimagine, firsthand, how it interacts and services its clients, using technologies like agentic AI, extended reality (XR) and digital twins in context of its retail branches, contact centers, and digital service experiences. With just one half-day curated experience inside our lab, businesses can gain a deeper understanding into these emerging technologies, reset perceptions around what’s possible, and leave energized with a clear action plan on how best to start introducing new capabilities into their organizations.
#2. Which fintech problem or solution are you personally most interested in right now?
In wealth management, I’m passionate about scaling and democratizing access to sophisticated financial and estate planning. Traditionally, high-touch, concierge-level financial advice has been reserved for high-net-worth individuals, leaving most people to navigate complex financial decisions on their own. However, this creates a significant advice gap, hindering many people from reaching their financial goals.
The convergence of human-centered AI, open banking, and evolving regulatory frameworks offers a timely opportunity to bridge this gap and empower individuals to achieve their financial aspirations.
Imagine an AI-powered wealth management advisor—similar to a personal CFO—that understands your goals, preferences, and financial history. By analyzing data and interacting with you and your family, it provides personalized advice, proactive financial health monitoring, and goal-driven planning, all while collaborating closely with your trusted team of financial experts (e.g., attorneys, tax consultants). This digital advisor could leverage vertical LLMs trained on financial data and AI-driven platforms, becoming an always-available resource dedicated to your family’s financial well-being.
Both WealthTechs and incumbents are working toward this vision, and I’m excited to see how the space evolves over the next couple of years.
#3. Where are we in terms of AI adoption in financial services?
The financial services industry is undergoing a significant transformation driven by AI, though we are still in the early stages of adoption. As we enter 2025, forward-thinking firms are integrating AI solutions into their operations after seeing successful results from AI pilots. Our financial services customers are increasingly leveraging AI to boost efficiency, compliance, and customer experiences. Key applications include automating customer interactions with chatbots and virtual assistants, providing personalized financial advice, and streamlining processes like claims processing, mortgage approvals, and document analysis. AI also plays a crucial role in fraud detection, risk assessment, and regulatory compliance, ensuring security and adherence to evolving standards. In capital markets, AI is enhancing financial analysis, market insights, and algorithmic trading.
While there are challenges, such as data privacy, fairness in decision-making, and the integration of AI into legacy systems, organizations are overcoming these hurdles with a value-based prioritization approach. As these challenges are addressed, we can expect to see significant progress in AI adoption throughout the industry in 2025, unlocking even greater potential for innovation and growth.
#4.How has participation in Boston Fintech Week been beneficial to Slalom?
Slalom’s involvement over the last three years with Boston Fintech Week has delivered significant advantages, unearthing crucial insights into the latest industry trends, emerging technologies, and disruptive innovations impacting financial services. This frontline exposure not only enhances our understanding of where the industry is headed but also enables us to provide our clients with strategic guidance and innovative solutions that align with the rapidly evolving fintech landscape.
In fact, we have leveraged the Boston Fintech Week platform to invite our customers and key partners into more conversations, providing them with unique opportunities to explore potential solutions, connect with innovative startups, and gain a deeper understanding into the evolving fintech landscape. This has allowed us to continue to “bring more” for our customers, while also building a more vibrant fintech community in New England.
#5. What advice do you have for startups about partnering successfully with incumbent firms?
Startups often underestimate the complexity and priorities of enterprise-scale financial services firms. My advice is to focus on understanding the incumbent’s specific pain points and clearly demonstrate how your solution delivers measurable value. Find opportunities and quick wins to exemplify the value of your solution as early as possible. Adapt to their systems and regulatory environment, while approaching the partnership with flexibility and scalability in mind. Relationship-building is equally critical; take time to engage key stakeholders and align your goals with theirs. Finally, be prepared for a longer sales cycle—quick wins through pilots or proof of concepts can accelerate trust and open doors for deeper collaboration.
Bonus Question! What’s the most interesting thing you’ve read recently?
I’m not someone who usually reads books cover to cover, but here are two I’ve been diving into recently that have really stuck with me:
The Power of Regret by Daniel Pink has been a game-changer for me. It’s given me a fresh way to think about regret and how to respond to it. I’m excited to put Pink’s ideas into practice—learning from regrets and using them as a springboard for personal and professional growth.
Mindset by Carol Dweck is another fantastic read. Dweck does such a great job of explaining the power of a growth mindset and shares practical tips for embracing challenges, pushing through tough times, and turning failures into opportunities to learn. Her ideas are so helpful for work, relationships, leadership, and life in general.
The Fintech 5 is a series of blog posts consisting of questions and answers designed to help you get to know the people in the Fintech Sandbox community.
Jen Perry is Co-Head of Technology Banking, Innovation Economy at J.P. Morgan Commercial Banking where she leads a team supporting high-growth technology companies, founders and venture capital firms across sectors, including fintech. Some of you may be familiar with her from her appearance at Boston Fintech Week in 2023.
#1. Jen, what are some of the ways J.P. Morgan works with fintech startups?
The Payments Banking team within J.P. Morgan’s Innovation Economy business works with companies focused on various facets of the payments ecosystem including fintech software, payments-forward applications, insurtech, payroll, billing software and more. The team helps manage these companies’ deposits and day-to-day transfer of money between parties encompassing payment processors, gateways, and financial technology firms, ensuring secure, efficient and convenient transactions globally.
Payments are a critical capability for the firm more broadly, and our team works closely across J.P. Morgan’s lines of business and with third parties to support fintech startups in a variety of ways. We partner with innovative fintechs to launch new payments solutions, foster an ecosystem of hundreds of third parties that integrate with J.P. Morgan Payments, and regularly invest to reinforce strategic partners and acquire key capabilities.
#2. What solutions does J.P. Morgan offer startups?
Our goal is to support founders and their companies from inception to IPO and beyond. In addition to providing operating accounts and credit cards, we can provide liquidity management, international capabilities, foreign exchange, cap table management and a variety of debt financing options, including venture debt. Our connectivity to J.P. Morgan’s leading global investment banking franchise positions us well to support capital raising and financing, and strategic advisory when a company is considering an exit. For founders and employees, we also offer a full suite of private banking, wealth transfer planning and mortgage solutions to meet their personal banking needs. Ultimately, J.P. Morgan can grow with you through every stage of your company’s life cycle.
#3. Does J.P. Morgan work with early stage fintech startups?
Yes! Within our Innovation Economy practice sits a team comprised of seasoned banking professionals as well as former founders, investors and startup mentors who understand the needs of pre-seed and seed stage companies. We offer early-stage founders a simple and seamless banking experience, and connections within and outside of the firm to help advance their networks and scale their businesses.
#4. You lead a commercial banking team. Where do you see the greatest opportunities for innovation in commercial banking?
Over the last several years, fintechs have identified significant opportunities for innovation across the broader financial services industry and have encouraged more traditional institutions to think differently. We believe that banks can learn a lot from fintechs, and vice versa. For example, many banks have placed an increased focus on data science to help better understand their customers and inform digital strategies.
#5. Which fintech problem or solution are you personally most interested in right now?
We are at a very interesting moment in the broader tech industry, including fintech. I’m eager to see how the next evolution of artificial intelligence will evolve the fintech sector, as well as how companies will maintain environmentally friendly operational practices.
#6. What is your outlook for fintech startups in 2025?
We are cautiously optimistic that there will be opportunity to raise capital from private investors in 2025, especially for fintechs that can show operational efficiency and a path toward profitability. It will be important for fintechs to truly understand the regulatory aspects of their business and work with partners that can sustain their business long term. Investors are much more judicious than they were just a few years ago, so it’s important that founding teams develop strong support systems that can help prepare them to engage in fundraising or a transaction.
Bonus question! What is the best career or life advice you have received?
As a woman in financial services, a partner once shared with me that while I knew the answers and had a lot to say, people were either not hearing me or listening to me. She noted that it could be a number of reasons – my tone, volume or projection – but that I needed to find a way to make sure people could reallyhear me. It was hard feedback to receive, but has been invaluable in my professional life.
Today’s financial services sector operates amidst a maelstrom of change and opportunity. Who could have guessed that 2024 would be the year the first patent for a system capable of connecting satellites, blockchains and stablecoins for space-based transactions – or, in essence, payment connectivity beyond Earth’s atmosphere – would be filed? As far out as a new space-based economy may sound, innovation is not a new concept to financial services.
Our industry is replete with examples where financial services innovators have leveraged the latest technologies to conduct transactions and open-up new distribution channels that meet the demands of not just current customers or markets, but of those in the future. Equally, there are times in recent memory where we as an industry have lagged.
When we asked ourselves back in 2014 what factors were stalling industry innovation, we identified data as the essential but missing input. Though the concept of big data had been in existence for almost a decade and half, leaders at financial services firms had been focused for the preceding five years on creating stability against extreme events triggered by the 2008 credit crisis. Data was at best an afterthought. It was locked in siloes, often on prem and not easily procured by entrepreneurs.
For the founders of Fintech Sandbox, our personal experiences as entrepreneurs and investors told us that innovating during times of disruption offers more opportunity for growth and relevance than managing exclusively for continuity. This ability to adjust and to innovate to changing market conditions and customer demands is the essence of resilience. We concluded that figuring out how to put data in the hands of Fintech founders would catalyze the next generation of products, services and analytics for a rapidly digitizing economy. As Albert Einstein famously quipped, “We can’t solve problems using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”.
Fintech Sandbox was launched in 2015 to provide free access to critical data and resources to entrepreneurs around the world through our first of its kind Data Access Residency program. We were joined by some of the world’s most important market data providers in this journey and, ten years in, Fintech Sandbox entrepreneurs have built hundreds of new products and services, created thousands of jobs, and attained more than $2.0 billion in private company funding.
Though the volume, variety and velocity of data has increased at rates more than projected across the past decade, we can argue this exponential growth was foreseen. Largely fueled by the availability of diverse datasets and vastly improved data aggregation layers (e.g., machine learning, natural language processing, computer visioning, etc.) and computing power, among other forces, there has been a step change in the capabilities of artificial intelligence that is revolutionizing not only financial services, but all data-driven industries.
From the introduction of real-time payments, to the decreasing cost of quantum computing, to the advent of new cybersecurity tools, to an energy transition fueled by the capital markets, and on to the more recent introduction of generative AI, unprecedented advances in technology are driving extraordinary and positive change in the financial services sector. Yet high quality, differentiated datasets are needed more than ever to meet the demands of an ever-diversifying customer base, a steepening product development curve, and, no surprise, the rapidly advancing agentic artificial intelligence capabilities that will reduce human intervention and alter our financial system again.
It is also true that these capabilities are enabling bad actors to steal identities, fraud to be perpetuated in a blink of an eye, bank runs to accelerate with the speed of an avalanche, and rogue nations to fund acts of terror, among other challenges. The consequence of this “arms race” is a profound need for a safe and secure data environment for entrepreneurs and industry innovators to test the efficacy, safety, and robustness of their defenses and solutions. We see from our work with some of the globe’s most progressive fintech entrepreneurs, that it is not just the ability to reinvent and innovate in front-end systems or investment products, but in infrastructure and compliance, as well.
Fintech Sandbox is well-suited to address this need and, perhaps, the only organization able to convene natural competitors, innovators, academic partners and industry. We are reexamining our learnings on the role of data in driving forward innovative fintech solutions considering these new opportunities, heightened challenges, and incredible technical capabilities (and those to come). Our discussions have centered on how we extend our decade-long support of entrepreneurs building innovative solutions for the financial services sector while ensuring the needs of entrepreneurs who are leaping past a legacy definition of our industry and embedding fintech into health, energy, transportation, consumer goods and other categories are also met.
From our start, we have worked together with entrepreneurs, data providers and industry partners in periods of dislocation and uncertainty. We are proud to have played a central role in advancing innovation in financial services. We are now entering a profoundly important period of change where the opportunity to build a more resilient world economy hinges, in part, on the extension of our capabilities into other sectors. With a decade under our belt, we can say with certainty that the availability of new and differentiated datasets matters more than ever.
The fintech community with the right tools has the power to remake our industry, economies and, even, societies for the better. Our vision at Fintech Sandbox is to expand our support to entrepreneurs who are building for a sustainable future. We know firsthand when ideas are paired with data they turn into reality, and we want to be right in the middle of this important work.
