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Builders in Fintech

Builders in Fintech

Written by: Michele Mattei
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Builders in fintech wants to talk with people who work in the startup ecosystem, from great founders to VC managers, that are building the innovations we will use tomorrow.Michele Mattei Economics Personal Finance
Episodes
  • AI Wealth Management for Everyone with André Silva (Episode 54)

    AI Wealth Management for Everyone with André Silva (Episode 54)
    Oct 13 2026
    Episode page and notes: https://buildersinfintech.ai/podcast/episode-54 In this episode, I sit down with André Silva, co-founder and CEO of Quartz. Quartz is a London-based AI personal banker. It connects users' bank, broker, pension and ISA accounts in one place, and its AI assistant, Charlie, turns that data into personalised insights on their wealth. The company launched in the UK in September 2026 alongside a £2.75M pre-seed round led by Daphni, with participation from Outward VC, K Fund and angels including Philippe Gelis and Gilles BianRosa. André founded Quartz in 2025 with Mateus Mesquita Alves, former Investment Product Lead at N26. Before that, he spent six years at Revolut as Head of Global Expansion, responsible for new market launches and the group's international P&L. He started his career in M&A at HSBC in London and in equity research at BPI in Portugal. He holds an Economics degree from Porto University and an MSc in Finance from ESADE. We talk about why financial advice is priced out for most people, why open banking covers only a small share of people's wealth, what UK investors actually hold, raising a pre-seed round, and where human advisors fit once AI does most of the work. 00:00 Intro 00:11 André's background: from investment banking to Revolut 01:00 Why Quartz: advice is priced out for most people 02:53 Three building blocks: visibility, context, advice 07:15 AI and financial advice regulation in the UK 08:38 Open banking vs in-house connectors 11:52 Who invests on Quartz: 4.5 accounts on average 16:08 Finding the first customers 20:10 Raising the pre-seed round 22:51 Working with angels and investors 25:09 International expansion: UK first 28:05 Localising an AI advisor across countries 31:34 How Quartz uses AI internally 35:30 Guardrails: what the AI must not do 38:23 The future of human financial advisors 44:51 Advice for people starting in fintech Want to stay up to date with the market? Here my newsletter and my podcast: Linkedin: https://tinyurl.com/fintech-weekly Substack: https://michelemattei.substack.com/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@buildersinfintech Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6L6L7uj3IIYEHbBStLXi8M?si=fa10d8cefe2741aa ApplePodcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/builders/id1767562838?l=en-GB Amazon: https://podcasters.amazon.com/podcasts/a1f92635-a50e-4a0c-ac96-7daa09c4e853
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    47 mins
  • Banking in Central Asia with Nika Kurdiani (Episode 53)

    Banking in Central Asia with Nika Kurdiani (Episode 53)
    Sep 29 2026

    Episode page and notes: https://buildersinfintech.ai/podcast/banking-in-central-asia-with-nika-kurdiani-episode-53


    In this episode, I sit down with Nika Kurdiani, CEO of TBC Uzbekistan.


    Nika is the CEO of TBC Uzbekistan, one of the world's fastest-growing digital financial ecosystems, with more than 23 million registered users and 6 million monthly active users. He leads TBC Digital, the group's Uzbek holding company, and Space International, and sits on TBC Group's Executive Committee.


    Over a career spanning more than 23 years, Nika has driven growth, transformation and post-acquisition integration across banking, payments, fintech, insurance and B2B SaaS in Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia. As Deputy CEO of TBC Bank Georgia, he oversaw business banking, payments, international expansion and the launch of the digital neobank Space. He also chaired the board of Payme, one of Uzbekistan's leading payment platforms, and held senior roles at UniCredit, Kaspi Bank and Bank of Georgia.


    Beyond his executive work, Nika founded the Applied Management Institute and the Design Institute, invests in early-stage companies, and supports initiatives in education, food security and hospice care. He holds an MBA from IE Business School and completed executive programs at Stanford GSB and IMD.


    A former professional basketball player, he received Uzbekistan's Presidential Order of Friendship (Dustlik) for his contribution to the country's financial sector.


    Want to stay up to date with the market? Here my newsletter and my podcast:

    Linkedin: https://tinyurl.com/fintech-weekly

    Substack: https://michelemattei.substack.com/

    Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@buildersinfintech

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6L6L7uj3IIYEHbBStLXi8M?si=fa10d8cefe2741aa

    ApplePodcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/builders/id1767562838?l=en-GB

    Amazon:https://podcasters.amazon.com/podcasts/a1f92635-a50e-4a0c-ac96-7daa09c4e853

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    45 mins
  • Building trust in fintech with Nicolas Kipp (Episode 52)

    Building trust in fintech with Nicolas Kipp (Episode 52)
    Sep 15 2026

    In this episode, I sit down with Nicolas Kipp, CEO and founder of Credibur.


    Nicolas Kipp is a fintech entrepreneur, investor and financial services executive with extensive experience across lending, payments, risk management and embedded finance. He is currently Founder and CEO of Credibur, where he is building infrastructure to automate the management of structured credit transactions between alternative lenders and institutional capital providers.


    Previously, Nicolas co founded Banxware, an embedded financial services provider enabling digital platforms to offer integrated financing products to merchants. Before that, he spent four years at Ratepay, ultimately serving as Chief Risk Officer, with responsibility for credit and fraud risk, KYC, compliance, data analytics and IT security.


    He has also served on Bitkom’s board for Payments, FinTech and Digital Banking, advised the German Bundestag on artificial intelligence, and invests in and advises fintech, proptech and software companies across Europe and the US.


    With him, we will be talking about the future of the fintech market in Europe, but also building trust in this market, and going from an executive to a founder role.


    Want to stay up to date with the market? Here my newsletter and my podcast:

    Linkedin: https://tinyurl.com/fintech-weekly

    Substack: https://michelemattei.substack.com/

    Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@buildersinfintech

    Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6L6L7uj3IIYEHbBStLXi8M?si=fa10d8cefe2741aa

    ApplePodcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/builders/id1767562838?l=en-GB

    Amazon:https://podcasters.amazon.com/podcasts/a1f92635-a50e-4a0c-ac96-7daa09c4e853

    Show More Show Less
    45 mins
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