The Portico Podcast
Jun 18, 2020
Intro — What is the Portico Podcast and why should you listen to it?
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More episodes from The Portico Podcast
May 10, 2023
Accion Venture Lab's Amee Parbhoo on Early-stage Fintech
In this edition, I speak with Amee Parbhoo, Managing Partner of Accion Venture Lab, a leading global seed-stage investor in inclusive fintech startups. Accion Venture Lab is part of Accion, the pioneering nonprofit that has been investing in financial inclusion for the last six decades.
I was excited to speak with Amee because she’s on the front lines of identifying technologies that expand access to capital and financial services.
In addition to getting an update on the fintech landscape, I was particularly keen to hear Amee’s thoughts on how she sees the sector evolving — from one in which fintechs enabled the provision of traditional financial services, to one where startups are developing vertical-specific solutions with embedded finance.
Amee shares a few of the verticals and themes she’s particularly excited about, as well as a superb book recommendation … one of my favorites, in fact.
Thanks, as always, for listening.
I hope you enjoy this episode — and if you do, you should share it with friends, and if you feel so inclined, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so that more listeners can discover this type of content.
This podcast was recorded in April 2023.
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Learn more about Accion Venture Lab
Read the Center for Financial Inclusion’s report Green Inclusive Finance
Grab a copy of Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers
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Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here.
(Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; one of his Sound collector profiles is available here).
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Mar 8, 2023
Deals! with FT Corporate Finance & Deals Editor Arash Massoudi
In this edition, I speak with Arash Massoudi, Corporate Finance and Deals editor with the Financial Times in London, and also the co-creator of the FT’s must-read newsletter on deal-making: Due Diligence.
I wanted to bring Arash on to get a sense of how the world’s most voracious deal-makers are viewing the global landscape: who wins and loses in a world of rising rates, deglobalization, and climate concerns.
I also wanted to chat with Arash about some of the phenomenal scoops he’s generated over the last decade, including Masa Son and SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Elon Musk and the “funding secured” fiasco, the rise of sports as an investment vertical, and many others. With his eye for a scoop, I wanted to see if we might get a bead on where the next big story might pop.
Given his role launching Due Diligence and Scoreboard — the FT’s newsletter focused on the business of sport — I wanted get into the topic of newsletters and the rise of Substack, the significant businesses that newsletters have become in their own right, and how the medium itself shapes the production and consumption of journalistic content.
Thanks, as always, for listening.
I hope you enjoy this episode — and if you do, you should subscribe to the FT and the Due Diligence newsletter, and give Arash a follow on Twitter (@ArashMassoudi). And don’t forget to share it with friends and colleagues.
This podcast was recorded in February 2023.
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Read Arash’s latest stories with the FT.
Sign up for FT’s premium newsletter Due Diligence and Scoreboard.
Follow Arash on Twitter (@ArashMassoudi).
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Follow Mike on Farcaster or Twitter
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Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here.
(Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).
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Jan 25, 2023
Can Crypto Solve the $4 Trillion SME Financing Gap?
I was recently invited to give a lightning talk on a topic that’s been capturing much of my mindspace of late: whether crypto can be a better technology for capital formation than legacy options, such as banks, capital markets, and non-bank financial intermediaries.
I’ve spent most of my adult life working on the problem of access to capital in the so-called ‘emerging’ and ‘developing’ economies.
So, I focused my presentation on the $4 trillion financing gap besetting small and medium-sized enterprises ( — or SMEs — ) in these markets.
That said, I think an open, permissionless protocol for capital formation would be a boon to innovation and entrepreneurship everywhere.
This episode re-records my presentation for an audio-first audience, and it hits four topics:
* *The problem* — what it is, where it is, and why it exists
* *The shortcomings* of existing non-bank intermediaries (i.e., PE funds)
* *Crypto's potential solution*
* *The challenges* with implementing a crypto solution
If you find this interesting / inspiring, then send Mike an email at mike@porticoadvisers.com.
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* Watch the presentation on YouTube
* Download a copy of the deck
* Watch The Evolution of Private Equity in Emerging Markets on YouTube
* Read Mike’s post Trillions
* Listen to Roger Leeds on Private Equity & Development
Follow Mike on Farcaster or Twitter
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Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here.
(Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).
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