Tech is global and finance is local. One way to connect technology’s borderless nature with the regulatory and market regimes of finance is to pick your spots. Because tech+money is not distributed evenly.
Maximilian Plank is a venture partner at Tenity, a VC and accelerator program focused on fintech, based out of Zurich.
Max’s career has involved helping financial centers interact. He serves as a ‘global ambassador’ to the Middle East for Hong Kong’s Cyberport, a government-supported startup hub. He chairs a business facilitation startup in Doha, and serves as Tenity’s lead partner for Saudi Arabia.
He speaks with Jame DiBiasio about the current hot themes in fintech, globally and in select markets, including sharing some of his investment companies, the opportunity in digital assets and in AI, and the impact of the ongoing war in the Gulf on investing.
Timecodes:
0:00 - Max Plank and Tenity
2:50 - What do LPs look for in fintech investments today? The difference between venture investing and startup acceleration
6:00 - Fund composition and a new strategy for digital-asset infrastructure
9:00 - Fragilities in blockchain, startups with a license or not, and new business advantages in the age of AI
15:03 - Analyzing founders in the new environment
17:12 - Switzerland: old banks and new foundations
21:38 - Saudi Arabia: war, fintech, and opportunity
27:29 - Hong Kong: tokenization, links to the Middle East, and a new generation of Chinese fintechs
