On December 9-11, 2020, EqualOcean will host this year's World Innovators Meet (WIM2020). Due to the unprecedented events regarding COVID-19, WIM2020 will take on a bolder stance and adopt a more global outlook by taking the form of an online conference that will be streamed simultaneously in all countries and regions that champion the realm of technology and innovation.
We are delighted to announce that Simao Cruz, Ruca Sousa and Alejandro Murcia, three pioneers of the fintech industry in Europe, are confirmed speakers of the European Panel discussion for the 'Technology and Innovation Leadership' Chapter. The focus of the panel discussion will explore how the Fintech Infrastructure is a baseline for growth and debate the adaptation of Fintech to every organization globally.
Simao Cruz
Simao Cruz is the co-founder of Portugal Fintech, a non-profit association designed to foster inter-communication and collaboration between different players in the fintech ecosystem. In 2017, Simao founded Portugal Fintech in an attempt to help struggling fintech startups in Portugal, who were not reaching their potential due to a lack of contact between important stakeholders such as established banks, insurance companies, and the general public. His ultimate goal was to “close the gaps” in the financial industry and help fintech flourish locally and globally:
“There were a lot of people that came together to create Portugal Fintech. They came from different backgrounds – from venture capital, legal, consulting, entrepreneurship – with the aim of creating this non-profit association totally focused on helping startups grow”
According to Simao, successful fintechs are built by fostering contact between different players in the financial industry and creating a seamless integration process for startups. In order to create a physical place for this to happen, Portugal Fintech has built the ‘Fintech House,’ located in the center of Lisbon. It is comprised of over 30 startups and also includes established players like Visa, Accenture, Amazon, Google and Microsoft to name a few.
Simao’s knowledge and activity in the Fintech industry has made him a member of Forbes Europe’s 30 under 30 for Finance 2020; despite his young age, he is confident that his values, goals and work ethic provide a fresh perspective and brings value to the fintech ecosystem. Looking forward, Simao believes that Portugal Fintech will transition its growing network online, creating a virtual membership platform and learning portal with the aim of expanding this into a more international network of fintech stakeholders.
Ruca Sousa
Ruca Sousa is the Co-Founder and CEO of Switch, a payment platform that connects businesses to the payment value chain through a set of application programming interfaces. His belief in the power of networks as a way to unlock additional value has been the key to their success. The service they sell facilitates payments processing for merchants. Ruca describes the fintech as an “Amazon Web Services for payments.”
Ruca then co-founded Cashtag in 2013, which was a P2P mobile payment app that allows anyone with a smartphone and an Internet connection to send, request and accept money. “The plan was to gain volume on the side of consumers with free transactions and then start to attract business and charge commercial transactions,” he claimed. However, the lack of capital raised was a major barrier for growth: “this required us to raise a significant amount of money. But, at that time, it was not the madness it is today. We were seeking a round of another five million euros and we didn’t make it. We had to abandon the idea,” Ruca asserted.
However, the experience and knowledge gained from this setback paved the way for the creation of Switch in 2014 when Ruca had realised that there was an opportunity to take a step back in the value chain and become the company that Cashtag would have liked to have worked with. “We created the ability to initiate a transaction order within the Switch platform and regardless of the payment channel, the communication and the Switch API is exactly the same,” Ruca explained.
Alejandro Murcia
Alejandro Murcia is a Tech executive, focused on innovation for the Financial Services industry through implementation of innovative Fintech tools. He is currently working as Head of Fintech Solutions at Railsbank, a FinTech BaaS platform that allows any business to create a financial product on a global scale through a simple API integration. Railsbank is an open banking API and platform that gives regulated and un-regulated companies access to global banking with 5 lines of code.
Alejandro studied at the MIT Sloan School of Management from 2012-2014 where he obtained his executive certificate in strategy and innovation. He then obtained his MBA at INSEAD, and is now a passionate member of the Fintech community, looking to make an impact by supporting and participating in the most ground-breaking ideas.
He made this journey to the FinTech ecosystem after growing in the Tech world in several roles at Oracle. Starting as a sales intern, he worked in business development, operations, strategy and sales enablement in several roles where he was constantly exposed to launching and developing new teams and initiatives to transform the sales process and experience for the Cloud world. As the Head of Fintech Solutions at Railsbank, Alejandro lay emphasis on the importance of “enabling the future of finance through freeing the finance industry of the shackles of legacy technology and process while simultaneously enhancing regulatory compliance.”
About WIM
Hosted by EqualOcean, the World Innovators Meet (WIM) is a world-class event for innovators. It provides limitless opportunities to learn from and connect with the most sought-after technology pioneers.
About WIA
The World Innovation Awards (WIA) are announced at WIM to recognize game-changers across various industries and geographies. Selected by a committee of distinguished experts, entrepreneurs and investors, the WIAs are designed to acknowledge technology disruptors striving to make a positive impact.
Join the WIM2020 family and become a member of the World Innovation Community, participating in a technology and innovation carnival that connects the world right at your doorstep, all while drawing a special end to the extraordinary 2020!
Register for the event
We sincerely welcome you to join WIM2020 on December 9-11, 2020.
Click here to register and you will receive:
[Global Trends] Key insights from 11 Industry and Overseas Chapters made available to you for all three days of WIM2020.
[Insightful Conversation] Connect with 120 top-notch global speakers, listen to their perspectives and interact with them online.
[Innovative Community] Join an exclusive network of 10,000 professionals to participate in discussions and gain first-hand information from fellow participants.
[Business Networking] Gain 1:1 business-connect opportunity to launch or speed up partnerships worldwide.
[Comprehensive Report] Exclusive in-depth research reports will be delivered right to your mailbox.
Free tickets, Premium tickets and Platinum all-inclusive tickets are on sale. Presale and group ticket options are also available, don't miss this opportunity!
Cooperation
If you would like to become/recommend a speaker, discuss cooperation opportunities or media partnerships, apply for the World Innovators Awards or to be a volunteer, please click here to fill in the WIM2020 Cooperation Form (we recommend you to do so on a computer). We will be in touch as soon as possible. Thank you and welcome!