Yash Patel is General Partner at Telstra Ventures, a San Francisco-based VC firm that differentiates by generating revenue for its portfolio with strategic channel partners and customer relationships as well as by using data science to drive its investment process. Yash’s focus is on the consumer side of fintech, Web3, crypto, esports, gaming, SaaS apps, ecommerce, and marketplace. Some of his standout fintech investments while at Telstra Ventures are companies like Super.com (Super Apps) and Playbook (next-gen wealthtech). Previously, Yash was the Director of Corporate Development & Strategy at Adknowledge and was part of the technology investment banking team at Jefferies & Company prior.
Interviews
Max Faldin, CEO/Founder Silverbird
Max Faldin, CEO/Founder Silverbird, has decades of experience building global IT & fintech businesses. After getting his MBA at Stanford, he co-founded Russia’s largest eCommerce company, Wikimart (dubbed “the Amazon of Russia” by Silicon Valley VCs) and raised $50M+ from Tiger Global. He then switched over to work with e-commerce companies in Asia, focusing mainly on payments as a CEO, investor, and advisor to numerous startups. He started Silverbird amidst the pandemic in London, in 2020, after noticing a major banking gap in international trade: millions of underserved SMEs around Africa, Middle East, and Asian regions and beyond were exposed to high fees, unfair rejections, unnecessary paperwork, and outdated regulations. The key pain point was high-value cross-border transactions – something international trade is all about. Silverbird makes cross-border banking business-friendly and international payments borderless, limitless, frictionless and affordable. It can onboard companies traditional banks can’t through the use of AI and data-driven KYC which analyzes publicly open customs and supply chain data to assess the risk-profile of a particular SME.
Max Krupyshev, CoFounder/CEO CoinsPaid
Max Krupyshev, CoFounder/CEO of the crypto payment ecosystem CoinsPaid. He is a serial entrepreneur with long-standing experience in developing fintech and crypto projects. Having entered the world of crypto in 2013, he stood at the origins of this market in Ukraine, launching a Bitcoin Foundation to promote crypto adoption in the country. Before joining CoinsPaid, he was the product owner for CEX.IO, a global cryptocurrency ecosystem and market leader. As the CEO of CoinsPaid, he sets the goal for the company to become the connecting link between crypto and traditional businesses.
Jeff Booth, Founding Partner ego death capital
Jeff Booth is a visionary leader, technology entrepreneur and best-selling author of The Price of Tomorrow – Why Deflation is Key to an Abundant Future. With his expertise in technology, system thinking and design, he is at the forefront of a transition from an economic system built for the past, and one built for the future. Jeff has been featured in Forbes, TechCrunch, Inc.com, The Globe and Mail, BNN, Fast Company, Entrepreneur, Bloomberg, TIME, and The Wall Street Journal. In 2015, he was named BC Technology Industry Association’s (BCTIA) Person of the Year, and in 2016 Goldman Sachs named him among its 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. He is a Founding Partner of ego death capital, Co-Founder of addy and NocNoc. He has been a Young Presidents Organization member since 2004 and contributes time as a Founding Fellow at the Creative Destruction Lab. Jeff currently sits on the boards of Scoop Solar, Terramera, Fedi and Breez.
