The 2015 Fintech Finance 35: Jay Reinemann, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

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< The 2015 Fintech Finance 35

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Jay Reinemann
Executive Director, Strategy and Corporate Development
Banco Bilbao
Vizcaya Argentaria

BBVA Ventures has been investing in emerging financial technology companies since 2011 and currently boasts such high-profile holdings as Bitcoin wallet company Coinbase and online lender Prosper Marketplace. But it was a February 2014 deal that put the firm and its Spanish parent, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, on the fintech map: the bank’s $117 million acquisition of Portland, Oregon–based digital banking start-up Simple. Led by Jay Reinemann, BBVA’s San Francisco–based executive director of strategy and corporate development, the $100 million BBVA Ventures fund cuts checks of $1 million to $10 million for early- to expansion-stage technology companies perceived as “big disrupters” (to quote Reinemann) and potential partners. Return on investments is important, but it is not the only motivator for a strategic investor like BBVA, Reinemann, 46, explains. He got his grounding in corporate venture capital starting in 2000 at Visa, which, he says, “came to understand that if it put money into a company at the founding or somewhere along its formative years, it was able to indirectly acquire knowledge about what’s going on in the market. We had an [internal rate of return] that would’ve beaten most venture funds at the time.” After the payments company went public in 2008, its venture program turned more toward M&A, and Reinemann left to stay closer to early-stage opportunities. An attempt with a partner to start a payments-focused venture fund fell flat, as “2009 didn’t turn out to be a good year.” His timing was better with BBVA. Reinemann is a board observer of portfolio companies Personal Capital Corp. (online financial planning) and SumUp Payments (mobile point-of-sale).

The 2015 Fintech Finance 35