The 2016 Fintech Finance 35: Vladislav Solodkiy

No. 25

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< Fintech’s Most Powerful Dealmakers of 2016

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25. Vladislav Solodkiy
Managing Partner
Life.SREDA
Last year: 25

Venture capital firm Life.SREDA started out in 2012 as part of Moscow’s LIFE Financial Group, where Vladislav Solodkiy was vice president of marketing. He raised two funds totaling $140 million and invested early in digital banks like Fidor, Moven, and Simple. The $117 million acquisition of Portland, Oregon–based Simple by Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria in 2014 was a landmark in fintech and a decision point for Solodkiy. Because his Moscow base made it difficult for him to be in close touch with burgeoning centers of innovation, particularly in Asia, he moved Life.SREDA to Singapore in May 2015. He notes that while global fintech investments hit record highs of $21 billion in 2015 and $12.7 billion in the first half of 2016, “Asia became No. 1,” ahead of the U.S. and Europe. Although much of the Asian money is flowing from China, which Solodkiy says poses “a challenge to Japan, South Korea, and Singapore” in growing their ecosystems, he is doing his part to boost the numbers. Over the past year Life.SREDA has invested in six companies, including Philippines-based Ayannah Information Solutions, a digital commerce and payments service targeted to the unbanked, and Singapore’s Fastacash, a payment system for social and messaging networks. The 33-year-old Solodkiy, who churns out semiannual “Money of the Future” research reports that run to hundreds of pages, is pushing other levers. Envisioning modernized banking infrastructures based on open architectures and application programming interfaces, Solodkiy is promoting a concept he calls bank-as-a-service (BaaS), a platform on which incumbents and upstarts can collaborate, innovate and operate efficiently at scale, even overcoming cross-border regulatory complications. “Asia has a unique opportunity to surprise the world through creation of the first full-stack fintech bank,” he says. Meanwhile, Solodkiy has assumed the role of “partner-visionary” in the €100 million ($110 million) Banking on Blockchain Fund announced in April by digital banking veterans David Brear, Simon Taylor, and others associated with recently formed London consulting firm Eleven FS Group. “Blockchain will play a crucial role for fintech development in underbanked countries,” Solodkiy predicts.


The 2016 Fintech Finance 35

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1. Jonathan Korngold
General Atlantic

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2. Matthew Harris
Bain Capital Ventures

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3. Jane Gladstone
Evercore Partners

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4. James Robinson III & James
Robinson IV
RRE Ventures

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5. Steven McLaughlin
Financial Technology Partners

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6. Amy Nauiokas & Sean Park
Anthemis Group

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7. Richard Garman &
Brad Bernstein
FTV Capital

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8. Gerard
von Dohlen
Broadhaven Capital Partners

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9. Darren Cohen
Goldman Sachs Group

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10. Hans Morris
Nyca Partners

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11. Meyer (Micky) Malka
Ribbit Capital

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12. Maria Gotsch
Partnership Fund for New York City

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13. Barry Silbert
Digital Currency Group

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14. Jay Reinemann
Propel Venture Partners

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15. Mariano Belinky
Santander InnoVentures

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16. Justin Brownhill & Neil DeSena
SenaHill Partners

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17. François Robinet
AXA Strategic Ventures

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18. Vanessa Colella
Citi Ventures

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19. Michael Schlein
Accion International

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20. Kenneth Marlin
Marlin & Associates

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21. Rumi Morales
CME Ventures

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22. Alastair (Alex) Rampell
Andreessen Horowitz

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23. Steve Gibson
Euclid Opportunities

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24. Fabian Vandenreydt
SWIFT

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25. Vladislav Solodkiy
Life.SREDA

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26. Gardiner Garrard III
TTV Capital

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27. Nektarios Liolios
Startupbootcamp Fintech

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28. Lawrence Wintermeyer
Innovate Finance

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29. Bina Kalola
Bank of America Merrill Lynch

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30. Hyder Jaffrey
Fintech Innovation

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31. Calvin Choi
AMTD Group

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32. Janos Barberis
FinTech
Hong Kong

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33. Jalak Jobanputra
Future Perfect Ventures

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34. Sopnendu Mohanty
Monetary Authority of Singapore

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35. Oskar Mielczarek
de la Miel
Rakuten
FinTech Fund


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