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In this Fintech Leaders edition, I chat with Brad Levy, CEO of Symphony, a global communications unicorn that securely connects markets, organizations, and individuals in the financial sector.
Founded in 2014 by David Gurle, the company now powers 170+ million monthly messages and has raised over half a billion dollars from top industry investors, including Goldman, Google, Blackrock, Citi, and most of the major global banks in the world.
We discuss:
Symphony’s ambitious roadmap for the coming year and how Brad plans to pursue and find value at a very granular industry level.
“ [Our strategy] is this pursuit of value at a much more granular level… to have this pervasive presence in this enterprise capability. But now, it's really about going into the workflows of the operations professional and looking at the credit markets as a broad cross-section of assets… So I think we're just getting specific-deep and using our stack, our partnerships, and our acquisitions to drive value that people are willing to pay.”
Growth by M&A. Why this will be a foundational part of their strategy, plus lessons on how to successfully execute an acquisition and integration. Hint: make sure the people and cultures can fit together.
“ [M&A] will absolutely be a foundation of our strategy, although it can't be the foundation of our strategy… We think we have a good enough view of problems today and coming tomorrow that we could solve and create value. We then believe that acquiring will accelerate that strategy and that growth.”
“If you get the people right on acquisition strategies, life gets easy quickly. If you get it wrong, it's a perpetual nightmare… If you get people that are complementary to each other and meet at the right space and time, those acquisitions get real easy.”
Returning to the office and why he’s a big believer of a hybrid approach that brings people together often.
“I believe in cycles and pendulums… there was a time six months into the pandemic where people said, ‘we just never ever have to go to the office again’... And I just believe that having a three-dimensional, physical relationship helps relationships develop in some ways, right? You don't need it all the time everywhere, but there's an interaction you have with people in person that it's hard to replicate.”
Corporate Leadership Lessons:
What are the three elements necessary to succeed at any stage of your career? Curiosity, teamwork, and hard work.
Why do generalists thrive in a world of specialists? As the world pulls you to be specialized, try to make sure you diversify your skills, relationships, and experience. For Brad, this is what differentiates great leaders from the rest.
Hope you enjoy my conversation with Brad Levy, CEO of Symphony.
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Emerging Fintech Leaders
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Three early-stage fintech companies doing amazing things
Bridgesplit is the financial infrastructure for cross-chain non-fungible tokens, providing the composability and liquidity needed for the next phase of web3. Built on the Solana blockchain, Bridgesplit allows NFT owners to unlock the financial value of their assets with the goal of bringing greater liquidity to the ecosystem across different protocols. Current solutions include fractionalization capabilities, NFT index funds, and NFT-collateralized lending.
💰Funding Status: Bridgesplit has successfully raised a $4.5mm seed round led by CoinFund with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Solana Ventures, Rucker Park Capital, Joe Montana, Anthony “Pomp” Pompliano, and more.
👥 Co-Founders: Mary Gooneratne (LinkedIn / Twitter @marygooneratne) and Luke Truitt (LinkedIn / Twitter @TruittLuke)
👶🏼TYKE
Tyke is a digital community investing platform for startups. Their automated upgrade to the earliest stages of startup financing allows companies to raise funds digitally on an accelerated timeline. On Tyke, startups can initiate a funding round on their own terms and invite investors to participate, while all of the logistics and documentation are handled for them. The solution also has an analytics arm to assist with reporting needs and performance analysis, making Tyke a full package investment platform for startups.
💰Funding Status: Tyke recently raised a $1.5mm pre-seed round from a group of investors that includes India’s Venture Catalysts incubator, Better Capital, and angel investors such as Amrish Rau (CEO of Pine Labs).
👥 Co-Founders: Karan Mehra (LinkedIn) and Purav Bubna (LinkedIn)
Invezo is social listening for stocks and crypto. Founded in LA by three college students who were looking for a better way to understand what was going on in the stock market, the app aggregates social media feeds to synthesize trends for investors. With Invezo’s insights, investors can get smart on how social media is affecting their portfolio in real time.
💰Funding Status: Invezo is part of the Y Combinator Summer 2021 class.
👥 Co-Founders: Emmett Miller (LinkedIn), Wyatt Miller (LinkedIn), and Leo Schottenstein (LinkedIn)
Want to break onto the fintech scene with a feature in our newsletter? Introduce us to your startup here!
-Thank you for reading!
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Miguel Armaza is Co-Founder & Managing General Partner of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas. He also hosts and writes the Fintech Leaders podcast and newsletter.
Brad Levy, CEO of Symphony – Mastering your M&A Growth Strategy, Scaling a Global Powerhouse, & Why Generalists Thrive in a World of Specialists