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I sit down with Brian Barnes, Founder & CEO of M1 Finance, one of the fastest growing financial super-apps offering automated investing, borrowing, and banking products in the US.
Founded in Chicago just five years ago, M1 currently manages over $6 billion for its clients and has raised over $300 million from top names including Softbank, Coatue, Clocktower, and Left Lane.
We cover:
M1’s meteoric rise over the past couple of years and why these are the early days for the company.
“In the last year and a half, we've grown from 38 employees to over 300, we've gone from $800 million on the platform to about $6 billion, we've gone from raising $25 million to raising an additional $300 million.”
The power of compounding. It took M1 Finance 18+ months to reach $100M AUM, but now they’re adding that number weekly!
“It's all about compounding. I mean, we preach it to our user base - it's good steady growth over long periods of time that amount to significant money and it’s the same thing in our business. I think, from launch to 100 million on the platform, it took us, I think, 18 months, maybe even a little over 18 months. We are now doing that every week.”
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The fascinating and unique story of how Brian, personally bought First National Bank of Buhl, one of the smallest banks in the US. The thought process that drove this transaction and his plans for the future of the bank.
“We identified the bank in January of 2021. And then we had closed the transaction by end of July. So it was like a six and a half month process from finding it to close… If you look at some of the either people going through the de-novo process, that's been two, three, four years. People doing the acquisition, it's been two or three years. And so, it’s not the full step of M1 acquiring a bank, but it's a half step, and we were able to do it in a short amount of time.”
Advice and reflections for aspiring entrepreneurs and why he enjoys mentoring up and coming founders.
“I think entrepreneurs have an enjoyment of building and delivering great products. And so, anybody who has that Spark or energy, I'm super appreciative of what they do, I want to support them, I want to help them in any way that I can.”
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Emerging Fintech Leaders
Three early-stage fintech companies doing amazing things
Slyde is building a fast, easy way to track, manage, and pay recurring bills and subscriptions from a single place. They empower consumers to better understand what subscriptions they’re paying for and help cancel unwanted recurring charges with a single click. Interested in joining them? Slyde is now hiring!
Co-Founders: David Gertner and Ben Gertner
Asimilia is a Kenyan fintech providing access to a full spectrum of financial services for SMBs in Africa. Though micro, small, and medium-sized businesses make an outsized contribution to both GDP and employment in Kenya, they are poorly served by legacy players in financial services. Their recent $2 million pre-seed round from a strong contingent of European angel investors, plus another $1 million in debt funding, will enable the company to further build infrastructure for the powerful informal economy in Kenya and begin extending credit to Asimilia clients.
Co-Founders: Tekwane Mwendwa and Morgane Kablan
MyFO is a Canadian fintech that helps everyone building wealth spin up a family office with their app. The founders spent 7 years advising the 0.01% and decided to democratize the resources and tools used by the ultra-wealthy for the benefit of everyone. Their enterprise SaaS product enables private bankers to use family office management techniques. Now in beta testing!
Founders: Simran Kang and Alice Chen
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-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.
Brian Barnes, Founder/CEO of M1 Finance – Scaling a Unicorn, How to Buy a Bank, and The Incredible Power of Compounding