Making Fintech Possible with Iñigo Rumayor, Co-Founder and CRO of Arcus
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In this Wharton Fintech Podcast episode, Miguel Armaza is joined by Iñigo Rumayor, Co-Founder and CRO of Arcus, the leading platform making fintech possible for everyone in the Americas. Arcus’ fintech-as-a-service platform helps any business launch a fintech business across the Americas including BBVA, Santander, Walmart, 7-Eleven and Rappi. Based in New York City, Arcus has raised $16M from Y-Combinator, Ignia, Maverick, Winklevoss, Initialized, HOF and Kapor.
Listen to the podcast on:
—> Spotify
—> Soundcloud
Back when Iñigo was an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania in 2011, he came across a presentation by Edrizio De La Cruz, a then Wharton MBA student, who was pitching a cross-border bill payments solution to help Latinos sending remittances back home. Iñigo was instantly captivated by the idea and reached out to Edrizio asking to join his endeavor. Fast forward to 2020, they have now built a 60-person company with multiple teams across the US and Latin America.
Don’t Be Afraid to Pivot
Although their original business model was to offer consumer cross-border bill payments, Iñigo and Edrizio realized there was a much larger business opportunity hiding in plain sight. Within a couple of years, they realized their business partners in Latin America didn’t have the right infrastructure to offer digital financial services. So after exhausting all the possibilities of their original idea, they decided to pivot the business model to a B2B structure that would enable any company in Latin America to launch fintech services. Their pivot came at a crucial time, back when the region was just starting to wake up to the power of fintech and it helped Arcus position itself as a Fintech-as-a-Service provider for emerging fintechs, incumbent banks, and non-financial businesses alike.
Simplifying your Financial Digital Strategy
Arcus' solution is simple, it aims to remove the complexity of launching financial products through an API integration, offering agility and speed for any business. They believe every company can and will become a fintech business and Iñigo and Edrizio aim to provide digital solutions for financial and non-financial customers. As one can imagine, Arcus has been thriving during COVID as the company has become part of the solution enabling its clients to quickly launch digital financial services.
Iñigo believes we are only at the beginning of a wave of financial innovation and entrepreneurship in Latin America. Going forward, he wants to see Arcus become the go-to provider for Fintech-as-a-Service solutions in the entire region. Although Latin America is a big market, every country has different jurisdictions and problems and Arcus wants to help remove much of the friction that exists from country to country. He is convinced Arcus can achieve this not only because they have an outstanding team, but also because they are passionate about solving this problem.
Inigo Rumayor
Inigo is the co-founder and CRO of Arcus, the leading platform making fintech possible for everyone. Arcus’ fintech-as-a-service platform helps any business launch a fintech business across the Americas including BBVA, Santander, Walmart, 7-Eleven and Rappi. In his current role, Inigo is responsible for generating, managing and ensuring the growth of Arcus' business. As a founding member of Arcus, Inigo has served in several roles at the company, including a Vice President and CFO. Prior to Arcus, Inigo worked at Morgan Stanley and as the Managing Director of Rumayor Genetics, his family business, managing all aspects of the operations and expansion of the company. He is a graduate of the university of Pennsylvania.
About Arcus
Arcus is the leading platform making fintech possible for everyone. Arcus’ fintech-as-a-service platform helps any business launch a fintech business. The world’s largest and most innovative companies choose Arcus to launch fintech products across the Americas including BBVA, Santander, Walmart, 7-Eleven and Rappi. The company is based in New York City and has raised $16M from Y-Combinator, Ignia, Maverick, Winklevoss, Initialized, HOF and Kapor. For more information, please visit https://www.arcusfi.com/.