Episode 82: Journeys From The FinTech World: Canada

One more passport stamp in the BBE world tour, that this week makes another stop in the Canadian nation, set with clear goals to understand exactly how has the ecosystem been adapting to the digital leapfrog of the current crisis, but also exactly when did the biggest movements took place. Find out what makes the canadian landscape so interesting and unique in this week's episode, led by Meaghan Johnson together with local experts Ranjit Sarai (Credit Sesame) and Jan-Christopher Arp (Holt XChange). More on our guests:Ranjit Sarai (VP of Digital Banking, Credit Sesame)Ranjit is responsible for developing the product strategy and roadmap of Sesame Cash - one of the fastest growing challenger banks in the US. Prior to Credit Sesame, Ranjit was co-founder and Chief Product Officer at STACK, a Canadian challenger bank and Banking as a Service Platform. STACK was acquired in 2020 by Silicon Valley-based Credit Sesame. Prior to his role at STACK, Ranjit spent over a decade in digital banking as the Head of Digital Strategy and Innovation at President’s Choice Financial (PCF) and Director of Mobile Banking at CIBC. Ranjit is active in the startup community as an advisor and angel investor in consumer retail and fintech startups. Ranjit holds a Software Engineering (BEng) degree from Concordia University in Montreal as well as a MBA from the Ivey School of Business in London, Ontario.Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ranjit-sarai-83308b11/Credit Sesame: https://www.creditsesame.com/ Jan-Christopher Arp (Founding Managing Partner, Holt XChange)Jan Christopher Arp is a fintech evangelist, passionate about improving society through finance and technology. He is Managing Partner & co-founder of Holt Accelerator that has currently invested in 27 early-stage Canadian and International Fintech, in which those portfolio companies have a combined valuation of $300M. Previously, he founded Fintech Cadence, a non-profit that has trained thousands of individuals in fintech, resulting in the creation of +100 fintech projects. Prior to this, he was Head of Finance at Bus.com, helping it from incorporation to Series A, as well as Head of Finance at District 3, helping 20 early-stage teams raise more than $15 million. He began his career as a Consultant for billion-dollar investment banking projects in space & satellite sector. He holds an MBA from HEC, a finance degree from Ottawa University, passed II levels of the CFA and was awarded Montreal’s 2018 Ambassador of the year at the Montreal Startup Awards.Linkedln: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janchristopherarp/Holt XChange: https://holtxchange.com/