Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital – Investing in Fintech Gems

Wharton FinTech Podcast

Miguel Armaza sits down with Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital, a legendary Venture Capital firm founded in 1995 that has raised nine funds, received over $3B in committed capital, has seen 28 IPOs, and over 80 acquisitions from their portfolio companies. Charles has been at Foundation since 2005, having led impressive investments like Uber, LendingClub, OnDeck and Rappi. Before Foundation, he lived the startup journey and was part of the founding team of two high-profile startups with successful exits in 97 and 2006. He is also a proud alum of our amazing Wharton School! We discuss: - Charles experience as an operator and entrepreneur through the dotcom bubble and why he eventually transitioned to the investing side - Thought process behind his investment strategy and reflections on some early mistakes as a venture capitalist - All things Fintech, including trends he’s most excited about - Foundation’s impressive track record and their secret behind this success - Why he’s particularly excited about the entrepreneurial scene in Latin America - And a lot more Charles Moldow Charles current portfolio contains fintech breakouts and emerging direct to consumer businesses. Fintech investments include StatesTitle, HealthIQ, LendingHome, Auxomoney, OneFinance, Hatch, Branch, Canopy, Agentero, Deepfraud and Decent. Direct to consumer businesses include Rappi, Rover, NextRoll and Clubhouse. Charles has seen four portfolio companies go public with Uber, LendingClub, OnDeck and Everyday Health. He has also managed nine companies through acquisition: Powerset by Microsoft, Motif by Schwab, Coverwallet by Aon, Finxera by Stonepoint Capital, Xoopit by Yahoo!, CloudOn by Dropbox, Zoomer by GrubHub, Refresh by LinkedIn and Bureau of Trade by Ebay. In 2016, CB Insights listed Charles among The Top 100 Venture Capitalists, and Forbes named Charles to the Midas List for the second time—citing among other factors his deep experience in all things marketplace lending. Charles attended the 2016 White House FinTech Summit, one year after publishing “A Trillion Dollar Market by the People, For the People,” which became the authoritative must-read on the potential of and challenges facing the marketplace lending industry. The paper has been downloaded more than 30,000 times and has frequently been cited by leading thinkers in finance and the media. Charles is an alumnus of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School. Charles moonlights as a AAA little league coach and family vacation planner. Foundation Capital Foundation Capital was founded in 1995. As an early-stage venture capital firm, Foundation has lived through the emergence of the World Wide Web, the IT war of the 90s, the dot-com bubble, Web 2.0, the mobile revolution, the Great Recession, the rise of Big Data, software’s ascension to the cloud, and the birth of blockchain. The wisdom of those experiences remains with the company, transmitted to each successive generation of partners. Two-thirds of VC firms never make it past their first fund; only 10 percent survive beyond their fourth. Foundation is 25 years and nine funds strong, with over $3B in committed capital, 28 IPOs, and 80+ acquisitions to their name. Their fintech, enterprise, and consumer investments have reinvented industries and defined new markets, with companies that include Lending Club, Sunrun, TubeMogul, Chegg, and Netflix. For a quarter of a century—through boom and bust, prosperity or calamity—Foundation Capital has endured, evolved, and thrived. Building companies is in their bones. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Substack: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp