Luge Capital with Ramin Wright (Investment Analyst) | E85

Early stage venture capital and opportunities in fintech.

Summary:

In this 85th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host interviews Ramin Wright, Investment Analyst at Luge Capital. Luge Capital is a Canadian venture capital fund that focuses on early-stage fintech companies and artificial intelligence solutions applied to financial services. Ramin talks about how Luge Capital began, their investment partners, how they go about vetting potential companies for investment, and what the relationship can evolve into after the investment has been made. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:26: – Ramin Wright defines Luge Capital. 

● 00:51: – Ramin shares the history of how Luge Capital got started. 

● 01:49: – How did Ramin get involved with Luge Capital? 

● 02:38: – What does early-stage investment look like for Luge? 

● 02:53: – What verticals does Luge Capital invest in and what do they look for? 

● 04:35: – How do they go about vetting candidates for investment in the due-diligence stage? 

● 05:26: – What does the relationship look like with their backers once the investment has been made? 

● 06:00: – Who was their first client? 

● 07:53: – What value does open banking have? 

● 11:00: – Ramin discusses Luge Capital’s investment in Finaeo. 

● 12:08: – What does it take for a start-up to make Luge Capital interested in investing? 

● 14:29: – The world of payments needs innovation. 

● 15:46: – Ramin talks about banking for kids. 

● 17:25: – What does Luge Capital have to say about global identity? 

● 20:38: – What are the challenges of having a portable credit score that travels with us? 

● 22:23: – Why is frictionless real estate an area that is ripe for needing innovation? 

● 24:07: – Ramin and Jason discuss blockchain technology. 

● 26:16: – What would Ramin change in his business or in his industry? 

● 27:47: – What has been the biggest challenge in his business? 

● 30:21: – What is the most exciting thing Ramin Wright is working on? 

3 Key Points 

1. Luge Capital looks for a strong vision for a company with a strong team that includes entrepreneurs with a global focus, a big appetite for growth, and the ability to execute on large opportunities. 

2. Luge Capital is interested in companies that are targeting remaining frictions within the financial services industry. 

3. There are typically at least 10 people involved in a real estate transaction that need their own information to get the job done. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “Luge Capital is an early-stage fintech venture fund. We invest solely in the fintech vertical and across companies headquartered in Canada and the United States.” – Ramin Wright 

● “For us, early-stage, we hang out typically around the seed and A rounds of a company. So our first check into a company will range around the order of a quarter-million to $2 million.” – Ramin Wright 

● “Something that we work with that is unique about us is our backers are all large financial institutions and they all have a strong interest in working together with the companies that we invest in.” – Ramin Wright 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s 

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s 

● FintechImpact.co – Website

● Linkedin – Ramin Wright 

● luge.vc – Website 

● luge.vc/ideas/ – Luge Capital’s 6 Ideas for Innovation