< The 2015 Fintech Finance 35

Software and data are the technology themes, and financial services a heavy concentration, for New York–based investment banking boutique Marlin & Associates. The firm has completed more than 200 transactions worldwide, in health care and business services as well as finance, since managing partner Kenneth Marlin founded it in 2002. With ten deals completed through September of this year — among them the sale of posttrade systems company Information Mosaic, advised by Marlin, to London-based Markit — Marlin continues to build on a record that began when he worked on the corporate side, in the 1980s and ’90s. In ten years with Dun & Bradstreet, Marlin led 60 acquisitions and divestitures. Later he was CEO of Swiss-owned market data company Telekurs (North America) and a spin-off, Telesphere Corp., before joining private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson from 1999 to 2001. He views as a megatrend “the confluence of multiple technologies — like the Internet, mobile, security, broadband networks and greater storage capacity — which is allowing people’s creativity to come up with a lot of cool products.” A common goal of entrepreneurs is to make it easier for consumers and professionals to do business, Marlin says, be it through automated payments, wireless connectivity or customer data management technology like that of Trunomi, which his firm advised in a $3 million capital round in September. He has long contended that the financial industry is effective in pushing innovation, and now some of that energy is directed at vendor management: “They [vendors] require the customer to act like a general contractor,” Marlin says. “Every time there is a problem, there is finger-pointing. Buyers now want vendors to take responsibility for a bigger piece.”

 
The 2015 Fintech Finance 35

1. James Robinson III & James Robinson IV RRE Ventures 2. Jane Gladstone Evercore Partners 3. Matthew Harris Bain Capital Ventures Finding, Applying for, and Winning Grant Funding: Tips for Nonprofits Sponsored by Fidelity Investments April 29, 2025 4. Steven McLaughlin Financial Technology Partners 5. Jonathan Korngold General Atlantic

6. Richard Garman & Brad Bernstein FTV Capital 7. Amy Nauiokas & Sean Park Anthemis Group 8. Thomas Jessop Goldman Sachs Group 9. Meyer (Micky) Malka Ribbit Capital 10. Hans Morris Nyca Partners

11. Maria Gotsch Partnership Fund for New York City 12. Marc Andreessen Andreessen Horowitz 13. Barry Silbert Digital Currency Group 14. Jay Reinemann Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria 15. Mariano Belinky Santander InnoVentures

16. François Robinet AXA Strategic Ventures 17. Vanessa Colella Citi Ventures 18. Alan Freudenstein & Gregory Grimaldi Credit Suisse NEXT Fund 19. Justin Brownhill & Neil DeSena SenaHill Partners 20. Rodger Voorhies Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

21. Michael Schlein Accion International 22. Kenneth Marlin Marlin & Associates 23. Rumi Morales CME Ventures 24. Mark Beeston Illuminate Financial Management 25. Vladislav Solodkiy Life.SREDA

26. Fabian Vandenreydt Innotribe SWIFT 27. Derek White Barclays 28. Alex Batlin UBS 29. Jeffrey Greenberg & Vincenzo La Ruffa Aquiline Capital Partners 30. P. Howard Edelstein REDI Holdings

31. Nektarios Liolios Startupbootcamp FinTech 32. Roy Bahat Bloomberg Beta 33. Andrew McCormack Valar Ventures 34. Lawrence Wintermeyer Innovate Finance 35. Janos Barberis FinTech Hong Kong