< The 2015 Fintech Finance 35

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Jay Reinemann
Executive Director, Strategy and Corporate Development
Banco Bilbao
Vizcaya Argentaria

BBVA Ventures has been investing in emerging financial technology companies since 2011 and currently boasts such high-profile holdings as Bitcoin wallet company Coinbase and online lender Prosper Marketplace. But it was a February 2014 deal that put the firm and its Spanish parent, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, on the fintech map: the bank’s $117 million acquisition of Portland, Oregon–based digital banking start-up Simple. Led by Jay Reinemann, BBVA’s San Francisco–based executive director of strategy and corporate development, the $100 million BBVA Ventures fund cuts checks of $1 million to $10 million for early- to expansion-stage technology companies perceived as “big disrupters” (to quote Reinemann) and potential partners. Return on investments is important, but it is not the only motivator for a strategic investor like BBVA, Reinemann, 46, explains. He got his grounding in corporate venture capital starting in 2000 at Visa, which, he says, “came to understand that if it put money into a company at the founding or somewhere along its formative years, it was able to indirectly acquire knowledge about what’s going on in the market. We had an [internal rate of return] that would’ve beaten most venture funds at the time.” After the payments company went public in 2008, its venture program turned more toward M&A, and Reinemann left to stay closer to early-stage opportunities. An attempt with a partner to start a payments-focused venture fund fell flat, as “2009 didn’t turn out to be a good year.” His timing was better with BBVA. Reinemann is a board observer of portfolio companies Personal Capital Corp. (online financial planning) and SumUp Payments (mobile point-of-sale).

 
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 Solana vs. Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: How Do They Compare? Sponsored by CME Group 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