< The 2015 Fintech Finance 35

“We were the original fintech investors,” says Thomas Jessop, managing director of principal strategic investments at Goldman Sachs Group. He draws a distinction between “classic fintech,” which has driven innovations in trading and market structure since the turn of the century, and “new fintech,” which seems capable of disrupting any and all parts of the financial industry. Goldman ruled classic fintech as a leading investor and behind-the-scenes influencer in joint ventures like Tradeweb Markets in fixed income; the Direct Edge exchange, now part of BATS Global Markets; and financial data company Markit, which went public in 2014. With new fintech, Jessop says, “the basic issue is still the same: How do we make the entire stack across finance more efficient?” New York–based Goldman targets technologies that can benefit the firm. Current holdings include cryptocurrency-wallet company Circle Internet Financial; Digital Reasoning, which is commercializing advanced data analytics initially developed for the intelligence community; and Symphony Communication Services, a messaging start-up widely regarded as the strongest challenger yet to the dominance of the Bloomberg terminal. Jessop, who is 49 and has been in the principal strategic investments group for ten of his 15 years with Goldman, says that although traditional venture capital funding is plentiful, “it can be very helpful to have someone from finance” — a prospective user of the technology who understands the industry’s structural and regulatory complexity — as part of the ownership team. He sees some promise in blockchain technology but finds the chest-thumping by some new players to be a distraction. “People who try to work with existing institutions to make the blockchain work are far more credible than those who stand outside the fortress and say they’re going to knock it down,” he asserts.

 
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