< Fintech's Most Powerful Dealmakers of 2016

9. Darren Cohen
Global Head of Principal Strategic Investments
Goldman Sachs Group
PNR

A college major in philosophy and political science (Emory University, 1996) wouldn’t ordinarily point toward a career in financial technology, but it did for Darren Cohen, global head of principal strategic investments (PSI) at Goldman Sachs Group. Cohen is on his second tour with the New York–based bank: He started in 2000 as a software and technology sector analyst in London and returned in 2007 after four years covering software and technology services and surfacing investment ideas for Calypso Capital Management, a New York–based hedge fund. Over his years following fintech, “the pace of change, investment technology, the whole landscape has accelerated,” says the 42-year-old. (Thomas Jessop, No. 8 last year, who reported to Cohen in the PSI group, has since moved into a technology business development role at Goldman.) Examples of PSI holdings, generally defined as technologically disruptive and strategically related to capital market activities, are market analytics platform Kensho Technologies and Symphony Communication Services, the secure messaging and collaboration venture that was spun out of Goldman. Motif, a retail trading platform, and machine-learning analytics company Context Relevant are among more than 70 holdings in the Goldman portfolio, which, Cohen contends, is one of the biggest in the fintech world. “The company has always viewed technology as critical and has always been aggressive with technology because it affects how we make markets with our own clients,” he says. “The PSI team has been at the epicenter of most of the major market structure events in our industry.” The profile of co-investors has changed: They increasingly tend to be West Coast venture capital firms and buy-side clients rather than investment banks. Facing heightened regulation and other market headwinds, he says, firms “have realized over the past two years that disrupting financial technology is harder than the hype suggests.”

 
The 2016 Fintech Finance 35

1. Jonathan Korngold General Atlantic 2. Matthew Harris Bain Capital Ventures 3. Jane Gladstone Evercore Partners Solana vs. Bitcoin vs. Ethereum: How Do They Compare? Sponsored by CME Group April 29, 2025 4. James Robinson III & James Robinson IV RRE Ventures 5. Steven McLaughlin Financial Technology Partners 6. Amy Nauiokas & Sean Park Anthemis Group

7. Richard Garman & Brad Bernstein FTV Capital 8. Gerard von Dohlen Broadhaven Capital Partners 9. Darren Cohen Goldman Sachs Group 10. Hans Morris Nyca Partners 11. Meyer (Micky) Malka Ribbit Capital 12. Maria Gotsch Partnership Fund for New York City

13. Barry Silbert Digital Currency Group 14. Jay Reinemann Propel Venture Partners 15. Mariano Belinky Santander InnoVentures 16. Justin Brownhill & Neil DeSena SenaHill Partners 17. François Robinet AXA Strategic Ventures 18. Vanessa Colella Citi Ventures

19. Michael Schlein Accion International 20. Kenneth Marlin Marlin & Associates 21. Rumi Morales CME Ventures 22. Alastair (Alex) Rampell Andreessen Horowitz 23. Steve Gibson Euclid Opportunities 24. Fabian Vandenreydt SWIFT

25. Vladislav Solodkiy Life.SREDA 26. Gardiner Garrard III TTV Capital 27. Nektarios Liolios Startupbootcamp Fintech 28. Lawrence Wintermeyer Innovate Finance 29. Bina Kalola Bank of America Merrill Lynch 30. Hyder Jaffrey Fintech Innovation

31. Calvin Choi AMTD Group 32. Janos Barberis FinTech Hong Kong 33. Jalak Jobanputra Future Perfect Ventures 34. Sopnendu Mohanty Monetary Authority of Singapore 35. Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel Rakuten FinTech Fund