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.”
 1. Jonathan Korngold General Atlantic  2. Matthew Harris Bain Capital Ventures  3. Jane Gladstone Evercore Partners  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 |