< Fintech's Most Powerful Dealmakers of 2016

The 30-plus companies in Nyca Partners’ portfolio range alphabetically from Abra, a money transfer app, to mobile bank Zero. Right around the middle is Lending Club, which caused some unexpected disruption this year for Nyca managing partner Hans Morris and sent shock waves through the fintech community. In May, Renaud Laplanche, chairman and CEO of the San Francisco–based peer-to-peer lending leader, resigned after some documentation and disclosure improprieties came to light. Morris, a Lending Club director since February 2013 — a year and a half before he founded Nyca — stepped into the role of executive chairman. With a few quick strokes, including the elevation of president Scott Sanborn to CEO, the ship was steadied; Morris now is just chairman. “I’ve learned a lot of lessons on how to manage risk that we can apply to our other portfolio companies,” he notes. “It’s not the type of experience we all want to have, but it’s been a learning experience all the same.” A graduate of Dartmouth College (BA in government, 1980) and a benefactor of the New Hampshire school’s Ethics Institute, Morris spent 27 years with Citigroup, holding such positions as COO of the investment bank and CFO of institutional businesses. More recently, he was president of Visa and a managing director of General Atlantic. Nyca’s headquarters is in New York, but the firm’s name symbolizes the bridge it figuratively spans between the Big Apple and California’s Silicon Valley. Eyeing insurance as an emerging fintech frontier, Nyca has invested in online providers Embroker and Ladder, and in Zendrive, which collects and analyzes sensor data from smart phones to improve risk management and lower insurance costs for auto fleets. The firm also has a position in online financial adviser SigFig. “I’m a big believer in disrupting what we call personal advice — brokers, intermediaries,” says Morris, 57. For people with $100,000 to $200,000 in assets, “an algorithm will give you a better investment and with less compliance risk,” he adds. “A machine will outperform a human: There is better technology, better user experience, and much lower costs.”

 
The 2016 Fintech Finance 35

1. Jonathan Korngold General Atlantic 2. Matthew Harris Bain Capital Ventures 3. Jane Gladstone Evercore Partners Methanol Gains Traction as an Alternative Energy Source Sponsored by CME Group May 5, 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