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The 2016 Fintech Finance 35: Jay Reinemann

No. 14

14. Jay Reinemann
Partner
Propel Venture Partners
Last year: 14

In a February restructuring, Spanish banking giant Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria shuttered its $100 million BBVA Ventures arm and relaunched it as a stand-alone spin-off, Propel Venture Partners. “It’s not your typical corporate venture fund,” says Jay Reinemann, who led BBVA Ventures as the parent bank’s executive director of strategy and corporate development and is one of three partners at San Francisco–based Propel. (The other partners, Ryan Gilbert and Thomas Whiteaker, also made the transition from BBVA Ventures.) Motivating the change were U.S. regulatory limits on bank investment positions. As an independent firm, Propel can make seed investments and go north of 5 percent in any financing round. Its sweet spot: Series A and Series B participations of $5 million to $15 million. “We’re trying to lead investments instead of just being a follower,” says Reinemann, 47, who joined BBVA in 2011 and formerly headed Visa’s corporate ventures and strategic alliances group. “We’ve got a brand-new fund, and we’re actively hunting.” Propel made its first lead investment in July: a $7 million Series A round for Burlingame, California–based 401(k) platform Guideline Technologies. In August, Propel participated in a $4.5 million seed round for San Francisco’s Brave Software, which has developed a web browser with a built-in Bitcoin-based micropayment system. There were three other seed financings earlier in the year: online car dealer Drive Motors, home insurer Hippo, and identity-theft protection system Civic Technologies. At the time of Propel’s launch, BBVA allocated an additional $150 million, which will be directed toward European opportunities through a London office expected to open late this year. Reinemann says Propel, currently with seven employees, is actively hiring and aims to close five to ten new investments a year. “We’ve seen our deal flow more than double since we launched,” he says.


The 2016 Fintech Finance 35

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

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