< Fintech's Most Powerful Dealmakers of 2016

11. Meyer (Micky) Malka
General Partner
Ribbit Capital
Last year: 9

A native of Venezuela who took an entrepreneurial route into fintech financing, Meyer (Micky) Malka says Ribbit Capital is prepared for an environment in which “it is harder to grow companies” — what he terms “a natural part of the cycle” — because the firm is able to venture far afield, geographically and by sector. “We did Brazil when no one was in it,” says Malka, pointing to the firm’s investment in accounting software provider ContaAzul. “We’ve doubled down” in that Latin American country, he adds, with Ribbit increasing its position in personal financial management platform GuiaBolso and financing student lender Ideal Invest. The now-$460 million portfolio also includes Berlin-based Raisin, which offers above-market interest rates on savings deposits, and Cheddar, which streams financial news and other video content from New York’s Flatiron Building and other locations for the Millennial demographic. “Cheddar generates more views than CNBC,” says Malka, who after starting and selling two companies in Venezuela co-founded Bling Nation, a mobile payments company that was renamed Lemon in 2011 and sold to LifeLock for $50 million in 2013. Sensing opportunity in the emerging fintech sector, Malka launched Palo Alto, California–based Ribbit in 2012, taking the name from the sound a frog makes, to convey the notion of leapfrogging. “We like companies building consumer financial brands that bring massive transparency and value-add to the consumers,” says the 42-year-old managing partner. He believes opportunities abound in start-up firms in money management — a potential $10 billion market. “Finance is a commodity industry; you’re not inventing anything new,” he says. “The channels and the way you communicate are what’s new.”

 
The 2016 Fintech Finance 35

1. Jonathan Korngold General Atlantic 2. Matthew Harris Bain Capital Ventures 3. Jane Gladstone Evercore Partners Model Portfolios to Deliver Alternative Asset Exposure Sponsored by BlackRock 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