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The 2015 Fintech Finance 35: Jay Reinemann, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria

No. 14

14
Jay Reinemann
Executive Director, Strategy and Corporate Development
Banco Bilbao
Vizcaya Argentaria

BBVA Ventures has been investing in emerging financial technology companies since 2011 and currently boasts such high-profile holdings as Bitcoin wallet company Coinbase and online lender Prosper Marketplace. But it was a February 2014 deal that put the firm and its Spanish parent, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, on the fintech map: the bank’s $117 million acquisition of Portland, Oregon–based digital banking start-up Simple. Led by Jay Reinemann, BBVA’s San Francisco–based executive director of strategy and corporate development, the $100 million BBVA Ventures fund cuts checks of $1 million to $10 million for early- to expansion-stage technology companies perceived as “big disrupters” (to quote Reinemann) and potential partners. Return on investments is important, but it is not the only motivator for a strategic investor like BBVA, Reinemann, 46, explains. He got his grounding in corporate venture capital starting in 2000 at Visa, which, he says, “came to understand that if it put money into a company at the founding or somewhere along its formative years, it was able to indirectly acquire knowledge about what’s going on in the market. We had an [internal rate of return] that would’ve beaten most venture funds at the time.” After the payments company went public in 2008, its venture program turned more toward M&A, and Reinemann left to stay closer to early-stage opportunities. An attempt with a partner to start a payments-focused venture fund fell flat, as “2009 didn’t turn out to be a good year.” His timing was better with BBVA. Reinemann is a board observer of portfolio companies Personal Capital Corp. (online financial planning) and SumUp Payments (mobile point-of-sale).


The 2015 Fintech Finance 35

1. James Robinson III
& James Robinson IV
RRE Ventures
2. Jane Gladstone
Evercore Partners
3. Matthew Harris
Bain Capital Ventures
4. Steven McLaughlin
Financial Technology Partners
5. Jonathan Korngold
General Atlantic
6. Richard Garman &
Brad Bernstein
FTV Capital
7. Amy Nauiokas & Sean Park
Anthemis Group
8. Thomas Jessop
Goldman Sachs Group
9. Meyer (Micky) Malka
Ribbit Capital
10. Hans Morris
Nyca Partners
11. Maria Gotsch
Partnership Fund for New York City
12. Marc Andreessen
Andreessen Horowitz
13. Barry Silbert
Digital Currency Group
14. Jay Reinemann
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria
15. Mariano Belinky
Santander InnoVentures
16. François Robinet
AXA Strategic Ventures
17. Vanessa Colella
Citi Ventures
18. Alan Freudenstein & Gregory Grimaldi
Credit Suisse
NEXT Fund
19. Justin Brownhill & Neil DeSena
SenaHill Partners
20. Rodger Voorhies
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
21. Michael Schlein
Accion International
22. Kenneth Marlin
Marlin & Associates
23. Rumi Morales
CME Ventures
24. Mark Beeston
Illuminate Financial Management
25. Vladislav Solodkiy
Life.SREDA
26. Fabian Vandenreydt
Innotribe SWIFT
27. Derek White
Barclays
28. Alex Batlin
UBS
29. Jeffrey Greenberg
& Vincenzo
La Ruffa
Aquiline Capital Partners
30. P. Howard Edelstein
REDI Holdings
31. Nektarios Liolios
Startupbootcamp FinTech
32. Roy Bahat
Bloomberg Beta
33. Andrew McCormack
Valar Ventures
34. Lawrence Wintermeyer
Innovate Finance
35. Janos Barberis
FinTech Hong Kong

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