Young Innovators Changing the Financial World

The financial world is seeing a wave of young talent driving change. These individuals are making big moves in fintech, crypto, and traditional finance. Their work is not just about making money but also about solving real problems in the industry. Kalyani Ramadurgam saw a big issue while working at Apple. The process of making sure Apple Pay followed financial rules was slow and old-fashioned. She decided to do something about it. In 2023, she started Kobalt Labs with Ashi Agrawal. Their company uses AI to help banks check their partners and follow the rules. Kobalt has already raised $13 million and has over 20 customers. Victor Cardenas and Kevin Bai are another pair making waves. They dropped out of Stanford and the University of Waterloo to start Slash. This digital bank offers services like corporate credit cards and stablecoin payments. Slash is different because it tailors its services to specific industries. It has about 2, 500 customers and processes $6 billion in transactions annually. In the crypto world, Asta Li is a standout. She worked at Uber and Aurora before co-founding Privy. Privy makes crypto wallets that businesses can use in their apps. The company has over 1, 000 customers and was acquired by Stripe. Giovanni Vignone is tackling crypto's security issues with Octane. His AI-powered system scans smart contracts in under a minute. Octane secures $5. 8 billion in assets and has raised $11 million. Traditional finance is also seeing young talent. Arkin Gupta moved from Morgan Stanley to Citadel to help build its macroeconomic trading strategy. Annika Kim is leading Asia strategy at the Texas Municipal Retirement System, aiming to build a $2. 5 billion portfolio. This year's list of young innovators is diverse. 30% are women, 41% are people of color, and 73% are founders. These individuals are not just making money; they are changing the financial world for the better.