Cota Capital announced that former Visa Ventures leader Kevin Jacques and Ben Malka joined the firm. The new partners will spearhead Cota’s Fintech practice and double down on research by focusing on advancing open banking worldwide.
“Kevin and Ben are vital additions to our team as we expand our presence in the Fintech space,” said Bobby Yazdani, Co-Founder of Cota Capital. “Ben and Kevin, along with the entire team at Cota Capital, bring a wealth of specialized domain expertise and relationships.”
Jacques served as Vice President & Head of Visa Ventures, where he built Visa’s Fintech Fund, completing more than 30 direct strategic investments and launching Visa’s Fintech Fund engagement program. He brings over 20 years of investment experience, a decade of those years purely focused on Fintech.
“We believe that Fintech represents one of the largest and most profitable sectors in the economy with attractive business models and dynamic M&A markets,” said Jacques. “Cota’s unique multi-stage research platform, combined with our strong Fintech domain knowledge and established relationships, provide key insights powering our ability to identify promising Fintech investment opportunities.”
Malka joins Cota Capital from Fidelity Investments, where he served as a partner on many Fintech investments. He brings over 20 years of investment experience at leading firms, including Boston Consulting Group and CapitalOne. Malka served as the Chairman of the Financial Services Venture Capital Alliance from 2010 to 2015.
“A new digital Fintech infrastructure is essential for delivering personalized experiences, data-driven decision making, and a digitally-enabled workforce. The ‘shift to digital’ in banking, payments, investing and insurance is accelerating,” Malka said. “Cota is focused on investing in mission-critical enterprise technologies that will become essential and more deeply integrated into every facet of our business and financial lives.”
The Open Banking Paradigm
The Open Banking paradigm has created an environment for banks and Fintech companies to launch innovative new financial services for consumers and businesses. New financial services emerge daily and often from unexpected places: a third of the Fintech industry deals are outside the US, the UK, and China. Traditional banking has already witnessed fundamental changes in customer expectations and demands. In fact, 88% of incumbent financial institutions believe that part of their business will be lost to standalone Fintech companies in the next five years. According to Singularity University, 46% of people exclusively use digital channels for their financial needs and Statista found the total transaction value of digital payments grew from $4.1 trillion in 2019 to $5.2 trillion in 2020.
