Udayan has been a keen proponent of the fast-changing landscape of Financial Services in the transition from an industrial era to the information age and now to the networked economy.
He fell into the intersection of Financial Services and technology well before the term FinTech was coined and traversed the Growth Markets when they were called frontier markets.
His global experience began as the son of a diplomat living across multiple continents with his working life commencing in traditional investment banking and transitioning through to investing and entrepreneurship.
Prior to co-founding Apis, Udayan co-founded and led Anthemis Group, the first specialist global investor in FinTech based in London where he made 32 investments including well-known names such as Simple, Betterment and Trov. Prior to that, he was Global Head of Financial Technology Advisory at Deutsche Bank.
Udayan lives in London, is married with two children, and enjoys trying out innovative spinning studios to work off his passion for food and wine wherever his Apis travels take him.
Key Takeaways
Udayan needed no encouragement to get to a level of conversation that was very much values-driven. The deeper structure of our successes was the focus of our time together. I believe this to be very valuable as this is what everything we do is built on and clearly so does he.
There was a direct question that I put to Udayan with regards outcomes and legacy and there were many more indirect questions that had this theme running through them. Every time He would go to a micro place which isn’t necessarily what you’d expect from someone who has built so much at a macro level. We did talk about this in more depth and Udayan works by looking at the successes of what is directly in front of him first – his family, relationships, work. Knowing that everything is working at a micro place, with a trust that the consequence will be far-reaching and flow at a macro level. He even mentioned that how someone treats the waiting staff in a restaurant, will impact their future relationship, be it business or otherwise. This struck me as a powerful yet very simple place to come from, especially with the knowledge of doing so and using it as a conscious tool.
Udayan clearly loves his knowledge and has a strong belief that this is much more powerful than capital. Knowledge is what makes what we’re doing sustainable -capital can rise and of course, fall but knowledge and the willingness to learn is what will get us through.
My time with Udayan was rich. Talking about everything from identity and growth to the inequality of wealth. Also, the three things that he feels have been vital to him, which are perseverance, optimism and empathy, with a heavy dose of gratitude.
Enjoy!