Micky Malka - Building Ribbit - [Invest Like the Best, EP.401]
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What is the origin story of Ribbit Capital and its rebel philosophy?
I know firsthand how complex the tech stack is for asset management firms. And seemingly every new tool and data source makes the problem even worse, adding more complexity, more headcount, and more risk. Ridgeline offers a better way forward, one unified platform that automates away the complexity across portfolio accounting, reconciliation, reporting, trading, compliance, and more, all at scale. Ridgeline is revolutionizing investment management, helping ambitious firms scale faster. Faster, operate smarter, and stay ahead of the curve. See what Ridgeline can unlock for your firm. Schedule a demo at ridgeline.ai. Hello and welcome everyone. I'm Patrick O'Shaughnessy and this is InvestLike the Best.
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My guest today is Mickey Malka. Mickey is the founder of Ribbit Capital, one of FinTech's most influential investing firms. Ribbit's mission is to change the world of finance through financial innovation rather than through financial engineering. Through Rivet, Mickey has backed transformative companies like Coinbase, Robinhood, and NewBank from their earliest days. We discuss his perspective on FinTech's evolution, including his provocative declaration that fintech is dead, and explore his theory of the grid, how knowledge, wealth, and power are being transformed by technology. We also dive into his deep interest in digital art, which he sees as an early indication of broader cultural and technological shifts.
You'll soon hear how he is taking a truly generative approach. On all fronts. A final note for me: the world just needs more people like Mickey. He's one of the kindest, most alive people that I've met in this business. There just aren't many people like him. Please enjoy this in-depth conversation with Mickey Malka. So, Mickey, I know this is a hard question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. I want to just have you describe what Rivit is. It's one of these firms that's if you know, you know type firm, but there's basically no information of any kind about Rivet anywhere. You can learn if you ask lots of great founders out there. But that's kind of how the word on Rivit has spread. It's through founders, not through normal channels.
Can you just describe what it is today and what it was? When it started, we'll ask about the origin story, but I know it's a hard question to answer because it's an amorphous entity. But what is Rivet to you? How would you describe it?
That's the hardest question I think you're gonna ask me today until probably the next one. We are a bunch of rebels. Let's start there. And from an inception, we always use Star Wars as our motif and our decks and our presentations. And we're a bunch of rebels. And the way that we describe it is. Wherever the status quo grows bloated, wherever there's not enough innovation, wherever there's nothing new that benefits a customer, you're gonna find us there as rebels, trying to find the rebels who are gonna change the status quo. And that's who we are. And there's no bigger status quo in the last 20 years than financial services. And that's where we started. It wasn't innovating. It wasn't bringing new services to the customers.
It wasn't bringing anything new to the businesses. And we were like, this cannot be. Where are the people that are gonna change this? So we dedicated the first decade of our lives just to do that.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the origin story of Ribbit Capital and its rebel philosophy?
0:00–9:35
2
How did Micky Malka and his team decide on the unique structure and no‑label approach for Ribbit?
9:35–21:13
3
Why did Ribbit declare that “FinTech is dead” and what does that mean for the industry?
21:13–31:00
4
What is the “global digital grid” theory and how does it connect knowledge, money, and power?
31:00–40:48
5
How are stablecoins positioned as the modern “travel checks” for global finance?
40:48–49:31
6
What lessons did Ribbit learn from the Robinhood crisis and the rapid capital injection?
49:31–1:00:47
7
How did the partnership with Walmart’s OneApp shape Ribbit’s approach to building from scratch?
1:00:47–1:10:17
8
What core values (energy, conviction, heart, dreams, obsession) drive Ribbit’s investment decisions?
1:10:17–1:31:10
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy
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