Episode 22

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Published on:

31st Oct 2023

Obu aims to close the gender investment gap through angel investing | Sarah King, CEO and Co-Founder at Obu

I bet you are not an angel investor because you think you need a ton of money to be part of the club, or you have no idea even where to start because you don’t have a network of entrepreneurs building projects you believe in! Well all of that may be true, but not anymore!

In this episode, Sarah helps us demystify Angel Investing. She explains what angel investing is, the challenges of Angel Investing, and a solution to make it accessible for all of us - Obu! We then go broader into the role of Obu in closing the Gender Investment Gap, the Importance of Financial Education, the inherent risks of angel investing, and creating a culture of psychological safety so that we can create FinTechs with impact!

Sarah is the CEO and CoFounder of Obu, an entrepreneur with Design Thinking embedded at the core of the work she does and a disruptor of the dominant narrative of entrepreneurship and investment in the U.K. Why? Only 1% of VC funding goes to women founded businesses.

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Let’s dive into it!

👉 You can find Sarah here

👉 And you can find Monica here:

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We cover:

(0:01:08) Importance of diversifying the angel investor population

(0:02:03) Definition of success based on internal measures and values

(0:04:02) Coping with tough times by focusing on learning and growth

(0:07:54) Building purpose-driven fintechs through demystifying regulation, serving underserved audiences, and empowering entrepreneurs

(0:11:35) Demystifying angel investment as placing a bet on a business and supporting its success

(0:14:44) Due diligence for angel investors

(0:15:40) Obu's purpose to close the gender investment gap

(0:17:13) Sarah shares her personal journey and reasons for starting Obu

(0:20:08) Challenges within the current financial services system for women in angel investing

(0:23:29) Flipping the problem and focusing on changing the system to be more inclusive

(0:26:40) Sarah describes their fintech platform as a dating app for early stage entrepreneurs and angel investors

(0:31:07) Making legal documents more accessible for angel investors

(0:32:47) Financial education and due diligence for angel investors

(0:35:27) Evaluating the financial position and accepting the risk of potential loss

(0:38:57) Psychological safety in creating a culture that supports innovation

(0:41:06) The 1% jar and the importance of learning and growing together

(0:43:15) Funding diverse fintech founders as a way to drive inclusion


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Production and marketing by Monica Millares. For inquiries about coaching, collabs, sponsoring the podcast or creating or editing your podcast email fintechwithmoni@gmail.com


Disclaimer: This episode does not constitute professional nor financial advice and does not represent the opinion nor views of my current, past or future employers. The guest has agreed to record and release our conversation for the use of this podcast and promotion in social media.

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About the Podcast

Purpose Driven FinTech (& AI in FinTech)
Building FinTech Products & AI in FinTech with Impact
Welcome to Purpose Driven FinTech!

I'm your host, Monica Millares - Product Leader and fellow FinTecher.

These days, with the rising cost of living, financial stress among customers, loss of trust in banks, speculation of crypto, and uncertainty, we're facing unprecedented challenges. But there is hope. We as FinTechers have the power to make a positive impact.

Our products, the how we do product, and our people can make a difference on customers’ financial lives - and as a result, in the quality of their lives.

However, more than ever Founders, CEOs, Leadership teams and all FinTechers have a ton of pressure to build solutions that actually solve customer problems, that people want, that are differentiated And profitable

Yes that's you and me too!

That's why I've created this podcast!

I speak with Founders, Product Leaders, VCs, and industry experts to uncover their stories, challenges, and lessons learnt in building products with impact.

You'll get to hear real-life conversations, and you’ll walk away with practical questions, frameworks and insights that you can apply to your own FinTech products. So, are you ready to make a bigger difference in FinTech?

Let's come together and discover how Purpose, Product, and People can help us create a future of better financial wellbeing while building sustainable and profitable FinTechs.

Follow me on LinkedIn, TikTok, and  YouTube to stay connected and be part of the conversation.

Cheers to making better FinTech and making FinTech better!

Love, Moni 

About your host

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Monica Millares

Monica advocates for financial safety for all. She is the Product Principal at BigPay, where she leads Product and Design. As part of the founding team, Monica led building BigPay’s product from zero to one, to multi product line, and international expansion. Her leadership shaped the culture and ways of working to grow from startup to scaleup. BigPay has over 1.4 million customers, and has presence in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.

Monica has almost 20 years’ experience in Financial Services. Prior to BigPay, she was one of the first joiners in UK’s challenger Tandem Bank, where she focused on building credit cards from scratch. Previously she worked in leading Financial Services brands like Visa, Barclays, and a Mexican Development Bank.

She sits on the Board of PayEd, and is recognised as Singapore’s #Fintech65 Product Leaders and Women in FinTech. She’s been multiple times speaker at the prestigious conference Money2020 and shared stage with JP Morgan, Standard Chartered Bank, Konsentus, and Money2020’s Rise Up. Her commitment to innovation and financial inclusion resonates in her podcast “Purpose Driven FinTech” where she explores how FinTech’s can have 10x more impact.

Monica has a background in Engineering and a Master’s Degree on Analysis, Design, and Management of Information Systems from the London School of Economics.