Yash Patel is General Partner at Telstra Ventures, a San Francisco-based VC firm that differentiates by generating revenue for its portfolio with strategic channel partners and customer relationships as well as by using data science to drive its investment process. Yash’s focus is on the consumer side of fintech, Web3, crypto, esports, gaming, SaaS apps, ecommerce, and marketplace. Some of his standout fintech investments while at Telstra Ventures are companies like Super.com (Super Apps) and Playbook (next-gen wealthtech). Previously, Yash was the Director of Corporate Development & Strategy at Adknowledge and was part of the technology investment banking team at Jefferies & Company prior.
Australia
Toshi Kameoka, Head Strategy Nth America Airwallex
Toshi Kameoka manages Airwallex’s U.S. and Canada business and administrative operations as Head of Strategy, North America. Based in San Francisco, he was Airwallex’s first permanent U.S. employee and has been responsible for Airwallex’s U.S. money transmitter licensing (MTL) and financial partnership strategy in the region. Toshi has more than 15 years of experience in business strategy, corporate development, and partnerships across various sectors, including payments and fintech, commerce tech, and mobile data and analytics.
Ken Kruszka, Founder/CEO Snapcheck
Ken is a FinTech and Payments pioneer, who holds the distinction of being the first person to send $1 around the world by mobile transfer. In his career, Ken has launched: the first mobile remittances service in the US, the first global mobile bank account, the first neobank for immigrants in the US, and the first decoupled business payments smart switch. Currently, Ken leads SnapCheck in revolutionizing business-to-business payments: eliminating $50 Billion in costs, removing $20 Billion in fraud. Previously, as co-founder and CEO of m-Via, Ken grew the company into an industry-recognized leader in mobile financial services and brought the company to cash-flow positive before leading m-Via through an acquisition by Boom Financial. Ken is a Founding Member of the Faster Payments Council, as well as a member of the Federal Reserve’s Business Payments Coalition and the FedNow Community. Ken has been named a Top Innovator to Watch by Bank Innovation, a Top FinTech Innovator by Aspioneer, a Top 25 FinTech CEO by Technology Innovators, and a Leading Corporate Digital Transformation Innovator by Databird.