Kpmg best british tech startup

Inside the chaos at Synapse, where questionable management tactics by CEO Sankaet Pathak have left the company with its future in jeopardy. I n July 2019, the 29-year-old CEO of San Francisco financial technology startup Synapse scolded five of his engineers for not making faster progress. “Do you even enjoy this project?” Sankaet Pathak asked. “Not really,” the team’s leader answered. “That’s it, you’re out,” Pathak declared, firing the employee on the spot in front of his colleagues. Synapse’s Human Resources director, Juan Aguayo, confiscated the terminated worker’s key card and computer. But as Aguayo spoke, he received a message on his laptop, and his tone started to change. Minutes later, he said to the engineer, who was now crying, “Don’t worry, you’re not fired.” The dazed, confused employee went back to his desk. Pathak never spoke to him about the incident again, acting like it never happened. The engineer started looking for a new job the following week … [Read more...] about Broken Synapse: Why Employees And Customers Are Fleeing This Andreessen-Backed Fintech Startup

From left: AgniKul Cosmos co-founder and COO Moin SPM and CEO Srinath Ravichandran Agnikul Cosmos, the space tech startup incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, will apply for a patent for its full-scale, second-stage engine Agnilet, which it claims is the world’s first single-piece 3D-printed rocket engine. This means it’s been made in one shot without the thousands of parts that are typically assembled in a conventional rocket engine. Agnikul Cosmos has also developed its own mobile launchpad, which allows it to launch rockets from any authorised port. The startup is awaiting final approvals from the Indian Space Research Organisation to launch its rockets from Sriharikota. By developing its own mobile launch pad, the startup is in a better position to scale up its business in the future. In an interview with Moneycontrol , cofounder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran, a Wall Street trader-turned-aerospace engineer, spoke about why India’s space technology … [Read more...] about Agnikul Cosmos to patent 3D-printed rocket engine

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Monica Desai Weiss is an investor at Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins, where she focuses on fintech and blockchain. Previously, she led operations and strategy at digital wallet startup Blockchain and was a bond trader at JPMorgan. Forbes spoke with her about the past year in fintech and her top predictions for 2020. The conversation has been edited for brevity and clarity. Forbes: For fintech in 2019, what events or milestones stand out as the most important? Desai Weiss: There were a few big themes. Financial services incumbents took notice of fintech startups, and some parts of the fintech industry matured. There were several mergers and acquisitions around payment processors [like Fiserv acquiring First Data]—these companies are coming to terms with Stripe and Square’s success in payments. There was also a great reckoning around trading fees. Schwab, TD Ameritrade and Etrade all dropped their … [Read more...] about Five Fintech Predictions For 2020, According To Kleiner Perkins