Ben Savage & Adriana Saman from Clocktower Technology Ventures – Reinventing Financial Services

Summary: Miguel Armaza sits down with Ben Savage and Adriana Saman, from Clocktower Technology Ventures, a fintech-focused venture capital fund that’s also the technology investing affiliate of Clocktower Group, a global macro investment firm. Ben is a fintech entrepreneur turned investor with an MBA from Stanford University and Adriana got her Bachelors from our very own University of Pennsylvania. We discussed: - Their backgrounds and what led them to Venture Capital - Clocktower’s investment strategy and approach - Their decision to focus on fintech and why they are excited about the reinvention of financial services - Why they have invested beyond the United States, with a particular emphasis on Latin America - Navigating COVID - Their outlook for the road ahead of the industry - And a lot more! Ben Savage Ben manages Clocktower Technology Ventures and is responsible for all of Clocktower Group’s private market activities. Ben was previously Director, Investment Associate Program for Bridgewater Associates, where he worked with the firm’s CIOs on strategic priorities, talent development and research. Ben began his career as a VC and private equity investor with Wasserstein Perella. Ben also co-founded Artivest fka Resonance Funds, an online issuer of actively-managed exchange traded vehicles, as well as Waterfall Mobile. Ben holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in philosophy from Yale University. Ben lives in Bel Air with his wife and two young children. Adriana Saman Adriana focuses on deal sourcing, diligence, and execution. Prior to Clocktower, Adriana was a Strategy Associate in Chase’s Digital Payments team where she worked closely with all consumer-related payment products to develop consolidated roadmaps, business cases, and strategic initiatives. Before joining Digital Payments, she worked at J.P. Morgan as an Investment Banking Analyst focusing on M&A transactions across Latin America. Adriana is originally from Ecuador and holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. About Clocktower We partner with phenomenal entrepreneurs who have the vision and drive to reinvent financial services, investing from the earliest seeds of startup life to businesses scaling for growth. We support leading companies across all sectors of financial services, including lending, credit & banking, payments, insurance, capital markets & investments, personal finance, enterprise financial stack and real estate finance. Our distinctive approach to fintech venture capital is crafted around a curated network of global macroeconomic thinkers and investors. Launched in 2015, Clocktower Technology Ventures is the technology investing affiliate of Clocktower Group, a global macro investment firm. CTV is based in Santa Monica, CA and invests worldwide.