RCP #7 Setting the cornerstones of a fintech powerhouse, with Jacques Marco [Axis Pay]

Jacques Marco is the founder and CEO of Axis Pay. The company raised a $8m seed round and is now one of Egypt's fastest-growing fintechs. Timestamps: 00:00 - In this episode 00:46 - Introduction 01:21 - Lawyer dad and an intuitive grasp of regulations 02:59 - Non-fintech folks building fintechs?! 06:06 - Why building Axis Pay is so hard 07:56 - Founder dilemma: plug into APIs or build everything in-house? 09:57 - Impetus behind building Axis Pay 12:26 - Listening to the market vs. distorting it with VC money 14:49 - Humans' bias towards B2C. 16:34 - Ignoring the noise and competition. 17:13 - The bull case for Egypt (while others are fleeing) 20:54 - Evolution of Egyptian fintech (Fawry, Meeza, Covid, VodafoneCash)24:04 - Untapped opportunities: remittance and credit scoring data References: Axis Pay - https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/17/tiger-global-backed-axis-launches-digital-payments-platform-for-egyptian-smes-months-after-its-8-25m-seed/ Fawry - https://www.reuters.com/article/business/egyptian-digital-payments-company-fawry-ipo-oversubscribed-30-times-idUSKCN1UV1ES/ Digital payments in Egypt - https://citvericash.com/the-rapid-evolution-of-digital-payments-in-egypt/ Listen on all platforms: Youtube - ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@TheRallyCapPodcast Spotify - ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/3vUDH5yEH6pvRkqM1TVaxS⁠ Apple Podcasts - ⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rally-cap-podcast/id1731710244⁠ Where to find Jacques: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquesmarco/ Where to find Kyane: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyanekassiri/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/kyanekassiri Learn more about Rally Cap: https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/05/rali_cap-gets-backing-from-global-vcs-and-launches-30m-fintech-fund-for-emerging-markets/ Check out our Climate Newsletter: https://rallycapclimate.medium.com/