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cover art for Portag3 Ventures with Ben Harrison (Partner) | E36

Fintech Impact

Portag3 Ventures with Ben Harrison (Partner) | E36

Ep. 36
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During this 36th episode of the Fintech Impact podcast, Jason Pereira interviews Ben Harrison, Partner and Head of LP

Engagement & Partnerships at Portag3 Ventures, one of the top venture capital firms in the

fintech space.


● 00:56 – Portag3 is made of two funds that handle areas like blockchain and A.I..

● 02:19 – Ben has just over 16 years with Great West Life.

● 05:08 – Financial customers want the same user experience that they are familiar with from Amazon and Google.

● 10:28 – In order to have a better understanding of the change that is happening, invest in and partner with those that are doing it.

● 13:31 – The cost of starting a start-up as dropped dramatically during the last decade.

● 16:12 – When start-ups get absorbed by huge institutions, the corporate culture should remain the same to maintain those talented developers.

● 20:30 – Success in Asia from an insurance company standpoint success is measured in selling 100s of 1000s or millions of insurance policies in a year.

● 23:22 – When there are major investments involved, there are broad power shifts.

● 24:40 – What is the platform that is going to streamline blockchain.

● 27:00 – Portag3 Ventures invests in great, talented people in the founders and high comfort with the technology, performance, and scalability.

● 29:53 – Ben Harrison is most excited about seeing the interest in the bigger companies being willing to have partnerships.


3 Key Points:

1. Portag3 Ventures’s first fund was made up of Power Financial, Great West Life, andIGM.

2. Approximately, 10 years ago the average price of launching a start-up company was $5 million, now it is about $500,000 dollars.

3. To adapt to change and stay ahead of the curve—you have to be willing to partner up.


Tweetable Quotes:

- “Portag3 is an early stage venture fund.” – Ben Harrison.

- “Customers just expect now the types of experiences that they receive from Google or Amazon or Netflix.” – Ben Harrison.

- “So it’s not so much that fintech is going to topple the business world, it’s now questions about these big platform tech players.” – Ben Harrison.


Resources Mentioned:

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s LinkedIn

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s Facebook

● Woodgate Financial – Website for Woodgate Financial

● Ben Harrison – LinkedIn for Ben Harrison

● Portag3 Ventures – Website for Portag3 Ventures

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