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Jan 23, 2017 · 17m · top-founders

EP 548: $200M FinTech Fund Bullish on Kabbage with Santander Innoventures Partner Manuel Silva

Nathan Latka · 8m spoken Manuel Silva · 7m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

In this episode of The Top, host Nathan Latka interviews Manuel Silva, partner at Santander InnoVentures, to explore how their $200 million corporate venture fund deploys equity and scales high-growth fintech startups like Kabbage through global banking partnerships.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 55% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.4 Guest teaching 2.2 Guest disagreement 1.2 Nathan pushing back 2.0
05100:0010:000:28–4:16 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Weekly Giveaway Winner and Contest Entry Details After opening housekeeping and an ad read, Nathan introduces Manuel Silva with detailed background on Santander InnoVentures. Nathan pushes back on Manuel's vague references to 'the bank' to clarify the corporate structure and fund independence.4:17–7:47 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Scaling Kabbage into the UK Market Nathan brings specific data points regarding fund expansion and Kabbage's $135M Series E round, asking whether Santander's role is equity or venture debt. Manuel explains their equity co-investment philosophy.7:48–10:26 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Flexible Lead and Participation Mandate for Deals Nathan rattles off the fund's public portfolio and tries to prod Manuel into revealing unannounced investments. Manuel holds the line respectfully while explaining their flexible lead mandate.10:27–12:30 · Nathan as informed peer 3/10 Strategic Data Opportunities and Incumbent-Startup Synergy Nathan frames a thesis around backend data monetization in FinTech compared to MarTech. Manuel elaborates on how early-stage FinTechs leverage modern data paradigms in tandem with bank distribution.12:33–15:58 · Nathan as informed peer 1/10 Mid-Roll Promotion for Email Productivity Tool The segment opens with sponsor monologues for The Top Inbox and HostGator, followed by a lighthearted Famous Five rapid-fire Q&A.0:28–4:16 · Guest teaching 3/10 Weekly Giveaway Winner and Contest Entry Details After opening housekeeping and an ad read, Nathan introduces Manuel Silva with detailed background on Santander InnoVentures. Nathan pushes back on Manuel's vague references to 'the bank' to clarify the corporate structure and fund independence.4:17–7:47 · Guest teaching 2/10 Scaling Kabbage into the UK Market Nathan brings specific data points regarding fund expansion and Kabbage's $135M Series E round, asking whether Santander's role is equity or venture debt. Manuel explains their equity co-investment philosophy.7:48–10:26 · Guest teaching 2/10 Flexible Lead and Participation Mandate for Deals Nathan rattles off the fund's public portfolio and tries to prod Manuel into revealing unannounced investments. Manuel holds the line respectfully while explaining their flexible lead mandate.10:27–12:30 · Guest teaching 3/10 Strategic Data Opportunities and Incumbent-Startup Synergy Nathan frames a thesis around backend data monetization in FinTech compared to MarTech. Manuel elaborates on how early-stage FinTechs leverage modern data paradigms in tandem with bank distribution.12:33–15:58 · Guest teaching 1/10 Mid-Roll Promotion for Email Productivity Tool The segment opens with sponsor monologues for The Top Inbox and HostGator, followed by a lighthearted Famous Five rapid-fire Q&A.0:28–4:16 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Weekly Giveaway Winner and Contest Entry Details After opening housekeeping and an ad read, Nathan introduces Manuel Silva with detailed background on Santander InnoVentures. Nathan pushes back on Manuel's vague references to 'the bank' to clarify the corporate structure and fund independence.4:17–7:47 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Scaling Kabbage into the UK Market Nathan brings specific data points regarding fund expansion and Kabbage's $135M Series E round, asking whether Santander's role is equity or venture debt. Manuel explains their equity co-investment philosophy.7:48–10:26 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Flexible Lead and Participation Mandate for Deals Nathan rattles off the fund's public portfolio and tries to prod Manuel into revealing unannounced investments. Manuel holds the line respectfully while explaining their flexible lead mandate.10:27–12:30 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Strategic Data Opportunities and Incumbent-Startup Synergy Nathan frames a thesis around backend data monetization in FinTech compared to MarTech. Manuel elaborates on how early-stage FinTechs leverage modern data paradigms in tandem with bank distribution.12:33–15:58 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Mid-Roll Promotion for Email Productivity Tool The segment opens with sponsor monologues for The Top Inbox and HostGator, followed by a lighthearted Famous Five rapid-fire Q&A.0:28–4:16 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Weekly Giveaway Winner and Contest Entry Details After opening housekeeping and an ad read, Nathan introduces Manuel Silva with detailed background on Santander InnoVentures. Nathan pushes back on Manuel's vague references to 'the bank' to clarify the corporate structure and fund independence.4:17–7:47 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Scaling Kabbage into the UK Market Nathan brings specific data points regarding fund expansion and Kabbage's $135M Series E round, asking whether Santander's role is equity or venture debt. Manuel explains their equity co-investment philosophy.7:48–10:26 · Nathan pushing back 3/10 Flexible Lead and Participation Mandate for Deals Nathan rattles off the fund's public portfolio and tries to prod Manuel into revealing unannounced investments. Manuel holds the line respectfully while explaining their flexible lead mandate.10:27–12:30 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Strategic Data Opportunities and Incumbent-Startup Synergy Nathan frames a thesis around backend data monetization in FinTech compared to MarTech. Manuel elaborates on how early-stage FinTechs leverage modern data paradigms in tandem with bank distribution.12:33–15:58 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 Mid-Roll Promotion for Email Productivity Tool The segment opens with sponsor monologues for The Top Inbox and HostGator, followed by a lighthearted Famous Five rapid-fire Q&A.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 78.5% · guest 21.5%0:00 · Nathan 78.5% · guest 21.5%3:00 · Nathan 18.5% · guest 81.5%3:00 · Nathan 18.5% · guest 81.5%6:00 · Nathan 37.8% · guest 62.2%6:00 · Nathan 37.8% · guest 62.2%9:00 · Nathan 42.1% · guest 57.9%9:00 · Nathan 42.1% · guest 57.9%12:00 · Nathan 76.3% · guest 23.7%12:00 · Nathan 76.3% · guest 23.7%15:00 · Nathan 85% · guest 15%15:00 · Nathan 85% · guest 15%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 9:08 Polite refusal to disclose unannounced deals

When Nathan presses Manuel on whether he can share unannounced portfolio investments, Manuel firmly shuts down the inquiry to respect portfolio company PR timelines.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 3:38 Host demands definition of 'the bank'

Nathan interrupts Manuel's generalized answer to demand exact clarification on whether the fund is structured as a separate entity or part of the banking franchise.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 4:24 Educating on international strategic deployment

Manuel breaks down how Santander InnoVentures uniquely scales US companies like Kabbage into the UK market using global banking assets.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 6:07 Citing Crunchbase series data and deal specifics

Nathan demonstrates prep by quoting Kabbage's Series E valuation, funding size, and dates to challenge Manuel on their debt versus equity mechanics.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Weekly Giveaway Winner and Contest Entry Details 4313 After opening housekeeping and an ad read, Nathan introduces Manuel Silva with detailed background on Santander InnoVentures. Nathan pushes back on Manuel's vague references to 'the bank' to clarify the corporate structure and fund independence.
Scaling Kabbage into the UK Market 5212 Nathan brings specific data points regarding fund expansion and Kabbage's $135M Series E round, asking whether Santander's role is equity or venture debt. Manuel explains their equity co-investment philosophy.
Flexible Lead and Participation Mandate for Deals 4223 Nathan rattles off the fund's public portfolio and tries to prod Manuel into revealing unannounced investments. Manuel holds the line respectfully while explaining their flexible lead mandate.
Strategic Data Opportunities and Incumbent-Startup Synergy 3311 Nathan frames a thesis around backend data monetization in FinTech compared to MarTech. Manuel elaborates on how early-stage FinTechs leverage modern data paradigms in tandem with bank distribution.
Mid-Roll Promotion for Email Productivity Tool 1111 The segment opens with sponsor monologues for The Top Inbox and HostGator, followed by a lighthearted Famous Five rapid-fire Q&A.

Statements from this episode (4)

Disclosure
Santander InnoVentures requires portfolio startups to collaborate with the bank
“As part of our investment process, we need to make sure that the bank and the companies we invest in, Work together.”
Manuel Silva Jan 23, 2017 ▶ 2:25
Assertion Supported
Santander InnoVentures invested early in Kabbage to launch a UK loan product
“It's a company we invested early on in, in the fund and we've been working with them in developing a working capital loans product for the UK that was just launched a few weeks ago.”
Manuel Silva Jan 23, 2017 ▶ 4:33
Disclosure
Santander InnoVentures expanded its fund from $100 million to $200 million
“So the fund started nearly two years ago with an initial location of a hundred million dollars that you may have seen got got extended to two hundred million around summer this year.”
Manuel Silva Jan 23, 2017 ▶ 5:36
Disclosure
Santander InnoVentures relies on Crunchbase most for fintech research
“We use, you know, we use a lot of tools, but probably Crunchbase is, you know, when we use the most.”
Manuel Silva Jan 23, 2017 ▶ 15:13
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