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Ashby Monk, Ph.D., executive director of the Global Projects Center at Stanford University and a senior research associate at the University of Oxford, explains why the world needs less "FinTech and more "invest-tech". While many would argue that the latter is simply a subcategory of the former, he does make a strong case for future of innovation in the institutional investing world via what he calls The Four D's: Disintermediation, Dissemination, Democratization and Dispensation.
While the venture capital industry has become infatuated with "fintech", most VCs seem to think of finance as payment processing, crypto-currencies and robo-advisors for individual investors. While those advances may offer some interesting opportunities, that's not really what we're interested in here. What we need instead is a generation of "invest-tech" companies that truly empowers investors. So should we expect the VC crowd to back a generation of companies that will put their own partnerships out of business? Hmm. And given the fact that many VCs don't understand how to run their own businesses, I'm not sure we'd want to trust their vision for how tech companies can interface with investment management organizations.
