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Simon Taylor
Strategy & Content Leader at Sardine, Co-Founder of 11:FS
Simon Taylor is a prominent figure in the fintech and cryptocurrency industries, currently serving as the Head of Strategy & Content at Sardine, a behavior-based fraud, compliance, and payments platform.3 Here are some key details about Simon Taylor's background and experience:
Career Highlights
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Current Role: Head of Strategy & Content at Sardine since June 20223
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Advisory Role: Advisory Council Member and Founder at Global Digital Finance since February 201814
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Banking Experience: Worked at Barclays as Blockchain R+D VP (2014-2016) and VP Mobile Delivery (2013-2014)14
Expertise and Contributions
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Advises governments, regulators, and major financial institutions on innovation and technology adoption, particularly in web32
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Co-host of popular fintech podcasts "Fintech Insider" and "Blockchain Insider"2
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Writes a well-known fintech blog called "Fintech Brainfood"3
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Consistently voted one of the most influential people in Banking, Insurance, and Fintech2
Background
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Education: HND in Software Engineering from Bradford College (2000-2003)14
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Early Career: Started as a Business Analyst at BT Global Services in 200014
Simon Taylor is known for his extensive experience in financial services, blockchain technology, and fintech innovation. His career has spanned roles in major banks, startups, and advisory positions, making him a respected voice in the industry.
Highlights
Klarna has filled for IPO in the US.
This is interesting for a handful of reasons
- It picked the US not Europe (its home)
- It could be the dam breaking for Fintech IPOs in 2025
- It's an incredible comeback story from a massive down-round to multi-billion IPO
👀 ICYMI: Klarna submitted its paperwork to the SEC on November 12th. There are reports of a $20bn valuation, but Klarna hasn't announced pricing or the number of shares on offer. Klarna claims 85 million customers and over 575,000 merchants. The company delivered its first adjusted profit in the first half of 2024.
🧠 The US is the logical place for a firm with large US presence to list.
- The US stock market tends to be much kinder to tech companies than the UK or European stock exchanges.
- Adyen and Wise are notable exceptions, but even UK companies like ARM listed on NASDAQ.
- Europe HAS to get its act together to capture growth companies in the future.
🧠 Announcing now, as tech and finance stocks are up is great timing.
- Klarna has got a lot of PR mileage out of its AI usage, but its timing on profitability and the market cycle is ideal.
- Investors in 2023 were bearish on Fintech generally, we saw no IPOs. But as the index has improved so has investor sentiment, maximizing the chances of a strong launch.
🧠 What a comeback story.
- Klarna once valued at over $45bn, dropped to $6.7bn during Fintech winter, only to be recently revalued by an investor closer to $14bn and potentially IPO at $20bn.
- That's a massive number.
🧠 BNPL is one of the best and most true disruptive innovations in Fintech
- I've written before that BNPL based on all available data I've seen is less bad than revolving credit lines (like credit cards) and WAY better than pay day loans.
- Things can still go wrong of course, as they can with any product, but I think the BNPL = bad crowd have now firmly lost the debate.
🧠 Nobody is talking about BNPL and fraud.
- Anything that allows more frictionless commerce is a fraud risk.
- A common use case is wardrobing (buy, wear once, send back without ever risking cash). But there's also more sophisticated attacks.
- The industry will react well to this, but merchants now need to figure out where BNPL and other non card methods (like pay by bank) fit in their payments and risk strategy.
Kudos to everyone at Klarna for making it here. Game on!
More pay by bank in the wild.
This time in the UK 👇
(Just Eat is Doordash for the UK) https://t.co/nEROCawPvq
