Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital — Investing in Fintech Gems
Miguel Armaza sits down with Charles Moldow, General Partner at Foundation Capital, a legendary Venture Capital firm founded in 1995 that has raised nine funds, received over $3B in committed capital, has seen 28 IPOs, and over 80 acquisitions from their portfolio companies.
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Charles has been at Foundation since 2005, having led impressive investments like Uber, LendingClub, OnDeck, and Rappi. Before Foundation, he lived the startup journey and was part of the founding team of two high-profile startups with successful exits in 97 and 2006. He is also a proud alum of our amazing Wharton School!
We discuss:
- Charles experience as an operator and entrepreneur through the dotcom bubble and why he eventually transitioned to the investing side
- The thought process behind his investment strategy and reflections on some early mistakes as a venture capitalist
- All things Fintech, including trends he’s most excited about
- Foundation’s impressive track record and their secret behind this success
- Why he’s particularly excited about the entrepreneurial scene in Latin America
- And a lot more!
Charles Moldow
Charles current portfolio contains fintech breakouts and emerging direct to consumer businesses. Fintech investments include StatesTitle, HealthIQ, LendingHome, Auxomoney, OneFinance, Hatch, Branch, Canopy, Agentero, Deepfraud and Decent. Direct to consumer businesses include Rappi, Rover, NextRoll and Clubhouse. Charles has seen four portfolio companies go public with Uber, LendingClub, OnDeck and Everyday Health. He has also managed nine companies through acquisition: Powerset by Microsoft, Motif by Schwab, Coverwallet by Aon, Finxera by Stonepoint Capital, Xoopit by Yahoo!, CloudOn by Dropbox, Zoomer by GrubHub, Refresh by LinkedIn and Bureau of Trade by Ebay.
In 2016, CB Insights listed Charles among The Top 100 Venture Capitalists, and Forbes named Charles to the Midas List for the second time — citing among other factors his deep experience in all things marketplace lending. Charles attended the 2016 White House FinTech Summit, one year after publishing “A Trillion Dollar Market by the People, For the People,” which became the authoritative must-read on the potential of and challenges facing the marketplace lending industry. The paper has been downloaded more than 30,000 times and has frequently been cited by leading thinkers in finance and the media.
Before joining Foundation Capital, Charles lived the startup journey. He served on the founding team of two high-profile startups: first, the internet service provider @Home Network and, subsequently, the speech-recognition platform Tellme Networks. Both companies’ sales surpassed $100 million by the time of their successful exits. @Home Network went public in 1997, and Tellme was acquired by Microsoft for $760M in 2006.
Charles has always gravitated toward promising new enterprises. In 1989, three years into his tenure in Merril Lynch’s M&A practice, he co-founded OnTime Guide, which soon replaced the OAG Pocket Flight Guide as the must-have resource for frequent fliers (and which has since been fully eclipsed by your smartphone). Charles also launched PrimeTime Partners in 1989 in an effort to establish a new category of self-liquidating promotions for advertisers and direct marketers.
Charles builds companies that change markets. He’s always on the lookout for startups working on the next generation of FinTech, Marketplaces, SAAS and consumer tech solutions and services.
Charles is an alumnus of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and the Harvard Business School.
A regular commentator on emerging enterprises and markets, Charles has appeared on CNBC, authored opinion pieces for top-tier tech and business publications, and been featured in articles by USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, and others. Charles has been a featured speaker at a number of conferences, including eMoney Conference and Money2020. At Money2020, he presented extensive research on Millennials’ finances, spending habits, and attitudes toward financial technology mobile applications.
Charles moonlights as a AAA little league coach and family vacation planner.
About Foundation Capital
Foundation Capital was founded in 1995. As an early-stage venture capital firm, Foundation has lived through the emergence of the World Wide Web, the IT war of the 90s, the dot-com bubble, Web 2.0, the mobile revolution, the Great Recession, the rise of Big Data, software’s ascension to the cloud, and the birth of blockchain. The wisdom of those experiences remains with the company, transmitted to each successive generation of partners. Two-thirds of VC firms never make it past their first fund; only 10 percent survive beyond their fourth. Foundation is 25 years and nine funds strong, with over $3B in committed capital, 28 IPOs, and 80+ acquisitions to their name. Their fintech, enterprise, and consumer investments have reinvented industries and defined new markets, with companies that include Lending Club, Sunrun, TubeMogul, Chegg, and Netflix. For a quarter of a century — through boom and bust, prosperity or calamity — Foundation Capital has endured, evolved, and thrived. Building companies is in their bones.
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Miguel Armaza is Co-Host of the Wharton Fintech Podcast and Co-Founder of Gilgamesh Ventures, a seed-stage investment fund focused on fintech in the Americas.
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