Welcome back to This Week in FinTech and another episode of The FinTech OGs! I’m joined today by two guests whose careers have helped shape the evolution of modern wealth management: Charles Birnbaum, Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, and Cynthia Loh, Managing Vice President at Capital One.

Charles and Cynthia first crossed paths during the early days of Betterment—back when robo-advisors were just starting to redefine how everyday consumers invest. Since then, they’ve spent over a decade building, investing in, and advising some of the most influential fintech companies out there. It’s a great conversation, and I’m excited for you to dive in.

Before we get started, I want to take a moment to thank our sponsors and share something important. 100% of the ad revenue from this episode is going toward Texas Flood Relief. As many of you know, I’m based in Austin—and while my daughter is still too young for sleepaway camp, I have close friends whose kids attend camps along the river that were impacted. This tragedy really hit home.

Both Charles and Cynthia are parents too, and it’s unimaginable what some families are going through. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Now, a quick shoutout to these incredible sponsors—many of you are probably already familiar with them, but just in case:

First up is Lithic, a modern payments infrastructure provider that helps technically ambitious teams build better payment products. Lithic’s technologies span issuing and processing, end-to-end fraud prevention, dispute management, and cardholder support—available as fully managed services or self-serve tools.

👉 Learn more at lithic.com.

Next, we have Rho, the all-in-one banking platform built for startups and the accountants who support them. Thousands of startups are switching to Rho because they need fast account setup, real support (not email queues), and tools that scale. With Rho, you get up to 2% cash back, yield on idle cash, and a finance stack that grows with you.

👉 Head to rho.co/startups to learn more. Rho is a fintech company, not a bank. Banking services are provided by Webster Bank, N.A., Member FDIC.

And finally, Spade. It’s 2025—fintechs can spin up cards in minutes and move money in real time. But most bank statements still show transaction strings like “SQ*STARCoffeeShop123.” That’s where Spade comes in. Their API maps messy transaction data to real business names, categories, and locations, in real time.

👉 Check them out at spade.com.