<p>Ross Butler speaks with <strong>Matteo Stefanel</strong> and <strong>Udayan (“Uday”) Goyal</strong>, Co-Founders and Managing Partners of <strong>Apis Partners</strong>, one of the world’s leading growth-equity investors in financial technology.</p><p><br></p><p><br></p><p>Founded in 2014, Apis Partners has built a global fintech franchise by applying M&amp;A discipline to private equity: identify the likely acquirers first, then build the company to fit their strategic blueprint. In this conversation, Matteo and Uday explain how they turned two decades of deal-making experience, from DLJ and Deutsche Bank to advising on Visa, Mastercard, and Worldpay into one of the most distinctive investment models in growth capital.</p><p><br></p><p>They discuss:</p><ul><li><p><strong>How Apis built credibility as a first-time fund manager</strong>, raising $290m at launch and scaling to a multi-fund global platform.<br></p></li><li><p><strong>The importance of the network as an asset, </strong>relationships forged over 20 years now drive sourcing, diligence, talent, and exits.<br></p></li><li><p><strong>“Exit-first” investing, </strong>designing portfolio companies around known strategic buyers and building to a defined market demand.<br></p></li><li><p><strong>Why 2025 marks the most disruptive moment in financial services history</strong>, as stablecoins, micropayments, and decentralised rails reshape how money moves.<br></p></li><li><p><strong>The rise of agentic AI</strong>, where your personal financial assistant will soon negotiate directly with your bank’s AI.<br></p></li><li><p><strong>Embedded finance and the subscription economy</strong>, from iPhones to autos, where distribution and customer ownership, not balance sheet, define value.<br></p></li><li><p><strong>The democratisation of wealth</strong>, as technology opens private-market access to a broader investor base while raising new questions about fairness, data, and risk.<br></p></li></ul><p>“Finance will be invisible, stitched into every product, every experience.”</p><p><br></p><p>This is a forward-looking discussion about what comes after banking, where technology, capital, and human behaviour converge to redefine how financial systems work and who benefits from them.</p><p><br></p><p>🎧 Watch the full conversation at<a href="http://www.fund-shack.com" target="_blank" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer"> <strong>www.fund-shack.com</strong></a> </p><p><br></p><p>Follow Fund Shack on <strong>YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts</strong> for more conversations with the people shaping private markets and the future of finance.<br>🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹Thank you to our episode partnerBrookfield’s Private Equity Group: A Global leader in acquiring and driving operational transformation in industrials and essential business services.For more information, visit: www.brookfield.com/it-takes-industry🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹💼 Learn more at: 🌐 www.apis.pe🎙️Matteo Stefanel Managing Partner &amp; Co-Founder, Apis PartnersLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matteostefanel/🎙️Udayan GoyalManaging Partner &amp; Co-Founder, Apis PartnersLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ugoyal/Ross ButlerFounder and Host Fund Shack 🌐 www.fund-shack.comCONNECT on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/rossbutler1/🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹 📩 Subscribe to our Substack: https://privateequitypodcastfundshack.substack.com/ 📘 Pre-order Ross Butler’s book </p><p>Invest Like a Barbarian</p><p>http://q-r.to/Invest-Like-A-Barbarian</p><p>🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹</p><p><br></p><p>00:00 Fintech revolution begins, Apis Partners ranked global #201:45 Meet Apis Partners, fintech growth investors Matteo Stefanel &amp; Udayan Goyal<br>03:06 From Wall Street to growth capital, building a fintech platform<br>05:01 Relationships as alpha networks turned into exits07:56 Exit-first model designing for strategic buyers11:24 Value creation buy-and-build and customer access16:21 Partnering with founders, trust and alignment18:20 Stablecoins &amp; 24-hour liquidity, treasury reinvented23:54 Micropayments &amp; continuous finance, real-time money flow<br>27:27 Agentic AI, automation reshaping financial services<br>31:15 Embedded finance &amp; subscriptions, banking disappears36:52 Who owns the customer, brands vs banks42:46 Finance as social engine,from UBI to capital ownership47:00 Democratising wealth, opening private-market access50:20 Bitcoin vs stablecoins, new financial infrastructure<br>54:28 the future of finance</p>