On behalf of the entire a16z team, I am thrilled to welcome David Haber as our newest general partner. I am equally thrilled to say he will be based in New York City, our first full-time GP in Manhattan. As software continues to eat more and more of traditional finance, we are incredibly bullish on this particular region and talent pool as the epicenter of crypto and fintech innovation. New York has long been the financial capital of the world, and there’s no question it will be the fintech capital, too.
David has had a remarkable career. He joined Spark in the early days, finding (amongst other hits!) a little itty bitty company named Plaid, with a clearly articulated thesis (back in 2013) around where fintech was going. He then started a small and mid-sized business (SMB) lending company named Bond Street, where we actually first met when he pitched our firm — and I left the meeting incredibly impressed with his knowledge and passion for the space. Bond Street was acquired by Goldman Sachs, where David subsequently worked in strategy, helping Goldman Sachs remake itself as a technology company.
It’s rare to find an established investor, entrepreneur, and executive in one, much less one so deeply rooted in the NYC ecosystem. Only rarely, if ever, do I encounter a fintech entrepreneur who does not know David. We are excited to have him at the firm to help mentor and invest in the next generation of entrepreneurs as more and more areas of finance get eaten by software.
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