Greycroft Partner, Alison Lange Engel – Backing Unicorns, Building Trust, & Fintech VC!

Wharton FinTech Podcast

Miguel Armaza sits down with Alison Lange Engel, Venture Partner at Greycroft, a leading venture capital firm focused on investments in the Internet and mobile markets, with offices in New York City and LA. Greycroft manages over $2 billion and has made over 200 investments, including some leading fintech companies like Acorns, Venmo, Flutterwave, and Public. Alison works across the Greycroft portfolio, advising companies on go-to-market strategy, execution, and sourcing new investments. She’s also a proud MBA alum from our very own Wharton School. We discuss - Her operator background at companies like LinkedIn, Microsoft and Stripe - A deep dive into her experience as Head of Marketing at Stripe - Transitioning to the investing side - Greycroft’s story, investment thesis, and what defines their portfolio companies - Why Alison and Greycroft are bullish on the future of consumer fintech - Inside stories on fast-growing portfolio companies - And a lot more! Alison Lange Engel Alison Lange Engel is a Venture Partner at Greycroft. She works across the Greycroft portfolio, advising companies on go-to-market strategy and execution and sourcing new investments. Alison has 20+ years of experience leading, structuring, and scaling high growth businesses. She’s managed teams throughout North America, Europe, Brazil, and Asia. Prior to Greycroft, Alison was the first CMO at Stripe and worked to establish the marketing function, scaling the team 5x in one year and driving quantified growth. Prior to Stripe, Alison was a Vice President of Marketing at LinkedIn. In her 6 years at LinkedIn, she had a broad impact on LinkedIn’s advertising business strategy and execution, with overall company revenue growing from $200MM at IPO in 2011 to $5Bn+ today. Alison’s early career in technology started with the sale of Massive Incorporated, a venture-backed video game advertising business, to Microsoft in 2006. She held marketing leadership roles at Microsoft Advertising for 3 years. Prior to her career in technology, Alison was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, focused on Media, Entertainment and Consumer sectors. Her media background includes HBO and the CBS Television Network, where she held sales and programming roles. Alison has a BA from UCLA and an MBA from The Wharton School. About Greycroft Greycroft is a seed-to-growth venture capital firm that partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build transformative companies. The firm has deep experience in both consumer and enterprise technology, with a portfolio that spans the globe. Greycroft values building enduring relationships with founders and understands that they want more from investors than just capital. Greycroft has raised $2 billion in commitments and has over 200 active investments. The portfolio includes Acorns, Anine Bing, App Annie, Axios, Bird, BetterCloud, Braintree, Bright Health, Buddy Media, Bumble, Flutterwave, Goop, Happiest Baby, Huffington Post, Icertis, Lightricks, Maker Studios, Medly, Openpath, Scopely, SEMrush, Shipt, TheRealReal, Thrive Market, Trunk Club, Venmo, and Yeahka. For more FinTech insights, follow us below: Medium: medium.com/wharton-fintech WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech Miguel's Twitter: twitter.com/MiguelArmaza Miguel's Substack: https://bit.ly/3jWIpqp