EP52: The $200M fintech building the world's most planet-friendly bank - Aspiration
Guest
Andrei Cherny
Role
Co-Founder and CEO
Flagship Product
An impact-oriented banking alternative
HQ
Marina Del Rey, CA
Background
When most people think about taking on climate change, we think about things like recycling and reuse. Hardly ever do we look at the financial firms powering our cards - the legacy institutions who’ve in many ways financed some of the most notorious greenhouse emitters in the world. Did you know the world’s largest banks have funneled more than $2.6 trillion into fossil fuels since the Paris agreement?
Solution
Enter Aspiration, the world’s first explicitly socially and environmentally-conscious neobank. From plant-a-tree round ups to Impact Scores, sustainability is the through-line that connects all of Aspiration’s financial products and services.
Episode Brief
Aspirations Co-Founder and CEO Andrei Cherny joins us on this week’s episode to discuss:
How big banks contribute to climate change
How he and his team are rethinking the banking model
Prioritizing sustainability across all of their financial services
Their “Pay What Is Fair” fee model
Enabling 10% cash back on purchases from “impact partners”
Rounding up purchases and planting over 1M trees
His journey from VP Al Gore’s speechwriter to running a bank
Credits
HOST
Peter Levin
PRODUCTION
Dan Mahoney
MUSIC
Eddie Knuckles