Quona Capital Managing Partner Monica Brand Engel has spent more than a decade investing in financial inclusion across emerging markets. She joins this season’s host, Accion Ventures Managing Partner Rahil Rangwala, to talk about a shift underway in fintech: the move from building individual consumer products to building the infrastructure that lets those products reach scale.
Monica explains Quona’s one-to-many thesis, which backs the back-end systems that many alternative lenders can use to clear operational bottlenecks. From fund administration in Brazil to banking-as-a-service in India, the conversation covers how this infrastructure expands access to financial services and what it takes for founders to build it.
Episode highlights:
- The shift from pure play fintech to the development of public infrastructure, like Pix in Brazil and UPI in India.
- The multiplier effect of infrastructure and how it allows for greater impact with the same amount of capital.
- Case studies of infrastructure plays like Kanastra and Shivalik that are solving critical operational hurdles.
- What’s required of infrastructure founders, including deep domain expertise and regulatory fluency.
- The future of the financial stack, including the integration of agentic AI and blockchain to drive capital efficiency.
To learn more about Quona Capital, visit their website. Learn more about Accion Ventures on our website and LinkedIn.
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