Deepak Gupta, EVP at Volante Technologies

Today we're meeting Deepak Gupta, EVP of Engineering, Product, and Services at Volante Technologies. They specialise in being a global leader in Payments as a Service (PaaS). They're the trusted cloud payments modernisation partner to financial businesses worldwide, giving them the freedom to evolve and innovate at record speed.

Over to you Deepak - my questions are in bold:

Who are you and what's your background?

I'm Deepak, EVP of Engineering, Product and Services at Volante Technologies. My background in enterprise software and cloud computing gave me the foundation for problem-solving, but it was my time transforming traditional software companies that fundamentally shaped my approach to fintech challenges.

My early career taught me that technology should simplify rather than complicate – a principle that's stayed with me across multiple executive roles. The real turning point came during my time as Chief Architect of Oracle's SaaS business units, where I led a fundamental shift from traditional software delivery to cloud-native solutions.

What fascinated me then, and continues to drive me now, is the power of technology when it's designed with genuine customer challenges at its core. I saw brilliant solutions buried under layers of technical debt and customer frustration. It became obvious to me that financial technology needed a fundamentally different approach.

That realisation has fuelled my path through leadership positions at CoreLogic, Workstream, and iSpheres, with my role at Volante representing the most recent and, I believe, most impactful yet.

What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?

As EVP of Engineering, Product, and Services at Volante Technologies, I orchestrate the full spectrum of our solution delivery ecosystem – from product conception through development, deployment, and ongoing support.

On a daily basis, my focus remains locked on three interconnected priorities: improving product quality and development velocity, growing our license and services ARR, and enhancing margins while dramatically elevating the customer experience; both in Net Promoter Scores and overall reference ability.

Although we've succeeded as a disrupter in payments beyond our wildest dreams, I'm acutely aware that as a leader in this space, other companies will be seeking to disrupt us. That's why I am adamant about instilling a "think like a startup" culture at Volante. You don't need a big budget or a large team to achieve extraordinary results. You need a strong company culture of curiosity and fearless execution. That is what we prioritise at Volante. That is what undoubtedly keeps us ahead.

Can you give us an overview of your business?

At Volante Technologies, we're on a mission to simplify and modernise the payments industry. We empower financial institutions with low-code, end-to-end payment processing, eliminating complexity, reducing costs, and enhancing customer experiences.

Innovation is our pledge. Honouring this commitment has seen us expand our platform to include ISO 20022 service capabilities as well as the launch of Volante Payments Intelligence. We're seeing these advancements address a plethora of real-world challenges, particularly those posed by real-time payments, ISO 20022 migration, and the digitisation of payment flows.

Specifically, Volante Payments Intelligence equips financial institutions with greater visibility and control to stay ahead of the curve. By combining historical and real-time payments data with actionable insights, we enable banks to optimise operations, sharpen strategic planning, and track performance with precision.

The payments landscape isn't slowing down – it's building pace, and we're keeping our customers on track for lap leadership.

Tell us how you are funded?

From day one, our co-founders made a bold choice to build Volante on their own terms. Instead of chasing early funding, our founders bootstrapped the business with self-financing, which saw them take out mortgages on their own homes. Volante's first office was a Starbucks!

We spent the first two years developing what today is called a low-code, cloud-native platform, despite those buzzwords not existing at the time.

The market took notice. We landed our first customer shortly after, and within four years we closed our first million-dollar deal. The rest, as they say, is history - that milestone enabled us to raise our first round of growth capital in 2020, on our own terms. The company is still majority owned by myself and my co-founders.

We most recently secured funding from Sixth Street, with renewed participation from Wavecrest Growth Partners and Wells Fargo Strategic Capital. This latest round builds on previous funding milestones, in addition to investments from industry giants, such as BNY Mellon, Citi, Poste Italiane, and Visa Ventures.

What's the origin story? Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?

Volante was born in the aftermath of 9/11 and the dot-com crash – there were inefficiencies in payments infrastructure exposed during this time, stifling recovery efforts and business bounce back. Legacy systems were at play and were on a mission to combat the inefficiencies bubbling away.

Volante started in 2oo1 with a defined vision: to make the complex simple. We quickly observed the power of this approach during the Global Financial Crisis in 2008-09, when our customers weathered the storm and emerged stronger, leveraging our automated payments processing platform.

Still to this day, Volante's 'simplicity' ethos is at the core of everything we do. Financial institutions work smarter, not harder with us.

Who are your target customers? What's your revenue model?

We serve some of the largest banks in the world – Citi, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo – alongside mid-tier institutions, such as Lakeside and Southstate. All of these financial institutions and corporates come to us with a common goal: to escape the constraints of legacy systems and modernise their payments infrastructure,

Our SaaS revenue model offers them a pay-as-you-go service – no massive upfront costs, no wasted investment. They use only as much as they need and tap the parts of our solution directly relevant to them.

And we can tangibly demonstrate our impact. Volante enabled a major US bank to process the first real-time payment transaction. Another customer became the world's first 100 per cent cloud transaction bank. We are very proud of the innovation we've helped unlock with financial institutions across the globe.

If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?

I would eliminate the inertia surrounding legacy systems. Too often, financial institutions hesitate to modernise, fearing the complexity and cost of change. With the right solutions, this transition doesn't have to be daunting – it can be transformative.

I'd also reframe how banks and financial institutions approach technology. Risk and compliance matter, but banks cannot stagnate at this very cost. They can strike a balance.

But our great financial powerhouses must start thinking – at least in part – like fintechs. If they don't, they will be displaced by them.

Consider lending. In 2014, fintechs only originated around five per cent of unsecured consumer loans. By 2023, this was up to 26.5 per cent, over a quarter. That is business that FIs have lost. The same thing could happen in payments.

What is your message for the larger players in the Financial Services marketplace?

Think big but act fast. The financial landscape is changing rapidly, and success requires not only 'big' vision but also relentless agility. Emerging technologies such as AI aren't just tools for automation – they can be a catalyst for revolutionising risk management, customer engagement, and operational efficiency.

Fear not, this can be achieved while preserving compliance and negating risk. Volante's journey has shown that even in a highly regulated, complex industry, a culture of adaptability and collaboration can unlock new opportunities. The financial institutions that thrive are compliant, but they are also agile, proactive, and built to unlock new avenues for growth.

In short, the message for larger players is clear: tune into the issues that concern your customers, ensure robust compliance, and stay agile through processes and technology. Those that do will lead. Those that don't will be disrupted.

Where do you get your Financial Services/FinTech industry news from?

I rely on FFNews and Finextra as my go-to sources for staying current on fintech trends and industry developments. These publications offer the perfect balance of breaking news, deeper analysis, and thought leadership content that helps me understand both immediate shifts and longer-term industry trajectories.

Beyond these, I find real value in directly engaging with our customers and partners. Their firsthand perspectives on market challenges often reveal emerging trends before they become widely recognised in the industry press.

Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech and/or Financial Services sector that we should be following on LinkedIn, and why?

The most influential voices in fintech aren't always the loudest ones in the industry's echo chamber. I'm drawn to leaders who consistently demonstrate they can see around corners, anticipating where the market is heading.

• Warren Buffett - While he may not have a LinkedIn profile, his investment philosophy translates directly to fintech strategy. His focus on sustainable competitive advantages and long-term value creation offers critical lessons for any fintech leader navigating market volatility.
• Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase - As CEO of America's largest bank, Dimon offers a unique perspective on the intersection of traditional banking and fintech innovation. His annual shareholder letters are essential reading for understanding how established institutions approach technological disruption.
• Sam Altman, OpenAI - Though his focus is more on than fintech, Altman's insights on technology adoption and market transformation are incredibly relevant. When he does speak on financial services, his commentary is often prescient about where AI will create the next wave of disruption.

What FinTech services (and/or apps) do you personally use?

My go-to fintech app is PhonePe, India's payments powerhouse that processes nearly as much dollar volume annually as PayPal and considerably more than Venmo. Here's the staggering reality: roughly 39% of India's entire GDP flows through PhonePe annually.

What sets PhonePe apart isn't just scale, it's transformation. This platform has fundamentally revolutionised how both consumers and businesses handle commerce across India. Too many fintech apps offer "me too" functionality or solve nice-to-have problems. PhonePe represents game-changing technology that actually moves the needle on economic activity.

That's the standard I hold all fintech solutions to - not just convenience, but genuine market transformation.

What's the best new FinTech product or service you've seen recently?

I pay close attention to B2B apps and value-added services that take advantage of new real-time payments capabilities like RTP and FedNow in the US and SEPA instant in Europe. I'm also always on the lookout for services that help businesses extract more value from the emerging ISO 20022 data standard.

Bank of New York's Integrated Payables Service allows businesses to make payments and issue bills and requests for payments in real-time 24x7, across multiple networks including RTP, FedNow, and Zelle. It's an amazing service made even more accessible by their APIs which make their treasury services accessible to developers everywhere.

Standard Bank's PayShap also deserves a shoutout - this is a real-time payment service designed for both consumers and businesses that allows instant real-time 24x7 transfers on mobile devices using phone numbers.

South State Bank's real-time payment service was one of the first to offer both RTP and FedNow - and it's ideal for businesses looking for secure alternatives to checks and digital wallets.

Finally, let's talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?

The boundaries between B2B and B2C payments are vanishing. Businesses expect the same seamless, instant experiences they get as consumers – think Uber or Deliveroo, but for corporate transactions.

This isn't a new desire, but a gap in experience persists. Real-time settlements and frictionless processes are set to propel. AI is the catalyst, accelerating transformation in know-your-customer and process ease. This means banks and financial institutions stand at a crossroads – one that will drive them to ditch outdated, siloed systems. Rather, they will need to embrace customer-centricity and adopt a quick ability to access liquidity, manage risk, and execute transactions.

Incremental transformation – replacing ageing infrastructures such as ACH, wires, and SWIFT with microservices-based ecosystems – will allow these institutions to reduce inefficiencies, control costs, and outpace the competition.

Besides, they face a dual challenge: modernising their payment systems to meet these evolving demands while managing risk and cost. And within a landscape of ongoing economic uncertainty, gradual transformation will offer a practical path forward for those bold enough to cease innovative opportunity, while managing risk.

Thank you very much, Deepak!

Read more about Deepak on LinkedIn and find out more about Volante Technologies at volantetech.com.