As the macroeconomic landscape changes and startup valuations adjust, financial services companies face new questions about where to spend their funds. Both investors and founders find themselves asking questions about what future funding will look like, which fintech niches are the most promising, and how startups can thrive with tighter funding restrictions.
At FinovateFall 2025 in New York, Citi’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Investments, Mary Joseph, shared her perspective on these trends with William Mills, CEO of The William Mills Agency. During the conversation, Joseph shared her outlook on current funding dynamics, sector leadership, and what founders should consider as they build resiliency and relevance into their businesses.
I think there was a time when companies could raise and raise and raise and spend and spend and spend, and the view was that, you know, at some point in the future, investors would be able to recoup that investment, right? Because the IPO market was hot, we were seeing more mergers and acquisitions. That’s not the case now, right? So we need to see companies that are really strong in terms of what they’re offering to the market.
Mary Joseph leads Citi’s global investments in fintech and B2B SaaS startups, focusing on opportunities that enhance Treasury and Trade Solutions and broaden the bank’s technology ecosystem. Before her current role, she worked within Citi’s Investment Banking fintech M&A advisory team and also served as a venture investor at GreenHouse Capital, where she focused on early-stage fintech innovation across Africa and the Middle East. She holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a BA from Columbia University.
Citi is a strategic player in fintech investment. Through its strategic investments arm, Citi aims to partner with companies that complement its core banking and corporate finance services, while also helping startups gain access to enterprise scale and regulated banking capabilities.
Photo by Tima Miroshnichenko
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