The dinosaurs are the big corporations and, as a symbol, it has a double meaning. On the one hand, it communicates size and power. Dinosaurs have been the largest creatures that have inhabited the planet, dominating food chains in all geographies. So also financial corporations dominate the value chains in all industries, billing millions of dollars, serving millions of customers in different countries and capturing a high percentage of investments in the securities markets. Some have income equivalent to the GDP of entire countries: in 2014 Axa’s income was equivalent to the GDP of Finland, JP Morgan Chase’s to Colombia’s, Bank of America’s to Poland’s and Wells’ Fargo to South Africa. On the other hand, the dinosaur symbol also communicates danger of extinction. It is believed that the disappearance of the dinosaurs was due to their inability to adapt to a great disruption in the planet after an asteroid that hit the earth - which, by the way, fell in Mexico, specifically on the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Large banks are thought to lack the resilience required to face the technological as- teroid, due to the slowness to implement changes in its operations, the inflexibility of its processes and the aversion to risk of the decision makers. In the financial sector this apparent slowness to adapt is marked by the enormous entry barriers for new players and the strict rules with which they have to play for the sensitivity of the information and risks they manage. The unicorns, on the other hand, are those beautiful white horses with a horn in the forehead, winged and agile, capable of beating animals stronger than them. In the world of 21st century mythology, Aileen Lee - founder of the Seed Capital Fund Cowboy Ventures - began to call unicorns the technology companies that reached valuations of more than 1,000 million dollars in 2012. She noticed that only 0.07% of the companies founded in the 2000s reached that valuation, in such a way that it made them so difficult to find, like unicorns. The term has become so popular that reaching “unicorn” status has become an entre- preneur’s dream and the symbol has extended to represent all new technology-based companies seeking to reach exponential growth. A TWO-WAY PATH 35
Fintech in LATAM | EY | Startupbootcamp FinTech | IPADE Page 34 Page 36