Matt Harris
For 30 years, Matt Harris has been investing in the visionary fintech founders creating seismic changes in payments, lending, capital markets, insurance and real estate. He is particularly interested in backing companies building next-generation embedded fintech tools that will upend traditional banking, lending and B2B payments through increased transparency and security.
Portfolio Highlights
About
Do you have an investment ethos?
BCV isn’t an impact fund (though at Bain Capital we do have a great impact fund!), but it is part of my investment ethos that the companies I invest in should be making a positive difference in the world. That’s how I want to spend my time, for one thing, but in modern capitalism it’s also a critical ingredient in building a company for the ages. Most of the companies in my portfolio fit this ethos, if not all, but I’d call out Justworks as a great example. The company’s mission is to serve entrepreneurs in a way that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion, and the results have been remarkable to watch.
What is compelling about your domain?
The thing I love about fintech is the complexity, and the multi-faceted nature of the space. The ability to think about insurance, lending, payments, and wealth means not only am I never bored, but frankly I’m frequently confused, which is good! I’m definitely still learning.
What is the first company you invested in? Do you have any anecdotes from when you first began working together?
My first investment at BCV was in Billtrust (now public). I was obsessed with B2B payments back then (still am!) and Billtrust had and has this amazing position as the dominant player in Accounts Receivable software. The CEO Flint Lane (one of the best!) wasn’t all that into payments, so when I asked him what the dollar value of the invoices Billtrust sent out each year was, he didn’t know and wasn’t sure why he should care, as they got paid by annual subscription or by invoice, not as a percent of value. I recommended he check anyway, and he came back and gleefully reported that it was over $1 trillion per year. We agreed then and there that we could build an important B2B payments company together.
What do you love about working for Bain Capital Ventures?
I love the people and the culture. I enjoy my partners immensely, and I take enormous joy and pride in watching the more junior investment staff grow into talented investors. I’m downright intimidated by the caliber of talent on our platform team and our support staff and assistants are the best I’ve seen anywhere. I also love being part of the broader Bain Capital. It’s a huge thrill to be able to gain on-the-ground knowledge globally, in dozens of countries, from the Bain Capital network to help make strategic introductions to the founders in our portfolio or get insights from the Bain Capital Macro team to inform our investment decisions, or tap into a Private Equity portfolio company to be an early customer for one of our founders.
What are your interests and passions outside of BCV?
I’m very interested in and passionate about my family, for sure. My wife Jessica and I have six kids, ranging from 3 to 13 years old, and there is never a dull moment. If I ever write a memoir it will be called “Someone Was Always Crying.” That said, instead of writing a memoir, I’d be more likely to write a book on military history. I’ve been reading about military history for decades and can’t get enough of it. Through my brother Dan, I’ve also gotten into meditation and mindfulness, which is his passion, and have found it very useful in our crazy field of endeavor.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Worry less! At any point in time, if you go back and think of the concerns you had 10 years ago, I guarantee you will find them relatively trivial, but somehow you believe that your worries today are worth fretting over. Definitely go ahead and work on your problems, don’t avoid them, but definitely don’t pointlessly worry.
What is a self-care ritual you practice?
Mindfulness meditation, cycling, having my 13-year old walk on my back.
Background
Insights
Portfolio
Justworks
Building a one-stop shop for HR tools, payroll and compliance to remove the busyness from growing a business.
Reserv
Building the claims experience of the future using complex data ingestion and automated coverage decisioning.
GraniteShares
Giving investors innovative, cutting-edge investment solutions as an entrepreneurial ETF provider.
GoCardless
Ushering a new era in payments by eliminating the chasing, stress and fees of one-off and recurring payment collection.
Finix
Increasing revenue and reducing costs with world-class payment experiences for software platforms.
