'There's been huge investment in point solutions, but they don't exist long term': Jay Dearborn, Wex

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast. I’m Tearsheet’s editor in chief, Zack Miller. For publicly traded fintechs at scale, Wex is an interesting one. Combining a fuel card business with corporate payments and a healthcare offering, the firm has found a way to grow consistently over a couple of decades. Strategically, the firm is looking at synergies in its businesses – it recently launched Flume, a B2B digital wallet. And, it’s looking strongly at M&A opportunities as valuations come down in this market. Jay Dearborn, Wex’s chief strategy officer, joins me on the podcast today to talk about the state of the market – namely, where there are opportunities for new products and acquisitions. Jay talks about the dynamics around revaluing fintechs – he doesn’t believe that it will ever really be a buyer’s market, but he does see the need for companies to get profitable – or at the least, be able to persuasively thread a story about what the path to profitability looks like. Jay Dearborn is my guest on the Tearsheet Podcast.