10 Things You Didn’t Know about Nuno Sebastião
Nuno Sebastião is one of the most prominent entrepreneurs of the modern age. In many ways, he is a jack of all trades and a master of almost all of them. Before he founded Feedzai, a firm that makes one of the most prominent fraud software in the world, he had already done a myriad of other prominent things. Here are ten things you might not have known about Nuno Sebastião.
1. He is an alumnus of The University of Coimbra
The University of Coimbra is one of the oldest and most prestigious public universities in Portugal. It is also one of the oldest and has been around for over 700 years. It was the first and only Portuguese-speaking university in the world up until the early 20th century. The university has such a rich history that in 2013, UNESCO gave it the status of a World Heritage Site because of its significance in scientific culture, both in Europe and in the world. As of 2020, The University of Coimbra was considered the best higher learning institution in Portugal and was ranked 17 in the world, based on the Health and Wellbeing indicator.
2. Nuno was a computer scientist
At The University of Coimbra, Nuno studied computer science and graduated in 2001. In 2006, he was appointed the product manager at the European Space Agency. The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organization that is in charge of developing Europe’s space activities. Nuno was responsible for the development of a Simulator Infrastructure Product at the Operation Center of the organization.
3. He has two Masters degrees
Nuno has had business administration training in the London Business School. In 2009, he graduated with an MBA from the London Business School. He has a Master’s in Entrepreneurship from the UCLA Anderson Scholl of Management. Additionally, he has an undergraduate degree in Computer Science,
4. He worked for one of the Big Four
In 2002, Nuno was employed as a consultant in one of the big four accounting companies, Deloitte. What he did, looking back, was a foresight of what would eventually become his great achievement; he was a consultant on matters data system in the banking sector.
5. Crème de la crème
Between 2013 and 2016, Nuno was a director at the ANJE. ANJE, the National Association of Youth Entrepreneurs, is a private, nonprofit organization movement whose aim is to make sure that young Portuguese entrepreneurs who have common goals and interests can have a platform to share the said ideas and information with one another.
6. He founded Feedzai
From his education as a computer scientist, and with the help of a couple of colleagues he met while working at the European Space Agency, Nuno conceptualized and established Feedzai. Feedzai is an artificial intelligence program that aims at making e-commerce safe. Since entities such as cards and online banking were introduced into the market, fraudulent banking transactions have taken place. As the banking sector integrated into the internet, the number of these fraudulent transactions increased. Feedzai detects, prevents, and remediates the fraudulent risk that institutions have to face. It used machine-based learning to identify patterns in the transaction an individual makes, and when a transaction is made and isn’t in line with the said transactions, the transaction is flagged.
7. He contributed immensely to the growth and development of Feedzai
As CEO of Feedzai, Nuno has been able to accelerate the growth and development of the company in a relatively short period. The company was started in 2011. Over a short time, Nuno had been able to look for over 80 million in funding for his startup company. The funding that he got he put to good use. By 2019, the company had a valuation of 575 million dollars. All this was done with a relatively small workforce of about 200 employees.
8. His company has some big clients
Big organizations, companies, and businesses recognized the potential that Nuno’s company had, and they enrolled as clients almost immediately. One of their largest clients is Lloyd Banking Group. It is one of the largest financial organizations in the United Kingdom with more than 30 million customers. Additionally, Feedzai also has Citi Bank as a client. It is one of the oldest banks in the USA, with over 2500 branches in 19 countries. Feedzai is a premier company in the fraud prevention industry.
9. He has numerous Accolades
Both Nuno Sebastião and his company, over the last couple of years, have received a lot of accolades. Nuno, in 2017, was ranked at number 1 in the 40 under 40 Leader in Portugal. Additionally, he was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year by the London Business School in 2017. Feedzai was listed in the Forbes FinTech 50 list in 2018. Additionally, Forbes ranked it number 15 in its ‘America’s Most Promising Artificial Intelligence Companies’ in 2019. He shares this honor with some of the most influential people in history, such as Stephen Hawking and Steve Wozniak. The Entrepreneur Magazine included the company amongst the top seven startup companies using data in innovative ways in 2015.
10. He is an advisor for Oak Healthcare Information and Services and Financial Services Technology
Oak HC/FT is a Venture Capital and Private Equity that aims to make sure that the Healthcare and Financial industries, and their stakeholders, are provided with board-level participation, access to our extensive network of industry leaders, and strategic counsel. Nuno has been a Senior Advisor in the firm for many years. His role is to share his thoughts on how the future of Artificial Intelligence. This includes in-depth analysis on the means through which AI can be integrated into different industries and used to solve defined and relevant problems, while also making sure that issues such as data security and model bias are addressed. Nuno Sebastião is also multilingual. He can speak four different languages; French, German, English, and Portuguese. Though Portuguese is his first language, he can speak the other three fluently.
