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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Business Insider Intelligence is launching its brand new Banking coverage in early September.</li><li>To obtain a free preview of our Banking Briefing, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=content_marketing&amp;itm_campaign=report_teaser&amp;itm_content=top_text&amp;itm_term=bii_subscription_text_link-banking-as-a-service-platform-providers">please click here</a>.</li></ul>Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a key component to open banking, in which banks open up their systems and allow third parties to access their data to enhance their own services. This growing market is transforming retail banking, reshaping incumbents' relationships with customers, and easing entry for fintechs. The UK is leading the open banking movement with regulatory efforts that are reverberating throughout the world. Countries across continents have introduced open banking regulations of their own, indicating that the financial services industry is moving toward an era where sharing data and infrastructure will be table stakes. Here are the top companies already implementing BaaS strategies, broken out into two main categories: <ul><li>Pure BaaS Providers</li><li>Retail Banks w/ BaaS Services</li></ul><h1>Pure BaaS Providers</h1><h2>solarisBank</h2>solarisBank bills itself as a "tech company with a banking license." The Berlin-based startup holds a German banking license and provides a BaaS platform that enables businesses to offer fully digital and compliant white labeled financial services to their end-customers. Founded in 2016, solarisBank's lets customers seamlessly integrate financial services into their offerings through modern RESTful APIs. The team is focused on building fully automated processes, providing nearly invisible infrastructure to end users, and creating a global digital ecosystem for customers to build their own scalable banking products. The company boasts nearly 60 global corporate clients, and closed a €56.6 million ($62.7 million) Series B funding round in early 2018 that included investments from BBVA, Visa, SBI Group, and Lakestar. Some of solarisBank's customers include: <ul><li>Kontist</li><li>Börse Stuttgart</li><li>Smava</li><li>Trade Republic</li><li>Tomorrow</li><li>Al Baraka Bank</li></ul>Learn more about <a href="https://www.solarisbank.com/en/">solarisBank</a>. <h2>Bankable</h2>Bankable is a London-based startup focused on enabling incumbent financial institutions, fintechs, and other corporations to bring new payments solutions to market. Its BaaS solutions include a virtual ledger manager, digital banking, payment card programs, and e-wallets. Its end-to-end payment services are accessible via an interoperable proprietary platform that's PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standards) certified and hosted in Tier-4 data centers for advanced security. Bankable helps its partners meet the technological and regulatory challenges of developing disruptive financial services. In April of 2019, Bankable announced a partnership with Visa to accelerate its digital banking solutions. Some of Bankable's customers include: <ul><li>Spendesk</li><li>ABN Amro (Money you)</li><li>Kard</li></ul>Learn more about <a href="https://www.bnkbl.com/">Bankable</a>. <h2>Treezor</h2>Treezor is a white label core banking platform that operates as a "one-stop shop payment solution" both receiving and issuing payments. The firm facilitates payment management by enabling its 30 licensed and unlicensed fintech clients to provide their customers personalized credit cards and dedicated International Bank Account Numbers (IBANs). Founded in 2015, the Paris-based startup is accredited by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (ACPR), and is a member of the <keyword id="6368201" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="mastercard">Mastercard</keyword> and SEPA networks. Treezor was acquired by Societe Generale in 2018 to accelerate the parent company's open innovation strategy.Some of Treezor's fintech clients include: <ul><li>Lydia</li><li>Qonto</li><li>Compte CO2</li></ul>Learn more about <a href="https://www.treezor.com/en/">Treezor</a>. <h2>11:FS Foundry</h2>UK-based SaaS/PaaS company 11:FS Foundry is in the process of developing a platform to offer core banking capabilities leveraging tech that eliminates the need to choose between agility and scalability. The firm is looking to make core banking upgrades and overhauls - historically seen as high risk, high cost, and, frankly, to be avoided - much more attractive and scalable for clients by diminishing cost, time to market, and barriers of archaic infrastructure. In mid-2019 the firm, which launched a year earlier as a subsidiary of 11:FS, announced that its investment partner and first lending client, DNB, had committed a second round of funding to the project. Learn more about <a href="https://11fs.com/digital-financial-services/11fs-foundry">11:FS Foundry</a>. <h2>Cambr</h2>Formed in 2018 from a partnership between Q2 and StoneCastle, Cambr boasts a full-stack banking service and the nation's largest distributed deposit platform (StoneCastle's network of over 800 community banks). Although it does not offer completely turnkey BaaS solutions like some of its competitors, Cambr offers the necessary underlying infrastructure by playing to the strengths of its founding partner companies: extensive industry experience, robust technology assets, and strategic banking relationships. The company currently offers basic deposit accounts, compliance, payments, banking, and debit cards. Some of Cambr's customers include: <ul><li>Qapital</li><li>MoneyLion</li></ul>Learn more about <a href="https://cambr.com/">Cambr</a>. <h2>ClearBank</h2><keyword id="164761" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="WorldPay">WorldPay</keyword> founder Nick Ogden unveiled UK-based ClearBank in 2017 after three years of secretly working on the project. The "bank for banks" provides no services to consumers - instead enabling financial service providers, FCA-regulated businesses, and fintechs to build their own solutions and services. ClearBank is notably the UK's first new clearing bank in 250 years, and aims to transform the clearing bank experience and create a new level of open competition and transparency in the UK market. Its technology stack transforms the ability for financial institutions to provide current accounts to their customers, resulting in faster, more efficient payments, and financial inclusion. The firm provides agency banking services including secure access to core banking solutions, payment schemes and systems, all operated within a liquidity-managed account. Some of ClearBank's clients include: <ul><li>Tide </li><li>Oaknorth </li><li>Nationwide </li><li>Dozens </li></ul>Learn more about <a href="https://www.clear.bank/">ClearBank</a>. <h1>BaaS Providers w/ Retail Banking Services</h1><h2><keyword id="8280870" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Starling-Bank">Starling Bank</keyword></h2>In October 2018, Starling Bank CEO Anne Boden authored a <a href="https://www.starlingbank.com/blog/platformification-of-banking-industry/">company blog post</a> announcing "the death of transaction banking" and, in turn, the firm's entrance into the BaaS and Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) space. With its pioneering BaaS offering, Starling has opened its APIs to enable banks, fintechs, retailers, and brands to use its banking license to develop customized financial products such as savings or current accounts and debit cards. Some of Starling Bank's BaaS and PaaS clients include: <ul><li>Raisin UK</li><li>Ditto</li><li>UK Department for Work and Pensions</li><li>Xero</li><li>Telleroo</li><li>Vitesse</li><li>PelicanPay</li></ul>Learn more about <a href="https://www.starlingbank.com/">Starling Bank</a>. <h2>Fidor Bank</h2>Fidor Bank is a German digital-only challenger bank that helps financial, retail, and telecom businesses bring their digital banking concepts to life. The startup provides turnkey white label banking solutions covering bank license across Europe, technology, compliance, risk management, go-to-market strategy, and customer service. Fidor designs, tests, and builds its clients' digital banking projects into its full-service proprietary digital banking platform fidorOS (fOS). Customers can also build a unique customer experience on top of Fidor's APIs if they choose. Some of Fidor's clients include: <ul><li>O2 Telefonica</li><li>ADIB</li><li>Van Lanschot</li></ul>In 2017 Fidor Solutions and Fidor Bank were acquired by Groupe BPCE. Learn more about <a href="https://www.fidor.com/">Fidor Bank</a>. <h2>Green Dot</h2>After making a name for itself as the leading provider of prepaid debit cards and, later, mobile banking technology and tax refund disbursement processing, Pasadena-based "branchless" bank Green Dot joined the ranks of BaaS companies in Q1 2019. The fintech's platform provides end-to-end infrastructure for managing a banking or payments program at scale. Green Dot saw immediate returns after the initial BaaS launch, posting a 6% increase year-over-year in total operating revenue from Q1 2018. CEO Steve Streit attributed the bank's spike in active accounts primarily to its BaaS programs and partnerships, which added 420,000 new active accounts in Q1 2019. Some of Green Dot's BaaS customers include: <ul><li>Uber</li><li>Walmart</li><li>PayPal</li><li>Stash</li><li>Apple Pay Cash</li><li>Pangaea</li><li>EasyCorp</li></ul>Learn more about <a href="https://www.greendot.com/">Green Dot</a>. <h2>BBVA</h2>BaaS isn't just for startups and emerging players. Multinational Spanish banking group - and one of the largest financial institutions in the world - Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA) moved its open platform out of beta in October 2018. By connecting to BBVA's core digital banking platform, third parties can access its APIs and specific financial service features including Move Money, Identity Verification, Account Origination, and Card Issuance. In addition to offering paid access, the Open Platform team operates a sandbox testing environment, so interested companies can work through their proposals before fully signing up. Companies using BBVA's APIs include: <ul><li>Simple</li><li>Azlo</li><li>Xero</li><li>Modo</li><li>digit.co</li></ul>Learn more about <a href="https://bbvaopenplatform.com/">BBVA's open platform</a>. <h2>Growth of Banking-as-a-Service</h2>The open banking movement is proliferating around the world, creating new opportunities for emerging players in the space, and forcing legacy banks to re-examine their business models as a result. Many industry executives already view open banking as an inevitable and accelerating trend in financial services. In fact, <keyword id="6370971" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="accenture">Accenture</keyword> projects open banking-related services will account for 7% of total banking revenue by 2020 - less than two years after the UK's open banking regulation rollout. For now, these regulations don't require banks to begin offering BaaS, so those that choose to do so will be ahead of the curve - and likely see high demand as a result. To keep you ahead of the industry's biggest shifts - like the open banking movement and BaaS - Business Insider Intelligence is launching Banking in September, a new research area with coverage including BaaS and open banking, consumer and business banking, mobile and online banking, digital account opening, and neobanks. <h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=content_marketing&amp;itm_campaign=report_teaser&amp;itm_content=top_text&amp;itm_term=bii_subscription_text_link-banking-as-a-service-platform-providers">Click here to obtain an exclusive FREE preview of Banking!</a></h3><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/intelligence/banking?IR=T&amp;itm_source=businessinsider&amp;itm_medium=ctgr_bii&amp;itm_term=ctgr_subscription&amp;itm_content=banking&amp;itm_campaign=banking_launch"></a>

The top companies providing & using banking-as-a-service technology

<ul class="summary-list"><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-burrito-bowl-robot-tests-automation-faster-food-delivery-2023-9">Chipotle</a> said it plans to keep 53 college-town stores open until midnight on Halloween.</li><li>The chain said it is targeting college towns popular with Gen Z, a group that likes to eat late.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-ceo-brian-niccol-shares-playbook-for-growing-digital-sales-2021-3">Chipotle</a> is joining a growing list of fast-food chains that are expanding their late-night hours.But instead of going national with its late-night business, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/chipotle-college-towns-are-key-to-success-2022-8">Chipotle is targeting "college towns</a> that eat the most Chipotle," the chain announced Wednesday.The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/review-chipotle-first-time-cheapest-most-expensive-items-2023-3">fresh-Mex chain</a>, which has more than 3,250 restaurants, said 53 college towns will stay open until midnight on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/category/halloween">Halloween</a> – a busy night for the brand. Stores typically close around 10 p.m. but hours vary by location, the chain told Insider.On Halloween, stores across the country will be offering a $6 entree as part of the chain's 23-year-old "Boorito tradition" promotion. The offer, valid only for <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/fast-food-delivery-apps-price-markups-2023-9#:~:text=Restaurant%20chains%20have%20been%20increasing,delivery%20provider's%20top%20customer%20complaints.">digital orders</a>, starts at 3 p.m. local time and runs until closing.The chain said it is extending hours in its top-performing college-town locations in states like North Carolina, Ohio, and Florida to embrace "the late-night dining preferences of Gen Z.""Over the past two years, Chipotle has seen a 30 percent increase in transactions after 8 p.m. on Halloween and 81 percent of 18- to 26-year-olds surveyed reported wanting to see Chipotle open until midnight," the chain said.Late-night sales have been making a comeback for fast-food chains. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nrn.com/consumer-trends/late-night-business-makes-strong-comeback">According to</a> Nation's Restaurant News, which cites Circana Crest data, late-night traffic increased by 7.5% in the second quarter this year compared to the same period in 2022.On Wednesday, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.insider.com/pizza-hut-debuts-japan-gen-z-cilantro-coriander-haters-nightmare-2023-3">Pizza Hut</a> said locations nationwide will "stay open until midnight or later with several restaurants even staying open as late as 2 a.m."In its second-quarter earnings call in August, Wendy's said its push into the late night paid off with double-digit sales growth.Here is the list of 53 Chipotles in college towns that are staying open until midnight on Halloween:<h2>Alabama:</h2>Tuscaloosa: 1800 McFarland Boulevard East, Suite 608<h2>Arizona:</h2>Tempe: 1038 S. Mill AvenueFlagstaff: 1111 S. Plaza Way<h2>California:</h2>La Jolla: 8657 Villa La Jolla Drive, Suite 209Berkeley: 2311 Telegraph AvenueLong Beach: 1800 Ximeno AvenueLos Angeles: 1077 Broxton Avenue<h2>Colorado:</h2>Boulder: 1650 28th Street, Unit 1224<h2>Florida:</h2>Gainesville: 1432 W. University AvenueSouth Miami: 6290 S. Dixie HighwayTampa: 2576 E. Fowler AvenueOrlando: 11680 University Boulevard<h2>Georgia:</h2>Atlanta: 718 Ponce De Leon Ave NEAthens: 165 Alps Road<h2>Illinois:</h2>Champaign: 528 E Green Street, Suite 101<h2>Indiana:</h2>West Lafayette: 200 W. State StreetBloomington: 420 E. Kirkwood Avenue<h2>Louisiana:</h2>Baton Rouge: 101 W. State Street<h2>Maryland:</h2>College Park: 7332 Baltimore AvenueSalisbury: 1016 S. Salisbury Boulevard<h2>Michigan:</h2>Ann Arbor: 235 S. State StreetEast Lansing: 539 E. Grand River Avenue<h2>Minnesota:</h2>Minneapolis: 800 Washington Avenue SE<h2>Mississippi</h2>Oxford: 2151 Jackson Avenue W<h2>Missouri:</h2>Columbia: 306 South 9th Street<h2>New York:</h2>Vestal: 4698 Vestal Parkway EastNew York: 117 E. 14th StreetNew York: 2843 Broadway<h2>North Carolina:</h2>Raleigh: 2316 Hillsborough Street, Suite 100Charlotte: 9335 N. Tryon Street, Suite 101Chapel Hill: 301 W. Franklin StreetGreenville: 610 Greenville Boulevard SEWilmington: 1525 Fordham Road, Oleander Drive Pad<h2>Ohio:</h2>Columbus: 1726 N. High StreetAthens: 41 S. Court StreetOxford: 1 W. High Street, Suite 101Cincinnati: 2507 W. Clifton AvenueBowling Green: 1558 E Wooster StreetDayton: 1211 Brown Street<h2>Oklahoma:</h2>Norman: 765 Asp Avenue<h2>South Carolina:</h2>Clemson: 393 College Avenue, Suite 201<h2>Tennessee:</h2>Nashville: 400 21st Avenue SouthKnoxville: 1701 Cumberland Avenue<h2>Texas:</h2>Waco: 721 S. 4th Street, Suite 100Lubbock: 2411 Glenna Goodacre BoulevardCollege Station: 815 University DriveAustin: 2230 Guadalupe Street #32<h2>Pennsylvania:</h2>State College: 116 Heister StreetPhiladelphia: 1100 W. Montgomery Avenue, Suite A<h2>Utah:</h2>Salt Lake City: 734 East 400 S<h2>Wisconsin:</h2>Madison: 658 State StreetMilwaukee: 600 E. Ogden Avenue<h2>Washington, DC:</h2>2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Lobby 15

These 53 college towns 'eat the most Chipotle' &mdash; and the chain will reward them by staying open until midnight on Halloween

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Kim Hong-JiAnd you thought the lines at your local Starbucks were long.</div></div></div>Fact: people love Starbucks.It's no wonder there are over 24,000 of them in 70 countries around the world. But next time you want to complain about how long the lines are, and how much time it's taking that barista to make your tall, non-fat, no foam latte with caramel drizzle, think again.We've teamed up with <a href="http://www.swarmapp.com/">Swarm</a>, Foursquare's check-in app, to find out which Starbucks locales are the most popular - ergo, the busiest. Using Swarm check-in data from August 1 2015 to July 31 2016, we determined the most-visited Starbucks locations in every state. Here they are:<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/492065680">Getty Images/Zhang Peng</a></div></div></div>ALABAMA: Hoover, 4710 Hwy 280 eastALASKA: Anchorage, 1005 E Dimond BlvdARIZONA: Tempe, 555 N Scottsdale RdARKANSAS: Little Rock, 917 Broadway StCALIFORNIA: Irvine, 38 PrismCOLORADO: Centennial, 8243 S Quebec StCONNECTICUT: Stamford, 288 West AveDELAWARE: Newark,530 JFK MemorialFLORIDA: Lake Buena Vista, 1501 A East Buena Vista Dr.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.thisisinsider.com/starbucks-launches-new-trifles-2016-6">Starbucks</a></div></div></div>GEORGIA: Atlanta, 734 Spring Street NWHAWAII: Honolulu, 949 Auahi StreetIDAHO: Pocatello, 883 Yellowstone AvenueILLINOIS: Chicago, 131Hwy S State StINDIANA: Indianapolis, 6920 Lake Plaza DrIOWA: Des Moines, 5901 Douglas AveKANSAS: Overland Park, 8801 Metcalf AveKENTUCKY: Florence, 7905 Mall RdLOUISIANA: New Orleans, 700 Canal StMAINE: Auburn, 35 Mount Auburn Ave<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.gettyimages.com/license/468433651">Getty Images</a></div></div></div>MARYLAND: Catonsville, 856 N Rolling RdMASSACHUSETTS: Cambridge, 1380 Massachusetts AveMICHIGAN: Ann Arbor, 2793 Plymouth RdMINNESOTA: Bloomington, 704 W 98th StMISSISSIPPI: Hattiesburg, 3708 Hardy StMISSOURI: Kansas City, 4101 Main StMONTANA: Bozeman, 1765 N 19th AveNEBRASKA: Omaha, 222 S 15th StNEVADA: Las Vegas, 10520 Southern Highlands PkwyNEW HAMPSHIRE: Manchester, 1111 S Willow St<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Thomson ReutersA Starbucks Coffee sign is pictured in Geneva</div></div></div>NEW JERSEY: Edgewater, 543 River RdNEW MEXICO: Albuquerque, 800 Broadway NENEW YORK: Manhattan, 1585 BroadwayNORTH CAROLINA: Fayetteville, 565 Cross Creek MallNORTH DAKOTA: Fargo, 4900 13th Ave S OHIO: Columbus, 339 N Front StOKLAHOMA: Tulsa, 1832 Utica SqOREGON: Portland, 720 SW BroadwayPENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia, 1528 Walnut StRHODE ISLAND: Warwick, 25 Pace Blvd<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Hollis Johnson</div></div></div>SOUTH CAROLINA: North Charleston, 5060 International BlvdSOUTH DAKOTA: Sioux Falls, 3601 W 41st StTENNESSEE: Nashville, 3005 West End AveTEXAS: Houston, 2521 Post Oak BlvdUTAH: Salt Lake City, 80 S Main StVERMONT: South Burlington, 580 Shelburne Rd, #9VIRGINIA: Vienna, 8381 Leesburg PikeWASHINGTON: Seattle, 1912 Pike PlWASHINGTON, DC: Washington, DC, 1301 Connecticut Ave NWWEST VIRGINIA: Morgantown, 1109 Van Voorhis RdWISCONSIN: Milwaukee, 544 E Ogden Ave WYOMING: Cheyenne, 2111 Central Ave <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/inside-out-pizza-miami-2016-8">A Miami restaurant makes inside-out pizza</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="13eGgzNTE67H1yGn5zHpf8hDz0sQKAm4" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

The most popular Starbucks in every state

Courtesy of Erin Valenti's friends and family; Women Tech Council; Samantha Lee/Business InsiderErin Valenti<ul class="summary-list"><li>Erin Valenti, a seemingly successful and ambitious tech founder, was on her way home from a business trip to California when she called her mother. She became confused and rambling.</li><li>Her family reported her missing after Valenti missed her flight. On October 12, she was found dead in the back seat of her rental car on a residential street in San Jose, California.</li><li>Two months later, her friends and family still don't know how she died. A police investigation is pending the results of the medical examiner's report, which takes several months.</li><li>She is remembered as a dogged chief executive and a gatherer who started a meetup for tech workers in her adopted home of Salt Lake City.</li><li>This is the story of Erin Valenti's rise as an entrepreneur and untimely death, based on interviews with almost two dozen friends, family members, current and former colleagues, and police.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/prime?module=article&amp;area=summarymary">Click here for more BI Prime stories</a>.</li></ul>On the night of her wedding anniversary, Agnes Valenti pushed roasted cauliflower around her plate at the restaurant while her husband talked on the phone. Their daughter, Erin Valenti, was calling from 2,900 miles away, in Palo Alto, California, where she had just left a friend and couldn't find her rental car.The couple called her back after dinner. The 33-year-old entrepreneur from Salt Lake City who was traveling on business, had finally located the gray Nissan Murano and began the short drive to San Jose International Airport. She talked fast and erratically. And she wasn't making much sense. "She would say to me, 'I'm coming home for Thanksgiving,'" said Agnes, whom everyone calls Whitey because of her platinum hair, the same color as her daughter's locks.A bit later: "It's all a game, it's a thought experiment, we're in the Matrix."And "I'm going to miss my flight."On October 7, a Delta flight for Salt Lake City left without Erin Valenti on board. Her husband, Harrison Weinstein, and her mother took turns talking to her on the phone until almost midnight local time.Five days later, Valenti was found dead in the back seat of her rental car on a residential street in San Jose. According to the family, there were no clear signs of physical harm.The mystery of how a tech founder went missing and died in Silicon Valley has left a family, her friends, and a group of entrepreneurs in Utah's rising tech hub searching for answers. To some, the easy explanation would be suicide, that her story was among the many <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/austen-heinzs-suicide-and-depression-in-startups-2015-7">stories of a founder's quiet battle with depression</a>, exacerbated by the stress of starting a company and trying to change the world. Her peers know all too well that mental health is especially a problem in Utah, where <a href="https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/06/07/suicide-rates-rise-sharply-in-utah-and-across-the-country-new-report-shows/">suicide is the second leading cause of death</a> among people age 15 to 34.But her family does not believe she killed herself. That just wasn't Valenti, whose nickname was "Armageddon Erin" because of her boisterous energy and a proclivity for being places when natural disasters hit."When you don't know everything you start thinking about everything," Chris Valenti, Erin's youngest brother, said.Valenti had gone to California to be inspired. She was the chief executive of <a href="https://tinkerventures.co/">Tinker Ventures</a>, a web-development shop that had one founder in Salt Lake City and the other in Pakistan. The startup builds applications for other companies, using a remote workforce of engineers. Valenti's close friends said the business was profitable and never took outside capital, having been funded from her savings and revenue.As chief executive, Valenti worked to find new customers and keep them, a relentless task. A web-development shop typically earns money on contracts, not subscriptions, so the business had little recurring revenue.Valenti told friends in the months before her trip that she wanted to do something new.She arrived in Orange County in early October for a professional-development workshop and then flew to the Bay Area to visit former colleagues and friends. Some who met her for dinner said she talked excitedly about a new business venture. She did not return to see it through.Her family and friends agree on a few things. Valenti had no history of mental-health disorders or substance abuse. She surrounded herself with friends and was not the type to bottle her feelings.And there are some things that remain murky, such as her confused ramblings on the day her husband, Harrison Weinstein, reported her missing. Weinstein also asked police to make a welfare check. According to the family, the police called Valenti on the phone, and she told an officer she was only a joking around.This account of Valenti's rise and untimely death is based on interviews with about two dozen friends, family members, current and former colleagues, medical professionals, and police.<h2>A 'complete refusal to fail'</h2>Up until her death in October, the story of how Valenti became a startup founder was the sort of narrative that countless entrepreneurs aspire to.Her first job out of college was an associate position at a private-equity firm, Summit Partners, where she learned how to cold-call and source deals for the partners. Valenti showed a "complete refusal to fail," a former coworker said, recalling their late nights studying the markets and eating gyro wraps at the office in Palo Alto.After four years at the company, she got the itch to build something of her own.Salt Lake City was not the setting she envisioned for pursuing her startup dream, but her husband, whom she met on a ski vacation when she was 18, had followed her to California. Having completed his doctoral studies in psychology, he had been offered a fellowship at his top choice, a veterans hospital in Utah, and family say Valenti felt like it was her turn to follow him.Valenti, who had a booming voice and no apparent filter, became a linchpin in the area's up-and-coming tech scene. Local entrepreneurs say that she willed a community into existence, gathering the people and companies of the "Silicon Slopes" in meeting rooms and bars."It's not that she came to like Salt Lake City," said Ryan Kruizenga, a former coworker who stayed a close friend. "She made it into something she liked better."Utah's tech hub was still overlooked when Valenti arrived in 2012. Investors tended to put their money to work closer to their offices in the Bay Area. Many of the software companies sprouting on a stretch of highway from Ogden to Salt Lake City to Provo, Utah, operated for years without outside funding. They grew slowly, careful not to spend more than they earned. Valenti, who wanted to start a company, admired their prudence.She took a job as head of product at Overstock.com's headquarters and found pleasure in her new home's ample outdoor pursuits, learning to slot into the sandstone canyons and climb out. She enjoyed hiking and, on idler days, floating down the Provo River in an inner tube.Courtesy of Erin Valenti's friends and family; Samantha Lee/Business InsiderLooking to meet new people, Valenti started organizing a monthly meetup for tech workers at a downtown sports bar. At one of those happy hours, she met Utah tech booster Clint Betts, who wanted to throw the <a href="https://beehivestartups.com/startslc-a-testament-to-a-startup-community-on-the-rise-3efb7da20b9d">state's biggest-ever tech gathering</a>. Valenti pulled strings at Overstock to sponsor the event, which was attended by more than 4,000 people.In Silicon Slopes "you could almost not find someone who didn't know Erin," Amy Stellhorn, a Utah entrepreneur, said.<h2>Building a successful startup</h2>Office politics at Overstock grated on Valenti, a former coworker said, and after 10 months she left to start her own company.She had already tried running a startup before moving to Utah, creating a work-for-hire service called Skycrane. It let people offload their administrative tasks to freelancers helped by automation.The business wasn't making money, and Valenti shut it down after a few years. But she used an insight about the flaws of that business to inform her new idea for an app-development startup. And after Valenti talked it over with Amir Khan, an entrepreneur in Pakistan whom she'd hired for the previous startup, the pair founded Tinker together in 2014.This time around went better for Valenti. Tinker developed a reputation for building great products on schedule, said Stellhorn, whose <a href="https://www.bigmonocle.com/">creative agency</a> would send clients Tinker's way. And it charged based on the number of hours its offshore team put into the project, rather than an estimate. Sometimes Valenti, who started her career as an investor, would even barter services for equity in a client's startup.While Khan oversaw the company's operations in Pakistan, the American founder was responsible for landing customers and keeping those already on its rolls. Valenti mined networking events and tech conferences for business. One friend said Tinker had sold out its capacity for the current year by March."She was their rainmaker," Stellhorn said. But it wasn't easy work.Tinker's customers were mostly young startups with between one and 11 employees. Many fizzled out, and the promise of repeat business with them, Khan said. The few startups that succeeded took venture funding and hired in-house engineers. Valenti's job also involved getting clients to pay its fees. Two days before she went missing, she texted a friend to grumble about a vendor dispute.Scott Rafferty, a Utah entrepreneur, said his friend talked all the time about quitting what had become a multimillion-dollar business, but never meant it. She told him she felt responsible for the welfare of more than 130 engineers and their families on the other side of the world. With a difference of 12 hours between them, Valenti and her cofounder rarely talked on the phone.In five years as head of Tinker, Valenti was its only long-standing employee in the US. She was lonely working from home, her youngest brother, Chris Valenti, said. After he dropped out of a medical residency last year, Chris said his sister insisted that he live with them for a few months. He remembers she liked having the company and home cooking.Erin Valenti found other ways to fill her need for human interaction. She met clients for coffee, joined a coworking space in Salt Lake City, and began hosting "art hours" on Friday nights at home, where friends would bring their own supplies.Courtesy of Erin Valenti's friends and family; Samantha Lee/Business Insider<h2>Time for a change</h2>In the last year, Valenti seemed ready for another change. What she wanted to do next, though, was unclear.She'd told Clint Betts that she wanted to buy billboards along Interstate 15 to announce a venture fund that would invest in companies led by women, with the intent of starting a conversation and not a firm. Stellhorn knew her friend to be working on a clothing line for professional women who "slay at work and sex." And Rafferty, who saw Valenti the week before her death, said she wanted to support artists and filmmakers.Others say the entrepreneur had plans to finance a startup accelerator inside her company. Her cofounder, Khan, said the two had discussed the idea only casually."She had a million half-cooked ideas and mini projects and prototypes floating," said Weinstein, who believed his wife wanted to work on a travel-inspired business. She would call friends on car rides to discuss, or gather them at home to brainstorm over a bottle of wine.Her feelings of restlessness grew and, in late summer, Valenti reached out to Rafferty about wanting an executive coach. It happened that his coach was about to organize a retreat in California.<h2>A search for inspiration in California</h2>She arrived in the affluent beach town of Laguna Niguel on a summery October day, warmed by the Santa Ana winds.Create Powerful is a <a href="https://www.createpowerful.com/courseregistration/">workshop designed for leaders</a> to reflect and move past their perceived limits. Rafferty, who had used the organizer, OntoCore, to provide coaching for his startup's senior leadership team, likened it to a Tony Robbins seminar for business owners.The next three days were a mix of lectures, partner work, and time alone spent journaling. The last time he saw her, Rafferty said, she was bouncing from guest to guest at a sunset dinner on the hotel lawn. The workshop had renewed her interest in hiring a local team, which would give her the bandwidth to pursue other interests while still running Tinker, she told him. They hugged goodbye.On the morning of Thursday, October 3, Valenti flew into the Bay Area for a second tech gathering that week, a two-day <a href="https://www.alpha.network/events/8th-annual-alpha-founders-summit">conference</a> in Monterey for founders and tech investors to network and learn.The weekend passed in a series of small reunions - dinners and brunches with former colleagues. According to her father, Joseph Valenti, she also did some shopping. Valenti's credit-card statements show she spent several hundred dollars on vinyl records, though she didn't own a turntable.On Sunday, she had dinner in Palo Alto with J.J. Kardwell, who was a principal at Summit Partners when he was Valenti's first boss. He recalled her excitement over the workshop - how it had helped her reconcile her work troubles."She cared deeply about Tinker," Kardwell said, "and it mattered a lot to her identity. She was very committed to the continued path there. But she realized she could do both. She had elevated enough as an executive and entrepreneur that she realized she didn't have to be one thing. Any normal human can do one thing."Valenti is believed to have been last seen by a former manager of hers at Summit Partners, Dean Jacobson, on Monday afternoon. He recalls Valenti as "vibrant" and "uniquely talented" in an email, though he did not want to be interviewed for this story.<h2>A frantic search, a lot of theories, but no answers</h2>On Monday, October 7, Whitey Valenti sat in her living room with her son, Chris, in Rochester, New York, as they talked on speaker phone with Erin. She sounded manic and confused, they said. She told them about plans for Thanksgiving. And she told them that "it was all a game.""Are you in on it?" Erin asked, according to Chris.Whitey, a retired nurse, asked if she had been drinking or been given drugs. Erin answered "no," Whitey said.An officer with the San Jose police called Valenti to make a welfare check at her husband's request. She said she was fine. The police later told the family that because Valenti was an adult, her case would be treated as a "voluntary missing person." She could have just taken off for a couple of days without telling anybody, the police said.Her family mobilized. Weinstein flew out the next morning to look for his wife, and Valenti's parents followed a few days later. They hired a private investigator. People who didn't know Valenti posted her photo to Facebook groups for hikers in the Bay Area, in case someone had seen Valenti on a trail. One friend enlisted the help of a drone hobbyist, who offered to fly over areas where Valenti's phone had last pinged cellphone towers.On Saturday, five days after Valenti went missing, a friend in the search party found her rental car on a quiet residential street, minutes from San Jose International Airport.Inrglo Photography; Samantha Lee/Business InsiderHer cause of death is still unknown. An administrator in the medical examiner's office for Santa Clara County said its report could take three to four months to complete, which is standard. A police investigation is ongoing, though a spokesman for the San Jose police would not say more for this story, including whether the police had ruled out foul play.An autopsy would reveal an obvious cause of death, such as a stroke, a hemorrhage, or a heart attack, said Sally Aiken, chief medical examiner for Spokane, Washington, and vice president of the National Association of Medical Examiners. In cases that are unclear, Aiken said the medical examiner would send samples for testing at outside labs. Some of the tests on the brain or the heart can take months. Labs around the country have long backlogs on toxicology tests because of the opioid crisis, Aiken added.Weinstein, a practicing psychologist, said his wife had no diagnosis of a mental-health disorder. Her behavior had <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/10/11/utah-tech-ceo-goes-missing-in-bay-area/">some of the characteristics of a manic episode</a>, including feelings of euphoria, racing thoughts, and a hard time keeping attention. But Weinstein said the event was "extremely out of character" and she had not shown these symptoms before.Still, Weinstein doesn't speculate. "When we called the police for the welfare check, we were worried that she was confused, she was vulnerable - not that she was threatening to hurt herself," he said.The friends who raised the possibility of suicide were all entrepreneurs, who know the cost of loneliness and prolonged stress on members of their community. One friend who runs her own company said wellness checks should be a requirement for chief executives. Scott Paul, a Utah founder, said he's creating a pledge for employers who agree to talk about <a href="https://www.abc4.com/news/local-utah-state-news/how-well-is-mental-health-in-our-state-new-report-said-utah-ranks-last-in-us/">mental health</a> in the workplace."There are not a lot of founders who have been prepared with therapy," Paul said. "You can't just pray more. That's just not a strategy for surviving founder life."Whitey Valenti is still praying for an answer. In the days that followed the discovery of the rental car, neighbors left flowers and unicorn plush toys on the side of the road, a nod to Valenti's background in tech.But when Whitey got the call and arrived at the car's location, she found the police and yellow tape around the vehicle with her daughter still inside. She said she only wished she could have held her one last time.Her family has established a scholarship fund at the University of Utah to honor Valenti's memory, with a <a href="http://eccles.link/erinvalentischolarship">goal of raising $100,000 to support female students who share a passion for entrepreneurship</a>.

A 33-year-old Utah startup founder went to Silicon Valley on business and was found dead in her car a week later. Erin Valenti's friends and family search for answers following her mysterious death.

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