Pierpaolo Barbieri (born 17 May 1987) is an Argentine

economic historian Economic history is the study of history using methodological tools from economics or with a special attention to economic phenomena. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of ...

, researcher, executive director at Greenmantle, founder of

Ualá Ualá is an Argentine fintech company that provides a mobile application for managing a Mastercard prepaid debit card and other financial services. The company was founded by Pierpaolo Barbieri and investors include Point72 Ventures. Competito ...

an Argentina-based

personal financial management Personal financial management refers to "ways" or "methods" of managing ones own personal finances. It is also known by its acronym, PFM, which refers to the type of software used for personal finance apps. Simply put, PFM refers to software that ...

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...

, an
17Sigma
an early stage Latin American focused

Venture Capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm. He is also the author of the book ''Hitler’s Shadow Empire: The Nazis and the Spanish Civil War''.

Academic and professional career

Pierpaolo Barbieri grew up in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His father is from

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

and his mother is Argentine. He studied at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, publishing for his honors thesis the book ''Hitler's Shadow Empire: The Nazis and the Spanish Civil War'', on the economic ties between

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

's Germany and

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

's Spain, which was awarded the Thomas T. Hoopes '14 Prize. The research was conducted with the support of the

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA), formerly Center for International Affairs (CFIA) is a research center for international affairs and the largest international research center within Harvard University's Faculty of Arts a ...

, the

Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies The Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies (CES) is a center at Harvard University dedicated to the study, understanding, and promotion of European affairs and transatlantic relations. Founded in 1969, the center focuses on interdisciplina ...

and the Real Colegio Complutense. Upon graduation, he studied at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, where he was awarded a

DPhil A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in economic history. Between 2011 and 2013, he was researcher and became Ernest May Fellow at the

Harvard Kennedy School The John F. Kennedy School of Government, commonly referred to as Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), is the school of public policy of Harvard University, a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard Kennedy School offers master's de ...

and Strategic Advisor at the

Institute for New Economic Thinking The Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) is a New York City–based nonprofit think tank. It was founded in October 2009 as a result of the Great Recession, and runs a variety of affiliated programs at major universities such as the Cambr ...

(INET). He was also special advisor to the Berggruen

Council on the Future of Europe Council for the Future of Europe is a think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technolo ...

. As an economic analyst, he has published articles in newspapers and magazines such as the Spanish newspaper ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

.'' He is executive director at Greenmantle, a macroeconomic and geopolitical consulting firm, and was head strategist of the Brevan Howard Argentina Fund.

Ualá

In 2017, Barbieri founded

, an Argentina-based personal financial management mobile app that allows users to conduct transactions, such as money transfers, payments and purchases, without having a bank account. Ualá has initiated efforts to expand into the Mexican market, by the way of a not yet finalized acquisition of a Mexican Bank ABC Capital; the acquisition is pending regulatory approvals from Mexican banking and financial authorities. Ualá has been the subject of complaints from users who allege they were victims of financial scams via the app. Barbieri has contested the claims.

References

External links

Ualá website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barbieri, Pierpaolo 1987 births Living people Argentine businesspeople Argentine people of Italian descent Businesspeople from Buenos Aires Harvard Kennedy School alumni Economic historians