He breaks down StarCap’s investment thesis across orbital data centers, space-based energy, and microgravity manufacturing. And why he believes falling launch costs could unlock a new generation of businesses. 

Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction: meet Waj, co-founder of StarCap
03:25 — StarCap’s origins: from tokenized equities to space investing
07:23 — Why StarCap is starting with a tokenized fund
09:56 — Are crypto investors ready for private-market exposure?
14:19 — Opening access to companies before they go public
19:56 — Why StarCap believes space is at an inflection point
22:21 — Three investment pillars: compute, energy, and manufacturing
23:05 — The case for orbital data centers
25:00 — Target companies, funding stages, and valuations
27:37 — How StarCap plans to access competitive investment rounds
28:39 — Financing space companies through onchain credit
29:28 — Supporting portfolio companies with research and media
32:51 — StarCap’s growth strategy and investor education
36:32 — Private fundraising and plans for a public phase
38:39 — StarCap’s roadmap: growing AUM and expanding its products
41:17 — The future of sector-specific tokenized funds
43:42 — Building StarCap’s brand for a crypto audience
45:47 — Space companies and other investments on Waj’s watchlist
51:06 — China’s space industry and StarCap’s global investment scope
53:14 — Navigating regulation and national security constraints

We discuss why SMEs in the Gulf still struggle to access credit, how Kea underwrites businesses that banks often overlook, and why speed and better data may matter more than simply offering cheaper capital.

We also get into:

• Why undercollateralized lending has struggled in DeFi
• What Kea learned from Goldfinch
• How Kea structures different credit risk tiers and yields
• Stablecoins as a funding and settlement layer
• Why banks could eventually become partners rather than competitors
• Lending with institutional and on-chain capital
• Kea’s ambition to reach $1B in TVL
• The longer-term vision of building an on-chain bank

A conversation about credit risk, real-world lending, stablecoins, and what financial infrastructure could look like when capital can move globally but underwriting remains grounded in real businesses and real cash flows.

Timestamps:

00:00 Intro & Jo’s background in traditional finance
01:40 Why TradFi and DeFi need each other
03:05 Why Kea Credit was started
04:38 Stablecoins as infrastructure for SME lending
06:36 What Kea Credit actually does
08:15 Why build the full lending stack instead of just underwriting software
11:20 Who Kea lends to & how SMEs are underwritten
14:42 Kea’s edge: faster credit decisions and capital
16:00 Making credit risk understandable for lenders
19:05 Risk-tiered vaults: from 8% to 22% APY
22:57 Why lending in the Gulf is different
26:12 Could banks become Kea’s biggest partners?
28:51 Why undercollateralized DeFi lending has struggled
30:12 What Kea learned from Goldfinch
34:04 Defaults, risk management & short-term SME credit
38:33 Kea’s roadmap and the $1B TVL ambition
41:51 Origination vs lending with Kea’s own capital
47:50 Crypto cards and borrowing against DeFi positions
49:54 The long-term vision: an on-chain neobank
51:48 The SME founder traditional banks wouldn’t finance
54:59 Closing thoughts: the $5.7T SME credit gap

Discussing:

• How to properly structure stablecoin credit & why it can't fully be onchain
• The hardest thing about credit 
• Credit landscape in Africa (some pretty wild stuff)
• Why are prime borrowers paying 40-50% and pledging 10x collateral?