Banking major Santander has doubled the size of its fintech venture capital fund Santander InnoVentures with a $100m injection of fresh capital.
The move is a post-Brexit vote of confidence in the London-based fund, which was initially launched in 2014 with $100m of capital to deploy in minority stakes in financial technology startups.
Santander said boosting the fund to $200m highlighted the bank’s goal of remaining at the forefront of innovation in the financial services industry, and builds on the bank’s ‘Fintech 2.0’ philosophy of collaboration and partnership with small and start-up companies.
Ana Botín, group executive chairman of Banco Santander, said, “A deeper investment in our fintech fund represents Santander’s success in investing in disruptive new technologies that will help our transformation towards being the best bank for our customers – in the simple personal and fair way they expect and deserve today.
“The fund’s base in the UK has allowed it to benefit from London’s position as a fintech hub, while talent-spotting our investments on a global basis.
“Santander remains committed to the UK and excited about its fintech enterprises.”
Peter Jackson, senior executive vice president and head of Innovation at Santander, added, “The fund is an essential part of Santander’s broader innovation strategy.
“The success of the work Mariano and the team are doing is confirmed by this second round of funding.
“Our $200m total investment, demonstrates the group’s commitment to innovation, and to the role of InnoVentures as a catalyst for transformation, by finding and partnering with technology companies that allows us to bring the next generation of services to our customers, globally.”
Since inception the fund backed startups including Socure (digital identity), SigFig (wealth management), Ripple, Digital Asset, Elliptic (blockchain), Kabbage (companies financing), Cyanogen (mobile ecosystems), MyCheck and iZettle (payments).
Copyright © 2016 FINTECH GLOBAL
