- Illuminate Financial – a financial services-focused venture firm – recently announced it has closed its third fund, a $235 million fund to invest in early-stage businesses solving problems for financial institutions.
Illuminate Financial will use the funding to make further investments in Series A companies driving innovation in the financial services industry. And Illuminate Financial’s investors include some of the largest and most well-respected financial institutions that provide a broad array of banking and market infrastructure services. The final closing of this fund sees Illuminate welcoming two additional strategic partners, BNY Mellon and Euroclear, who join global financial institutions J.P Morgan, S&P Global, Jefferies, Deutsche Börse Group, Barclays, Citi, and SGX as investors.
The announcement of Fund III builds upon the firm’s momentum since its inception 9 years ago. And so far, Illuminate Financial has invested in 35 companies of which it has successfully exited 9, primarily through a trade sale to industry strategics. And Illuminate Financial has opened offices in New York and Singapore.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are thrilled to be a strategic investor in Illuminate Financial as part of our commitment to fulfilling BNY Mellon’s mission to identify ground-breaking digital technologies, bring greater operating efficiencies to the market, and help accelerate the delivery of innovative solutions to clients worldwide.”
— Marianna Lopert-Schaye, Global Head of Digital Partnerships and Investments at BNY Mellon
“This investment is aligned to our corporate strategy of embracing new technologies and investing in companies that share our commitment of developing services that will address market gaps to support and grow the market. Illuminate Financial is a logical partner with their proven track record of success when scanning the market for the best opportunities, creating value and driving positive change.”
— Philippe Laurensy, Head of Group Strategy and Product Expansion, Euroclear Group
“The reset of private market valuations over the past 18 months makes this arguably one of the most exciting times to deploy early-stage capital since the bursting of the dot com bubble over 20 years ago. My partners and I are grateful for the support of our investors old and new in recognising the opportunity this environment creates for fintech entrepreneurship, and its ability to create lasting change in financial services.”
— Mark Beeston, Founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Financial
“Global spending on technology by financial institutions continues to grow, even in this market, and is forecasted to reach a staggering $750 billion by 2025 (Gartner). Since Illuminate was started, we have partnered with financial institutions to identify how these budget dollars could be more efficiently allocated by adopting early-stage, innovative, lower costs solutions – the type that Illuminate Financial exists to back.”
— Alexander Ross, General Partner who leads Illuminate’s New York office
