Fintech venture fund Illuminate Financial has closed the lid on a $100 million war chest with backing from Barclays, JPMorgan, Deutsche Boerse and IHS Markit.
Set up by City veteran Mark Beeston in 2014, Illuminate has put its weight behind a host of emerging disruptive technology tredns in financial serivices, from crypto to wealth to ESG. Portfolio companies include the likes of low code development startup Genesis, data privacy software Privitar, and compliance startup RegTek.
The new fund, which is double Illuminate's first raise, has been two-years in the making.
"It has been a true fundraising marathon with Brexit deadlines and Covid shutdowns being major events outside our control that we had to contend with," says Beeston. "We had to just pick up and adapt as our plans and timelines were wrecked time and again."
The firm has already made seven investments with the fresh capital, and secured its first successful exit with the sale of crypto firm Curv to PayPal earlier last month.
The future direction of the fund remains uncertain, says Beeston: "We are not yet post-Covid but feeling like there is light at the end of that tunnel with a whole series of new opportunities to find and challenges to overcome. Working out how to deploy this capital whilst also working out what everyone’s 'new normal' will become and how it will impact change."