Private equity outfit Finstar Financial Group is planning to pump $150 million into fintech startups over the next five years.
The money will be used to buy stakes in promising fintech startups in Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia and South Asia, as well as on research and development within portfolio companies.
The private equity group, which lays claim to some $2 billion AUM, has recently established strategic partnerships with Spotcap, an online lending platform for SMEs, Viventor, a peer-to-peer lending platform, Euroloan, a Northern European fintech company, and set up its own portfolio company, Digital Finance International.
In November it hired Wonga's Mark Ruddock to oversee FinstarLabs, a special-purpose investment vehicle aimed at expanding the PE firm's fintech portfolio.
Says Finstar chairman Oleg Boyko about the new commitment: "As far as the startup component is concerned, we are targeting three to six deals per year, in the seed to Series A rounds, typically ranging from USD500,000 to USD30 million.
"Our R&D investment is about pushing financial technology further and leveraging that innovation across our already strong fintech portfolio. This means that - beyond our financial commitment to the sector - the businesses we work with benefit from the strength of our technical resources and the depth of our expertise."