Santander is spinning out its Innoventures fintech venture capital unit and doubling its commitment to the newly autonomous fund to $400 million.
Now called Mouro Capital, the fund will manage the existing portfolio of Santander Innoventures, which has invested in 36 startups in Europe and the Americas since its launch in 2014.
It will be led by general partner Manuel Silva Martínez, who joined Innoventures five years ago and has led the fund since 2018, and senior advisor Chris Gottschalk, who joined from Blumberg Capital in 2019 to boost the unit's Silicon Valley position.
With its expanded warchest, Mouro will continue to deploy capital across Europe and the Americas, primarily leading rounds with initial investments of up to $15 million and further follow-on reserves.
Says Manuel Silva Martínez: "By becoming more autonomous, we will gain in agility, attract entrepreneurial talent to the investment team, and further align to our entrepreneurs’ success."
Innoventures was one of the first bank fintech VC funds when it was set up in 2014 with an initial $100 million commitment designed to help Santander get in on the ground floor at startups leading the financial services digital revolution.
The fund has been an early investor in companies which have since reached unicorn status, such as Ripple, Tradeshift and Upgrade. It has also seen some strong exits, including the sale of
iZettle to PayPal in 2018 for $2 billion, and Kabbage's recent acquisition by American Express.
The fund has seen an internal rate of returns in 25-35% range since inception and a c.1.75x cash-on-cash multiple portfolio-wide.
It has also proved a hit in terms of relationship building, with 70% of the fund's current portfolio working with Santander.
Ana Botín, executive chairman, Santander, says "that by increasing our investment, while giving greater autonomy to the fund, we can be even more agile and further accelerate the digital
transformation of the group".