Private equity firm Motive Partners has acquired fintech VC embedded/capital, with the aim of creating a specialist fintech investment platform for startups.
In December 2021, having formed a strategic relationship with Apollo Global Management, Motive Partners launched Motive Ventures. Led by Mariano Belinky, formerly CEO of Santander Asset Management and founder of Santander's venture capital business, Motive Ventures has invested in five companies to date.
In parallel, embedded/capital was formed in Berlin by the founder of German venture builder finleap and Solaris chairman, Ramin Niroumand. The embedded/capital portfolio consists of nine investments to date, including Bezahl.de, Bunch, Februar.co, Getquin, Hero, Luca, Myne, Nelly and Pliant.
The combined team will consist of 14 people and will have an on-site presence in three financial technology capitals - Berlin, London and New York City - focussing exclusively on early stage investments in young fintech firms.
Blythe Masters, founding partner at Motive, comments: "This acquisition not only adds depth and capability to our team, but provides critical strategic benefits to the rest of the firm, including innovation insights and learning, attracting top talent and enhanced sourcing networks."
Motive Capital Funds, which raised a $2.45 billion fintech investment warchest in July, will continue its mission to invest across growth and buyout stages, says Masters.
Commitments already lodged from the fund include investments in ten companies - InvestCloud, Insurify, Wilshire, Trumid, Motive Capital Corp II, CAIS, FNZ, Forge Global, BetaNXT and Backbase. In September, Motive co-led an $11.25 million Series A round in Credix, a decentralised credit marketplace connecting institutional investors with fintech lenders in emerging markets.