UK venture capital firm, Element Ventures, has announced a $130 million fund aimed at funding the founders and ideas that will be powering tomorrow’s financial technology. The fund was backed by more than thirty founders and executives from the financial sector, including Lord Spencer, the founder of the ICAP/NEX Group, who was the cornerstone investor. Other investors include ULlink founder, Laurent Useldinger; former SunGard CEO, Cris Conde and Marc Murphy, the founder of Fenergo.
Element Ventures is one of Europe’s leading fintech venture capital firms and are looking to identify new ventures to build on the successes they have had with companies like Hepster, Billhop and Coincover. Element Venture partners Steve Gibson and Michael McFadgen told UKTN a little about what they expected from the fund.
The UK is in a strong position
Although the fund will be Europe-wide, both expect the UK to remain a leading location for fintech and investment. While this might be partly because of location, Element Ventures is London-based, it also reflects the UK’s strength in the sector. “The UK continues to be one of, if not the leading location in Europe for our strategy, which is B2B fintech,” says McFadgen. He also added that their experience, offered a lot to potential UK founders, “The team has been investing in the UK for a long time, so we’ve got deep networks and relationships here.” ...