Private equity firm Motive Partners has acquired fintech VC embedded/capital to establish a specialized fintech investment platform for startups.
In December 2021, Motive Partners, in collaboration with Apollo Global Management, launched Motive Ventures, headed by Mariano Belinky, former CEO of Santander Asset Management and founder of Santander’s venture capital business. To date, Motive Ventures has invested in five companies.
Meanwhile, embedded/capital was founded in Berlin by Ramin Niroumand, the creator of German venture builder finleap and chairman of Solaris. The portfolio of embedded/capital includes nine investments, such as Bezahl.de, Bunch, Februar.co, Getquin, Hero, Luca, Myne, Nelly, and Pliant.
The newly combined team will consist of 14 members and will maintain a presence in three key financial technology hubs: Berlin, London, and New York City. Their focus will be on early-stage investments in emerging fintech companies.
Blythe Masters, founding partner at Motive, stated, “This acquisition not only adds depth and capability to our team but also provides critical strategic benefits to the firm, including innovation insights, talent attraction, and enhanced sourcing networks.”
Motive Capital Funds, which raised a $2.45 billion fintech investment fund in July, will continue its efforts to invest across both growth and buyout stages, as noted by Masters. Commitments from the fund include 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 decentralized credit marketplace that connects institutional investors with fintech lenders in emerging markets.