Octopus Ventures is reportedly preparing to take over the Fintech Growth Fund, a new funding vehicle aimed at providing growth-stage capital to UK fintech companies.
The Fintech Growth Fund was conceived in the Kalifa Review of the UK’s fintech ecosystem, which highlighted a £2 billion growth funding gap in the country. Targeted primarily at financial technology firms between Series B and pre-IPO stages, the initial deployment of capital was scheduled for Q4 2023.
However, according to Sky News, the fund has faced challenges in reaching its original fundraising target and has yet to formally announce any investments. The original aim was to raise £1 billion from institutional investors to support its objectives, with early seed investments from Barclays, London Stock Exchange Group, Mastercard, and NatWest to help get the initiative off the ground.
The strategy involved making an average of four to eight investments per year, with individual investments ranging from £10 million to £100 million. Sky News further reports that Octopus Investments, now led by Erin Platt, formerly of Silicon Valley Bank UK, harbors significant ambitions for the Fintech Growth Fund and has developed a substantial pipeline of potential investments.