Santander to invest £75 million in UK’s fintech businesses

Santander Group’s London-based fintech venture capital fund, Santander InnoVentures, is to invest £75 million in the UK’s fintech community.

Santander InnoVentures was first launched in 2014 and is part of Santander’s innovation agenda, which aims to support early-stage fintech companies and help them to grow.

Support

Since its launch, the fund has invested in a number of fintech companies globally, including Ripple, Digital Asset and London-based company Elliptic. It is now set to deploy $200 million in minority stakes in financial technology start-ups.

The news comes as several other banks are set to offer more support by extending funding to small businesses.

Earlier this week, NatWest announced that it will be launching a £1 billion lending fund for small businesses across England and Wales, whilst HSBC and Bibby have signed a $150 million funding agreement to support Europe’s small businesses.

Success

Commenting on the fund, Banco Santander Group Executive Chairman, Ana Botín, said: “A deeper investment in our fintech fund represents Santander’s success in investing in disruptive new technologies that will help our transformation towards being the best bank for our customers – in the simple personal and fair way they expect and deserve today.”

Botín added that the fund’s location in the UK has enabled it to benefit from London’s position as a fintech hub whilst talent spotting the fund’s investments on a global basis, and that the company remains “committed to the UK and excited about its Fintech enterprises”.