Following the success of Innoventures, IBOS member Banco Santander has announced the launch of Mouro Capital, a new, autonomously managed venture capital fund focused on fintechs and adjacent businesses linked with the financial services industry.
Mouro Capital succeeds Santander Innoventures and will have $400 million in allocated funds after the bank doubled its current commitment. Mouro Capital aims to bring its fintech expertise, global network and strong track-record in successful investments to early and growth stage startups globally.
The decision to spin out its investment arm is another milestone in Santander’s four-year (2019-2022) €20 billion digital and technology investment plan. The Group is accelerating its digital and commercial transformation to maintain its operational excellence, whilst constantly improving the customer experience and innovative services it brings to customers.
Mouro Capital will remain a key driver of Santander’s ambition to be the best banking partner to startups, generating tangible value through strategic collaborations. As of today, 70% of the fund’s current portfolio companies are working with Santander.
Some of those collaborations have been instrumental to key innovations over the past years, including the utilisation of Ripple’s technology within One Pay FX for real-time cross-border payments; the use of Nivaura’s technology for the world first end-to-end blockchain bond issuance (made by Santander); the delivery of end-to-end digitally enabled working capital solutions by Tradeshift; the enhancement of retail banking remote servicing experiences through Personetics technologies; and the utilisation of Crosslend as a platform for private debt mobilisation and regulatory capital optimisation.
Read the full press release via Banco Santander here.
