BlackFin Closes €350M Fund for European FinTechs, InsurTechs

BlackFin Capital Partners has announced Monday (July 11) a second closing, for €350 million ($351 million), of its Tech 2 fund, which is dedicated to European FinTechs and InsurTechs.

The fund is now twice the size of its predecessor, and will be invested in other companies soon, according to a report from Reinsurance News.

The company’s first fund, Tech 1, raise €178 million as of July 2018. That fund was fully invested in 17 European tech companies.

The first investment for the new fund has already been made in Descartes Underwriting, a B2B InsurTech from Paris, in 2019. Descartes works in commercial insurance.

The release says BlackFin’s Tech 2 fund will be positioned to support financial services’ transformation, taking advantage of technological breakthroughs, regulatory changes and new user habits.

This comes as BlackFin is following market conditions that encourage conservative investments with an eye on solid business metrics.

“Our ambition is to be the preferred partner for European financial services entrepreneurs,” said Laurent Bouyoux, founding partner with BlackFin. “The renewed confidence and support of our investors, the size of our teams, as well as the successful fundraising of the BlackFin Tech 2 fund strengthen our position as a leading investor in financial services in Europe. Our tech investment strategy continues to add considerable value to the platform and is an indispensable component of our investment strategy.”

See also: Tuum Notches $16.9M for its Next-Generation Banking Network

BlackFin was also involved in investing in Tuum, the Estonian FinTech that used to be known as Modularbank, PYMNTS wrote. That round went for €15 million. Portage Ventures led it and Karma Ventures was also involved.

Tuum said the new funding had come with a strong year for the company, seeing contracted annual revenue boosting over three times in the prior year. The company said the new money would go toward product innovation and add more presence in the U.K. and Europe.

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