Nordea Bank is set to launch a venture capital fund to invest in FinTech startups, having already backed mobile money company Betalo.
It has not revealed the size of Nordea Ventures but said it will invest mainly in startups and growth companies, primarily within the financial technology sector, that are mainly active in the Nordic region.
The bank said the vehicle will support and accelerate innovation, and strengthen its offering to customers. According to Nordea, the fund it part of its ambition to seeks new partners and ideas to unleash the ‘full potential of start-ups and shape the future of banking’.
Casper von Koskull, president and group CEO of Nordea, said: “The banking industry is changing, and we’re well prepared to change along with it. We’re reinventing ourselves so we can quickly deliver what our customers want. It’s important to understand their needs to see how we can live up to their expectations.”
Following the announcement, Nordea has also revealed an investment in Swedish FinTech company Betalo. Nordea has taken a sizeable stake in Betalo, joining existing shareholders in a Sk45m fundraise. The company’s app offers consumers and small businesses the possibility to use a card to send money abroad, transfer to Swedish bank accounts, and make bill payments.
“We have worked hard to prove that we can build complex, high-quality financial services, and with this investment we can build on the vision of becoming a mobile bank,” added Eli Keren, CEO of Betalo.
“Equally important is that with Nordea we get the Nordic region’s strongest strategic partner, and in an area like fintech, knowledge and market experience is crucial.”
In October, Nordea joined a €14m funding for Swedish PFM startup Tink. Tink’s app continuously collects, sorts and analyses consumer spending into definable categories and provides user-defined budgets and alerts when a maximum spending limit is reached.
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