JP Morgan and Barclays back Illuminate Financial in $100m round

London-based VC firm focusing on FinTech startups Illuminate Financial has closed a $100m round with backing from JP Morgan Chase and Barclays.

The investment round was anchored by Deutsche Borse and IHS Markit, with additional backing from Draper Esprit and family offices.

The new fund, which is double Illuminate’s first raise, has been in the works for two years.

Commenting on the investment, Illuminate founder Mark Beeston said, “It has been a true fundraising marathon with Brexit deadlines and Covid shutdowns being major events outside our control that we had to contend with.

“We had to just pick up and adapt as our plans and timelines were wrecked time and again.”

Founded in 2014, Illuminate Financial focuses on backing software companies that provide services to financial institutions including startups in the crypto, WealthTech as well as ESG sectors.

Illuminate’s portfolio includes low code development startup Genesis and cloud-based collateral management technology provider CloudMargin. It has also invested in Curv, a digital asset security company based in Tel Aviv.

While the firm has made seven successful investments, the Covid-19 pandemic has posed a slew of challenges, Beeston said.

“We are not yet post-Covid but feeling like there is light at the end of that tunnel with a whole series of new opportunities to find and challenges to overcome,” he added. “Working out how to deploy this capital whilst also working out what everyone’s new normal will become and how it will impact change.”

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