Company-building venture Team8 has today announced the launch of Team8 Fintech, which will focus on founding and growing innovative fintech companies. Team8 Fintech has already raised $30 million according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) out of a planned $100 million.
Team8 Fintech is led by former Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) president & CEO Rakefet Russak-Aminoach, digital payments company Payoneer founder and president Yuval Tal, and founder and former chief product officer of social trading network and multi-asset brokerage unicorn eToro Ronen Assia. Galia Beer-Gabel, former Head of Business Development for PayPal across Eastern Europe, Israel and Africa, is also joining Team8 Fintech as part of the founding team that brings a wealth of expertise across retail banking, credit, payments, ecommerce and trading.
Team8 Fintech will create both B2B and B2B2C companies that empower industry players with new technologies and new business offerings to ensure they stay relevant and gain a competitive advantage. The foundry will build companies that enable incumbents, largely operating with legacy infrastructure, to hyperscale their digital transformation. For established fintechs, typically offering niche solutions, Team8 Fintech will create companies that enhance their value propositions with more diverse and robust capabilities and broaden their business models. The practice will also target non-financial companies with significant customer bases and relevant customer touchpoints where a financial service offering may be beneficial. Team8 Fintech will create companies providing embedded fintech solutions to address these opportunities, enabling such non-financial companies to become new fintech providers, benefiting from new revenue streams and enhanced customer engagement.
Russak-Aminoach said, "The financial industry is facing a perfect storm, with inevitable changes and advancements already underway. Understanding the challenges and complexities of incumbents or other enterprises to innovate from within, my passion is to build the type of companies I would have wanted to collaborate with in my previous role as CEO of a bank. I see great opportunities in leveraging new technologies to completely reinvent financial services, drive efficiency and improve customer experience. In order to execute leading-edge fintech, a strong technology partner is vital - Team8 is renowned for its best-in-class technology capabilities and I’m excited about the fintech powerhouse we’re going to build."
"Today, we are joining forces with giants. Financial Services are first and foremost about Trust. To make them more efficient, available and ultimately fair, Digital Trust is paramount. And Digital Trust is dependent on Cyber Security and Privacy - a natural habitat for Team8. Assembling this all-star team is a rare event and is gearing us with the talent, gravitas and exceptional leadership skills to build transformative fintech companies. This cements another important milestone in Team8’s journey as we expand our foundry model and become a multi-sector venture group." said Team8’s Co-Founder Nadav Zafrir.
Team8 Group currently operates Team8 Enterprise, a foundry vehicle that builds cybersecurity and data companies, and Team8 Capital, an investment vehicle that funds existing startups across Team8’s areas of expertise. The group expands into a new domain with Team8 Fintech across both company building and investment activities.
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