Israel's Viola has announced closing of a $100 million global fintech fund, toward a target of $120-$150 million. The fund is backed by leading global banks, insurance companies and asset managers from North America, Europe, APAC and Israel, including Scotiabank, The Travelers Companies, Inc and Bank Hapoalim (TASE: POLI).
Viola FinTech is a cross-stage venture fund that invests globally in FinTech companies alongside leading venture investors with the mission to bridge the gap between the worlds of financial institutions and innovative startups. The fund works closely with its investors to accelerate Fintegration (the implementation and adaption of innovative solutions by financial institutions) and to guide startups in the regulatory and corporate environment.
Viola FinTech is led by an experienced team, with strong backgrounds in banking, entrepreneurship and investment: Prof. Daniel Tsiddon, founder and general partner, was the former Deputy CEO of Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) (Israel’s second largest bank) and former chairman of Leumi Partners, the Bank’s investment arm; Tomer Michaeli, general partner, co-founded FundBox (a leader in small business credit and payment solutions with tens of millions in revenues); and Avi Zeevi, who has been in the FinTech industry for 35 years and is Co-Founder of Viola Group and Chairman of the FinTech fund Investment Committee.
The new fund is an independent fund and is part of the Viola Group, the Israeli technology-oriented multi-strategy investment group, with over $2.8 billion in assets under management including a $170 million venture capital fund launched last month.
Prof. Tsiddon said: “This fund provides financial institutions with the optimal response to cope with the fast-changing environment. As regulatory, technological and cultural gaps all work to slow innovation adoption, Viola FinTech accelerates the integration of innovative ideas into financial institutions while providing the necessary resources to FinTech companies as they scale to transform the financial sector.”
“We are delighted to partner with Viola Group to accelerate the Bank’s digital transformation and find the most promising FinTech companies across the globe,” said Ignacio (Nacho) Deschamps, Group Head, International Banking and Digital Transformation at Scotiabank. “This partnership will allow us to access Israel’s innovation ecosystem, including well-established cybersecurity and anti-fraud expertise by leveraging Viola’s unique access to relevant companies and technologies.”
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 6, 2017
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