Augmentum Fintech
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Augmentum is the only publicly-listed fintech fund in Europe, which sounds impressive until you realize it's trading at a massive discount to NAV and just accepted a buyout offer from Verdane. NAV returned -3.5% but shareholders got hammered with -15.4% returns as the discount widened from 40% to 47%. The team has solid fintech pedigree - Tim and Richard built Flutter/Betfair before becoming investors - but being public creates pressure for quarterly performance that doesn't mesh well with early-stage venture investing. Portfolio companies do praise their "deep insight into fintech and scaling at pace" and describe them as a "go-to fund", suggesting they're genuinely helpful post-investment. The discount situation means they've been capital-constrained, which ironically might make them more selective and hands-on than flush VCs.
- —Best for: European fintech founders wanting experienced operators who've built and scaled fintech businesses themselves
- —Watch out for: Fund structure issues - just accepted buyout due to persistent discount to NAV limiting capital for new investments
- —Known for: Strong regulatory and policy connections, particularly helpful for navigating European fintech compliance challenges
Investing in a focused portfolio of fast growing and transformative private fintech businesses in the UK and wider Europe. Augmentum invests in early and later stage fast growing fintech businesses that are disrupting the banking, insurance, asset management and wider financial services sectors. Early stage private fintech businesses in and around Europe are what we are focused on. Such businesses are disruptive to and/or help to digitalise the traditional financial services sector.
Series A and later-stage fintech investments across Europe, typically investing £3-10 million. Focus on digital banking, payments, asset management, and financial services infrastructure. Current portfolio shows investments in business banking (Tide - 24%), digital banking (Zopa - 13%), payments (Volt - 7%), lending (iwoca - 5%), and various fintech infrastructure companies.
Founded Augmentum Capital in 2010 with backing from RIT Capital and Lord Rothschild. Made Young Global Leader by World Economic Forum in 2012 and advised The Royal Foundation on digital strategy. Sits on multiple fintech boards including Tide and Zopa, highly active in UK fintech initiatives.
Has 23 years of venture capital and private equity experience, started career at PwC before joining Tim at Flutter.com (now Betfair) as CFO. Left Betfair to join Benchmark Capital Europe (now Balderton), then Manzanita Capital investing in retail/leisure globally before co-founding Augmentum.
Graduated from Cambridge and Harvard, started at McKinsey before joining Microsoft and becoming founding Principal at Chase Episode 1 Partners. Previously Venture Partner at Amadeus Capital with advisory roles at Barclays UK, Google, Onfido, and other fintech businesses.
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