SFV GB, a $50m corporate venture capital fund managed by Japan-based Sony Financial Ventures, part of the Sony Financial Holdings group, and venture capital firm Global Brain, have led a syndicate adding €10m to Germany-based insurance provider Element’s series A round.
It is the latest in a series of fintechs backed by SFV GB (see table) and an interesting one as Element is a direct insurer for non-life insurance providers – basically a white-label product factory for businesses to add insurance products to their car or phone sales.
Other investors taking the total round to €39m included technology platform Finleap, occupational pension fund Versorgungswerk Zahnaerztekammer Berlin and SBI Investment, sometimes referred to as Strategic Business Innovator Group and which span out from SoftBank in 2006 as a financial services provider under SBI Holdings. SBI Holdings earlier in the year planned to raise a Y100bn ($920m) venture fund targeting fintechs.
Fintechs primarily in the UK and Germany have led Europe’s late-stage investment boom with almost a quarter of activity according to bank SVB’s latest State of the Markets Q3 report.
With Asia and the US converging on Europe as covid-19 forces the transition of physical to digital financial services the sector is ripe for further disruption around the world and we are delighted to welcome Sony, Global Brain and SVB to the next GCV Digital Forum on 29 September.
