Netherlands-based financial services firm ING launched a €300m ($348m) strategic investment fund on Wednesday called ING Ventures that will target financial technology developers.
ING Ventures will act as a strategic entity, focusing on seed and early-stage deals for disruptive fintech developers, and later-stage investments in companies that have already made traction in the market, in countries where ING is operational, or where it plans to enter.
The establishment of the fund follows some 115 investments and partnerships ING has made with fintech developers. It will form part of ING’s Chief Innovation Office and will be headed by Benoît Legrand, the firm’s head of fintech, who has been appointed CEO.
Legrand said: “As we see changes in the external environment happen faster and faster, we have to anticipate and step up our pace as well.
“Establishing this fund is yet another way for ING to use the digital revolution as a growth opportunity and help transform the bank to become the go-to platform for financial needs and become part of other platforms.”
ING is fully funding ING Ventures, which is intended to commit the capital over the next four years. It already had 10 portoflio companies, ING having begun by participating in the $135m round closed by peer-to-peer lender Kabbage in late 2015.
The firm has since contributed to a series of deals, including the $160m round completed by another lending marketplace, WeLab, in January 2016, and a $107m round for distributed ledger technology developer R3 in May this year.