Italy-based financial services firm UniCredit yesterday disclosed the details of a €200m ($223m) corporate venturing unit called UniCredit Evo, which will be co-run with venture capital firm Anthemis.
UniCredit Evo (with Evo standing for equity venture opportunities) will look to invest in financial technology companies, targeting early-stage companies developing innovative technology and more established, growth-stage fintech companies. Its launch follows an announcement by UniCredit last month.
Specific areas to be covered will include retail banking and consumer finance, investment and corporate banking, wealth and asset management, capital markets and trading, payments and financial data, and technology and infrastructure, with portfolio companies primarily to come from Europe and the US.
UniCredit is establishing the unit in a bid to accelerate the digitalisation of its business by accessing new technologies and services. Paolo Fiorentino, UniCredit’s chief operating officer, and Anthemis Group CEO Nadeem Shaikh will oversee operations.
Fiorentino said: “Thanks to this partnership, we are ramping up our digital transformation, building a new business model to maximise the combined strengths of traditional market players and newcomers.
“As a bank we have the resources, financial expertise and large customer base that can complement startup innovation. This will in turn boost our digitalisation, enabling us to better adapt to the ever-evolving needs of our customers.”
UniCredit has so far been a limited participant in the financial technology space, though it did establish a fintech accelerator initiative called UniCredit Start Lab in 2014.