Italy-based financial services firm UniCredit plans to invest almost €200m ($220m) in financial technology startups in partnership with fintech-focused investment and consulting firm Anthemis Group.
UniCredit intends to make the investments as part of a wider digital evolution strategy, and to improve its offerings to clients. It announced the initiative at the same time as 2015 financial results that showed a €1.7bn profit from revenues of nearly €22bn.
The bank has been relatively quiet in VC terms, but it operates an accelerator called UniCredit Start Lab, and was among the limited partners for the $200m fund closed by growth equity firm Acton Capital Partners in October 2015.