Anthemis raises $700 million for fintech investment strategy

Source: Anthemis

Anthemis Group, an investment platform committed to cultivating change in the financial system today announced they have closed multiple funds.

Combined, the total raises exceed $700 million, bringing the firm’s AUM to $1.2 billion. This milestone comes more than a decade after the company emerged as one of the earliest and most prolific investors in the fintech sector, signaling the next phase of growth for the company as it positions its platform, team and leadership for 2022 and beyond.

Since inception, Anthemis Group set out to transform the financial system and how the world interacts with it, with diversity of thought, experience and leadership. By deploying human and financial capital diversely and inclusively, they created an innovative platform. Given the success of their Asset Management Business, they are poised to continue to expand their platform and influence the venture capital industry through how they invest and partner with companies and investors.

To support the growth of the firm’s full stack investment platform, Anthemis Chief Executive Officer, Amy Nauiokas has announced her transition to co-Chief Investment Officer and co-Chair of the board alongside her co-founder, Sean Park. Briana van Strijp, who has served as Anthemis’ Chief Operating Officer since 2018 has taken on the role as Chief Executive Officer, leveraging over two decades of experience in strategy, innovation and organizational design and Gavin Holland transitioned from Ecosystem Development Partner, focused on maximizing the value of the Anthemis Ecosystem, to President of the firm, leveraging over 20 years of leadership experience in client and investor focused roles in top tier global organizations.

To support the ongoing success of the Asset Management Business, the company is announcing additional promotions and new roles on the Investment Leadership Team:
• Katie Palencsar has been promoted to Managing Director and is now the Global Head of Venture Studio to continue expanding Anthemis’ global venture studio footprint to help pre-seed companies grow.
• Vica Manos, a current Partner at the firm, who currently runs the early-stage vehicle at Anthemis, will be overseeing early stage investments globally.
• Ruth Foxe Blader, a Partner at the firm, who currently runs the first venture growth vehicle at Anthemis, will be overseeing venture growth investments globally.
These appointments follow additional moves made to the Anthemis Group’ expanded leadership team, which included Mei Lim joining as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Development, and Harry Harrison as Vice Chair, to lead the company’s ongoing expansion into later-stage, including SPACs. Today’s announcements and repositioning signal the breadth and depth of evolution of Anthemis Group’s team and investment platform, which enables the firm to build and support a diversified pipeline of companies from pre-seed to late-stage.

“Anthemis’ first 10 years were focused on proving our thesis-driven approach, building out our platform and launching our Asset Management Business. Given this great success and momentum, Anthemis Group is poised to lead and innovate the next wave of change within the industry,” said Nauiokas. “Fintech’s continuous evolution requires us to support companies at more levels of their growth as the market continues to reach new heights and to continue to innovate in how we do so. With these closes and our recent SPAC announcement, we are committed to supporting fintech companies across their life cycle. I am excited to dive further into growing our already incredible portfolio, and have ultimate trust in Bri to lead us in the next phase of our growth as we continue to lead the work in fixing what is broken in our financial system.”

The global Fintech market is projected to reach over $190 billion by 2026, and with over 150 investments in fintech across the globe, Anthemis continues to be one of the most active fintech investors including in industry standouts Betterment, eToro, Currency Cloud, The Climate Corporation, Carta and Happy Money.

Notable early stage investments across North America and Europe include, Pipe, a recurring revenue trading platform, Weavr, an embedded banking provider for digital innovators and fintechs, and Atomic, an investing API for fintechs and banks. Additionally, Anthemis has built out its venture growth business to support the maturation of its portfolio and the increasing scale of the opportunity in fintech and insurtech. Notable deployments from the fund include Branch, pioneers in bundled home and auto insurance, Eigen, an intelligent document processing provider, and LocoNav, a telematics-based fleet management platform.

Anthemis made further progress on its later-stage strategy with the launch of its first ESG-focused SPAC, Anthemis Digital Acquisitions I Corp (Nasdaq: ADALU), debuting on Nasdaq in November 2021 and successfully closing at $230 million. Led by Anthemis founder, Amy Nauiokas and an all-women management team, ADALU seeks to advance Anthemis’ commitment to creating systemic, long-term change by partnering with a progressive company within digital financial services or modern fintech.

The firm recently announced the expansion of their Female Innovators Lab in partnership with Barclays into the UK & Europe. Today, nearly a quarter (23%) of Anthemis’ portfolio companies are founded by women; this is in stark contrast to the industry overall, which shows that companies with solely female founders raised just 2.2 percent of all venture funding this year. Additionally, 39% of Anthemis’ portfolio companies are led by women or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color). This industry-leading commitment is only intensifying, with 42% of all capital deployed year to date by the firm going to a diverse founder.

“Because Anthemis was amongst the earliest investors in fintech and knows first-hand what it takes to go from an idea on a whiteboard to a high-growth regulated business, we have tremendous empathy for, and credibility with, the founders and executives that have built such great companies,” said Briana van Strijp, Anthemis Group Chief Executive Officer. “As Anthemis Group focuses its next phase of growth on extending the Asset Management Business and further expanding the Group’s impact, we will continue to find and partner with the best fintech companies committed to improving the world, drive further innovation and resilience into the financial system, and continue our accelerated momentum in a sustainable way. I am grateful for the opportunity to work with a purpose-led organisation and such a gender, racially, geographically, culturally, and experientially diverse team and to lead us on this journey. And I am grateful for Amy and Sean’s tremendous leadership, as well as their vision for a more fair and resilient financial system.”