Illuminate Financial closes $235m VC fund, targets Asia
Illuminate Financial, a UK-headquartered GP with a base in Singapore, has closed its third fintech VC fund on USD 235m amidst plans to expand activity in the region.
LPs include BNY Mellon, Euroclear, JPMorgan, S&P Global, Jefferies, Deutsche Borse Group, Barclays, Citi, and Singapore Exchange (SGX).
Fund II closed on USD 100m in 2021, approximately double its predecessor. Illuminate has invested in 35 late-seed to Series A-stage companies since its inception in 2014, of which nine have been exited, primarily through trade sales to strategic investors.
Illuminate’s core investment themes within enterprise fintech include digital assets infrastructure, climate and environmental, social and governance (ESG), data and private markets, and infrastructure that targets the financial services industry.
“The reset of private market valuations over the past 18 months makes this arguably one of the most exciting times to deploy early-stage capital since the bursting of the dot-com bubble over 20 years ago,” Mark Beeston, founder of Illuminate, said in a statement.
The firm was active in Asia as recently as last December with participation in a USD 25m round for Singapore’s Osome, a financial admin platform for small to medium-sized enterprises. Notable exits in the region include Tookitaki, an India-based company which provides financial institutions with artificial intelligence-based compliance software.
Illuminate’s head of Asia is Luca Zorzino, previously a consultant at Singapore-based capital markets software company Murex. Last November, Illuminate established a strategic partnership with SGX with a view to advancing fintech innovation in the region.
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