Zopa investor seeks public listing for new fintech fund
ZOPA stakeholder Augmentum Capital is planning to list a new fintech fund on the London Stock Exchange that invests in disruptive, high growth companies.
Augmentum Fintech, a closed-ended investment company, will acquire an initial portfolio of five fintech investments from Augmentum Capital, with an aggregate valuation of around £33m.
These investments include peer-to-peer consumer lender Zopa; crowdfunding group Seedrs; investment platform Interactive Investor; investment gold service BullionVault; and investment data control company SRL Global.
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Augmentum Capital, backed by Lord Rothschild, is looking to raise up to £125m and seek a main market listing for the internally-managed fund.
It said investors would gain exposure to a focused portfolio of fast growing and/or high potential private fintech businesses based predominantly in the UK and wider Europe.
“The financial services sector is open for disruption and disintermediation and, despite early signs, the process has yet to happen in the significant way that has been seen in other sectors such as retail, media and travel,” it said.
The fund will invest in businesses which are high growth, have scalable opportunities and have disruptive technologies in the banking, insurance and asset management sectors, as well as other cross-industry propositions.
It access to an identified pipeline of assets currently in excess of £100m.
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The listing prospectus is expected to be published around mid-February with admission to the main market shortly thereafter.
The fund will be managed by Tim Levene and Richard Matthews, co-founders of Augmentum, and Perry Blacher, a former partner at venture capital firm Amadeus Capital.
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