Avaloq has unleashed a new subsidiary, Avaloq Ventures, to offer venture capital funding and join the hunt for start-ups and fintech action, reports Antony Peyton of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).
Zurich-headquartered Avaloq Ventures will enable funding for fintechs partnering with Avaloq, e.g. by offering their solutions on Avaloq’s Software Exchange.
It will be led by Johannes Minho Roth, an alternative investments and fintech entrepreneur. He worked for FiveT Capital and Baader Bank among others. Avaloq founder and group chairman Francisco Fernandez will be chairman.
Roth said: “We will look to identify, fund and support the most innovative start-ups and companies with the greatest growth potential. They will be able to leverage their access to Avaloq’s client community of more than 150 banks and wealth managers worldwide.”
Avaloq Ventures will look to partner with third-party investors such as banks, wealth and asset managers, and established fintech companies in providing capital. The size of funding will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
It naturally plans to use the Avaloq Community and Avaloq’s connections. The latter says more than 1,300 third-party fintech developers work with it and over 90 third-party fintech solutions are available on its market place.
Avaloq is confident as in April this year, for instance, the firm acquired a 10% stake in Metaco, a Lausanne-based blockchain and cryptocurrency specialist. In the future, Avaloq says it will continue to identify potential M&A deals at a group level while facilitating fintech funding through Avaloq Ventures.
Along with this news, Avaloq said it is launching 150 API endpoints during the second half of 2018.
Headquartered in Switzerland, Avaloq has more than 2,000 employees; three R&D centres in Zurich, Edinburgh and Manila; and four service centres in Switzerland, Singapore and Germany.
Avaloq demonstrated the “double marketplace” feature of its API marketplace at FinovateAsia last month, winning Best of Show. The feature encourages collaboration between fintechs and FIs by enabling both parties to offer solutions via Avaloq’s ecosystem.