Illuminate Financial

Our initial investment ranges from $0.5M – $2.0M and we concentrate all of our time, capital, networks and resources on a limited set of long-term partnerships. We work in the areas of Intelligent Systems, Financial and Commerce Infrastructure, Asset Management and Capital Markets, Climate Fintech, Insurance, and Wealth Management.

We propel early-stage fintech startups in the UK and EU. Our comprehensive view of the fintech landscape has seen us back ambitious entrepreneurs solving global problems in financial services, and the connected sectors influencing the future of financial services for companies, societies and everyday people. Our approachA carefully curated team: Our team is tightknit, fast moving and vigilant for every chance to add value. Building trust from day one: We aren't just sporadic board attendees; we live and breathe the ambitions of our founders. Sector specialists: We leverage our sector-focussed networks and resources to create maximum impact as quickly as possible. Committed to the journey: We continue to support our companies through multiple rounds of further funding, injecting tangible value adds at every step. Is Outward the right partner for you? Our sweet spot is companies: raising £1-6m based in the UK or EU with global ambitions showing clear evidence of traction with a mission driven team FAQsIn terms of revenue milestones and other KPIs, at what stage does Outward invest? We do not have rigid must-haves on revenue and business traction. As no two businesses are the same, we look at multiple and diverse data points to build conviction on the need for a product or service to exist. You may have a small number of customers yet you have amassed engagement data indicating product/market fit. You may have minimal revenue yet your launch customer(s) are influential and evangelical about your product. How much does Outward typically invest in the first investment round? Our initial entry investment is £750k to £1.5m in funding rounds of £1m to £10m. We reserve the majority of our funds to make follow-on investments in our portfolio companies. Does Outward take a lead investor role? As decisive, first-mover investors, we are experienced at performing a lead investor role in coordinating other investors in the funding round. That said, our approach is always collaborative and our priority is to ensure the best outcome for the investee with minimal fuss. As such, we are equally happy to co-lead or follow terms set by a lead investor depending on the round composition. What does the typical investment process look like? We are a small and nimble team, and as such, we try to keep our investment process as streamlined as possible. Initial conversations with founders will be focused on building conviction on these five questions which may take place over 1-3 calls: 1) Why will this team succeed? 2) Why is this market attractive? 3) Why does this product need to exist? 4) Why could this company become a category leader? 5) Why does Outward VC need to invest? Once the investment team is confident, we invite founders to a meeting with all seven team members. Following this, we will debate internally and come to a decision on whether or not to invest. Who are Outward’s Limited Partners? The fund’s cornerstone Limited Partners are two international financial institutions – Investec Bank and NIBC (Blackstone Group). In addition, our Limited Partners comprise a range of institutions, family offices and private investors, many of whom have extensive global networks in financial services. How do you help and support founders post-investment? Post-investment, our mission is to provide tailored support to our portfolio companies. This includes new hires, commercial partnerships, board construction, positioning for the next funding round, and marketing support. To ensure we understand the needs of the business, a Board Observer right is a part of our investment terms. Before choosing us as an investor partner in your business, we ask that you speak with the founders in our portfolio to understand Outward’s pragmatic and high-impact approach to adding value post-investment. What is Outward’s definition of fintech or ‘connected fintech’? A quick review of Outward’s existing portfolio should give a flavour of our broad definition of fintech. Our mission is to empower start-ups seeking to be the most important fintech companies in the world. We cover the full range of financial services from banking to capital markets to asset management to insurance, and our portfolio is equally weighted across B2B and B2C. In addition, we also actively seek out adjacent and connected sectors that we believe will have a key role shaping the future of financial services.

DB1 Ventures’ vision is to be a strategic partner of choice for early-stage to growth-stage fintech start-ups along the capital markets infrastructure value chain. Through targeted start-up investments, we aim to gain access to innovations and technologies that are core or adjacent to Deutsche Börse Group’s strategy, generate attractive investment returns and add strategic value to the growth plans of our portfolio companies. Our mission DB1 Ventures considers itself as Deutsche Börse Group’s “eyes and ears” in the global venture capital and fintech ecosystem. Its focus is set on areas of strategic interest to the Group to help the company drive innovation. Investment strategyGeography agnostic €5–25 million investment size Active investment philosophy Minority, significant minority stakes Lead and co-participate in investments Return targets: 1) Financial KPIs; 2) Strategic value Focus on early-stage to growth-stage companies (post-Series A) Fintech start-ups, with a specific focus on capital markets infrastructure Value proposition We help early-stage and growth-stage start-ups scale better from a technical and business connectivity perspective by working closely with our product, technology and operations teams. We provide connections to the financial world from issuers to intermediaries, traders and investors, who appreciate our neutrality and the high quality of market services we provide. We understand what it means to operate within the capital markets space and can help start-ups strategically with our expertise and connections to relevant players in the space. We bring the experience and brand of one of the largest market operators – a strong brand in the industry, standing for quality, independence, reliability and innovation.

Fintactics is a fintech dedicated VC fund and venture-builder based out of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that builds, incubates, accelerates growth and invests in start-ups in the Kingdom, MENA region and beyond. Empowering an ecosystem that leverages technology value chain and contributes to rapid growth locally and regionally. WE HAVE A WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE BUILDING AND INVESTING IN FINTECH VENTURESVenture Studio: We harness deep financial technology expertise and a network of brand name partners to create a distinctive, disruptive, operationally-focused investment models that solve real problems in the world of traditional and decentralied finance VC Fund: Fintactics VC fund supports in-house ventures and invest in innovative, high growth early stage (Pre-seed, Series-A) fintech ventures across the kingdom, MENA, and the world. HOW WE DO IT?We Co-build: We build start-ups by partnering with entrepreneurs to take ideas from conception to execution; empowered by decades of experience, timely capitol deployment and exceptional talent. We Partner: We partner with local and international disruptive fintech start-ups from around the world to accelerate growth and localize technology to effectively solve problems within the Kingdom and MENA region. We Invest: Through our Fintactics VC fund, we invest in early stage start-ups, from inception to Series-A, that are rapidly growing with innovative solutions in traditional and decentralized finance. OUR FOCUS VERTICALS As a venture-builder, we are focusing on nine key areas LENDING SOLUTIONS EMBEDDED FINANCE REGTECH SOLUTIONS OPEN BANKING USE CASES WEALTH MANAGEMENT REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS DEFI AND BLOCKCHAIN CAPITAL MARKETS INSURTECH SOLUTIONS

We partner with phenomenal entrepreneurs who have the vision and drive to reinvent financial services, investing from the earliest seeds of startup life to businesses scaling for growth. We support leading companies across all sectors of financial services, including lending, credit & banking, payments, insurance, capital markets & investments, personal finance, enterprise financial stack and real estate finance. Our distinctive approach to fintech venture capital is crafted around a curated network of global macroeconomic thinkers and investors. Launched in 2015, Clocktower Ventures is the technology investing affiliate of Clocktower Group, a global macro investment firm. We are based in Santa Monica, CA and invest worldwide.

We’re a corporate venture capital program that seeks to invest in emergent and potentially disruptive technologies or business models that are redefining a sector or creating a new one. Our goal is to accelerate the launch of new platforms or drive new product development opportunities. If you’re carving out a bold new space in the fintech ecosystem, we’d love to talk. What we’re looking forEarly stage: Series A and B, with exceptions for Seed and Series opportunities. Strategic focus: Minority investment opportunities that we believe may benefit SEI or the ecosystem of clients we serve. Solutions: B2B or B2B2C, SaaS-based solutions. Industry sectors: Capital markets, wealth management, lending and credit, insurance, banking, blockchain and digital assets, regulation technology, and more. Technology sectors: Artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, , cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, future of work, and more. Why work with SEI Ventures With relationships spanning the wealth and investment management industry, we are uniquely positioned to address the emerging and increasingly converging needs of wealth managers, investment managers and investors. As a result, portfolio companies have the potential for market validation, technology expertise, industry expertise, consulting and insight, diversification, distribution opportunities, partnerships opportunities and exit opportunities. Discover SEI We deliver technology and investment solutions that connect the financial services industry. With capabilities across investment processing, operations, and asset management, we work with corporations, financial institutions and professionals, and ultra-high-net-worth families to solve problems, manage change, and help protect assets.