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.

As Venture Capitalists, we invest in smart people solving difficult problems. Our mission is to generate world-class investment returns over the long term. Wavelaunch is an investment VC firm backing the best founders and entrepreneurs who are just getting started; whether it’s pre-seed, seed, or Series A. At Wavelaunch, we work closely with companies to help them get in the best shape possible before we pitch them to our investors. Our initial investment ranges from 500K-2 Million and ideal ownership is 7-12%. Our Vision 1. Create a high-value ecosystem of startups, financial institutions, founders, engineers, executives, regulators, academics, and thought leaders driving financial services disruption, and connect them with people who want to be a part of it. 2. Invest in (and profit from) the technology-driven financial startups that are transforming the industry. Our current portfolio consists of a globally diversified portfolio of best-in-class, high-growth, digitally native financial services companies. 3. Provide financial services and technology companies with strategic and investment advice and tools to help them meet the needs of 21st-century consumers and businesses by forcing them to reconsider investment opportunities, business models, design, user experience, data, technology, and customer success. 4. As a pattern for the economy, build one of the world’s greatest diversified financial services companies with a dedication to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 5. Bring together and invest in outstanding entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and change agents in the world of finance to reinvent finance for the information era. Our Philosophy If you look at a few venture capital websites, you’ll realize that they all sound the same. They all claim to work with exceptional founders. You will hear terms like “We believe that technology can change the world” or “From the beginning, we have backed excellent businesses.” That hasn’t always been the case though. Seed-stage financing was not a thing a few years ago, and many people thought it would survive. Founders who afterward became investors were outliers. Every VC promises founders access to folks and networks that will help them succeed. Even multi-stage and mega-growth corporations are getting into seed-stage investing, putting money into startups that are only a few people with a great idea. However, speak with a few Wavelaunch Founders and they’ll explain how we’re different. They’ll tell you how we’ve helped them go from a great founder to a great CEO by understanding how difficult and lonely the startup path can be. They’ll discuss how we helped them establish a better company by focusing just on the first two years - in part because we’re not available to lead their Series A or B round. They’ll tell you that instead of stuffy board meetings, we believe in working sessions when you’re just getting started - jam sessions when we dive deep on a topic. That their Wavelaunch partner is the first person they phone and call, their corner coach - and the kick in the back when they need it the most. The startups we’ve backed will gush about how we helped them get their most critical hiring, position their business, and design their sales playbook. Skyler Joves from InfluenceBLU will tell you that she met her co-founder Reiner through us. Ranveer from Otipy will remember how we worked with him as his head of marketing early on to brand for its success. And Brand05’s founders will gladly discuss how they fine-tuned their sales pitch with their first 20 customers, all of whom were Wavelaunch companies. They’ll almost certainly note that through the Wavelaunch Review, we give the greatest tactical tips to help other entrepreneurs achieve the same. While the word “community” is bandied around a lot these days, they’ll say that our efforts to connect founders across Wavelaunch companies have given them the most beneficial collection of peers. They’ll tell you that our Founder Retreat was “hands down” the “most valuable professional event” they’ve ever attended. That this group of peers not only assists them in dealing with tactical issues but also gives them a sense of belonging. They’ll tell you how exhausting and time-consuming getting finance may be, and how much Pitch Assist helped. How a specialized Series A capital team assisted them in crafting a compelling narrative, determining the best strategy, and creating a visually appealing presentation that got the job done. They’ll tell you that they never expected to spend 50 hours honing their pitch, but that this fundraising boot camp is one of the main reasons why 80 percent of First Round-backed firms “graduate” to Series A. (compared to an industry average of 31 percent ). They’ll tell you that we’re quality-obsessed and always striving to improve. We start small and iterate quickly, as do all great founders. That Fast Track began by putting together a small group of mentors and mentees in the hopes of learning something over a quarter. It is presently a program that provides approximately 1500 people with structured learning and development programming regularly. 83 percent of mentees feel their jobs have altered as a result of their mentorship. Above everything else, they’ll tell you that we always do the right thing, even when it’s difficult. We believe in long-term thinking, and we will not be out there trying to make $0.10 on our dollar if the company is shut down. They are well aware that we may be the first to check into their next venture. It’s difficult to explain how we’re different when every venture capital website says the same thing. Fortunately for us, not every VC receives the same treatment from founders. Sincerely, Team Wavelaunch

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.

A SRM Ventures é o braço de corporate venture capital da SRM Asset. Uma gestora de fundos de investimentos, que opera na área de direitos creditórios, que se destaca por atributos como inovação, flexibilidade, pioneirismo e pelo know how adquirido ao longo dos mais de 13 anos de atuação. Hoje possui mais de 2500 clientes, 300 colaboradores e tem R$6 bilhões em volume anual de operações de crédito.

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