Illuminate Financial Management (IFM) LLP, a venture capital firm established by Mark Beeston, has closed an initial round of capital raising for its recently launched IFM Fintech Opportunities Fund, according to a Deutsche Börse statement.
The inaugural investment round has been spearheaded by financial information services provider Markit and Deutsche Börse Group. Illuminate Financial Management launched in February 2014, having already established a pipeline of early stage companies across the capital markets industry.
In particular, the IFM Fintech Opportunities Fund will be focused on Series A and seed financing rounds in an attempt to secure additional investments. Furthermore, the IFM fund will focus on fintech companies in such realms as compliance, Regulation and connectivity, among others.
The launch is the latest move by the London-based venture capital firm that has in its short existence developed a penchant for prompting and backing financial technology that benefits capital markets participants.
According to Mark Beeston, Managing Partner and Founder of Illuminate Financial Management, in a recent statement on the capital fund launch: “We are delighted to announce the first close of the Illuminate Fintech Opportunities Fund. Markit and Deutsche Börse are global fintech leaders whose clients will benefit from the technology firms Illuminate is already backing. We are pleased to have them both as lead investors.”
“Investing with Illuminate gives us deep insight into technologies and pioneering business models in our space. We look forward to collaborating with Illuminate to advise investment companies as they refine their business models and define their go-to-market approach. Fostering innovation is a pillar of our business strategy,” added Lance Uggla, CEO and founder of Markit.
Deutsche Börse made headlines last week when it reported its order book turnover across all asset classes during the month ending October 2015, which came in at $139.5 billion (€126.7 billion).
