Rakuten Launches $100 Million FinTech Fund to Invest in Global Startups

Japanese internet giant, Rakuten, has become the latest firm to open a fintech fund to invest in the sector. Called the Rakuten FinTech Fund, Rakuten is allocating $100 million for the new venture to invest in early to mid-stage fintech startups that it believes provide the potential for an attractive return and have strategic relevance. The Rakuten FinTech fund has a global mandate but is expected to focus primarily on fintech startups from the US and Europe. In terms of size, the fund is one of the largest to be launched that focuses specifically on the fintech sector and is similar to the $100 million Santander InnoVentures fund created in 2014.

For Rakuten, the opening of the fund and an official mandate to invest in the fintech sector come after several investments in the space. Previous fintech investments include Currency Cloud Cloud The cloud or cloud computing helps provides data and applications that can be accessed from nearly any location in the world so long as a stable Internet connection exists. Categorized into three cloud services, cloud computing is segmented into Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). In terms of trading, the versatility of the cloud service allows retail traders the ability to test out new trading strategies, backtest pre-existing conc The cloud or cloud computing helps provides data and applications that can be accessed from nearly any location in the world so long as a stable Internet connection exists. Categorized into three cloud services, cloud computing is segmented into Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Platform as a Service (PaaS). In terms of trading, the versatility of the cloud service allows retail traders the ability to test out new trading strategies, backtest pre-existing conc Read this Term, WePay and Bitnet. While the firm is known best as an internet company, Rakuten’s conglomerate ecosystem includes businesses involved with banking, insurance, card issuing and securities brokering. With its existing financial businesses, the Rakuten FinTech Fund will be targeting firms that could potentially provide value and services to Rakuten’s existing units.

Heading the new fund and acting as its advisor is Rakuten Managing Partner Oskar Mielczarek de la Miel. On the new role and future of fintech, Oskar Miel commented, “If you just look at the last couple of years, companies like Currency Cloud, WePay or Bitnet are great examples of disruption changing the landscape in Payments Payments One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl One of the bases of mediums of exchange in the modern world, a payment constitutes the transfer of a legal currency or equivalent from one party in exchange for goods or services to another entity. The payments industry has become a fixture of modern commerce, though the players involved and means of exchange have dramatically shifted over time.In particular, a party making a payment is referred to as a payer, with the payee reflecting the individual or entity receiving the payment. Most commonl Read this Term and providing innovative solutions that address fundamental needs of global customers. The Rakuten FinTech Fund is dedicated to helping these businesses accelerate disruption and innovation in historically more traditional and conservative markets.”