French emerging manager incubator NewAlpha Asset Management has closed its first French venture capital fund dedicated to fintech companies and launched in November 2015 after it raised some €56m of assets from French institutional investors.
The closing of the fund has been announced following the injection of €15m in capital by the French Tech Acceleration fund, managed by Bpifrance as part of the French Tech initiative and financed by the Investments for the Future Programme (PIA). Around €70m have been committed so far by the French Tech Acceleration Fund in more than 10 investments.
The fund aims to build and develop a diversified portfolio of innovative FinTech and InsurTech startups.
It invests primarily in unlisted French fintechs, including Heoh, iTrust, Unilend, Lydia, TrackInsight and most recently Wikifolio, the fund’s first European investment.
Lior Derhy, director of private equity at NewAlpha, said: “With our NewAlpha FinTech fund, we wanted to combine our expertise in the financial industry with the best practices of venture capital and incubation. We met with several hundred startups since the end of 2015, which confirms the depth and dynamic of FinTech opportunities in France and Europe.
“The constructive evolution of the relationships between the industry’s established players and startups should lead to a strong democratization of FinTech innovations and offer attractive investment opportunities.”
NewAlpha has tied more than 70 strategic partnerships and invested over €1.5bn in French and international investment management boutiques.
