Fasanara Capital launches $350 million fintech and crypto VC fund

Recently named one of the fastest growing companies of 2022 by the Financial Times, Fasanara Capital is a technology-enabled hedge fund that identified the opportunity in technology and fintech lending before most other asset managers. Launched in 2011, Fasanara Capital has more than USD 3.5 billion AUM and helps bridge the gap between credit-starved SMEs and European institutional investors looking to support new technologies in ways that are sustainable, scalable and empowered by data. Fasanara’s third venture fund is intended to capitalize on the increasing level of innovation it sees from its vantage point as one of Europe’s leading digital lenders and traders in digital assets, including crypto.

Investments in European fintechs are booming, there were 750 financing deals for European fintech companies in 2021, which equates to almost €26 billion in investments. In addition, four of Europe’s top 10 most valuable technology companies in 2021 were fintechs. Meanwhile, Europe’s VCs invested a record $2.2 billion in cryptocurrency and DeFi startups in 2021.

Fasanara is perfectly poised to take advantage of this trend, as it is already Europe’s largest lender to fintech platforms, and a major crypto liquidity provider in its own right. It currently has a portfolio of 29 start-up and scale-up technology companies, including: Twig, the Web3-enabled financial solution and marketplace for the circular economy; Scalapay, the Italian company Buy now, pay later; and Grover, Europe’s market leader in technology rental. The fund manager estimates that across its fintech portfolio, it will see total community lending volumes reach $45 billion this year, demonstrating the scope of opportunity in the industry at present. Existing investors in Fasanara Capital include one of Europe’s largest pension funds, the European Investment Fund and some of Europe’s largest insurance companies.
Industry veterans in both crypto and fintech

What sets Fasanara Capital apart is its performance, track record and scale of operations in both digital lending and digital assets (crypto and DeFi). From an operational point of view, this means that Fasanara Capital can often deploy capital much faster than other VC firms, as the fund often already has an existing relationship with the startup. With its track record of lending to and investing in both fintech and crypto sectors, Fasanara Capital is also confident in taking the lead investor role and making larger equity commitments than generalist venture capital investors.

Fasanara’s approach to equity investing has resulted in several early successes. After making their first early-stage equity investments three years ago, two of Fasanara Capital’s current portfolio companies have this month reached unicorn status after closing their latest respective funding rounds.

ScalaPay, the Italian Buy Now, Pay Later firm led by Simone Mancini that Fasanara invested in at its 2019 launch, recently became Italy’s first unicorn after raising a large Series B round. Similarly, Fasanara has been heavily involved in the growth of Europe’s technology rental market leader, Grover, investing in Series B and Series C rounds. The German company, which offers electronics including smartphones on subscription plans, is now valued at over $1 billion after its latest round of funding.

During three years of venture investments, Fasanara Capital has financed 29 companies from seed to Series A across Europe. It employs 152 people in London, with more than 100 people in the growing technology team.

Francesco Filia, CEO of Fasanara Capital: “The European asset management industry is on the brink of a huge technology-led transformation and Fasanara Capital has been at the forefront of this change, both as a digital lender and dealer of alternative assets. Over the past eleven years, we have developed a deep understanding of the fintech ecosystem, have funded more than $30 billion of digital loans and receivables and have had the opportunity to invest in some of the leading digital technology startups in the market. Europe is the natural place for technology innovation and financial services to come together to create companies with great potential – both for consumers and businesses. Having gained a reputation as a leader in the space, we are now seeing deal flow of exceptional quality and we want to capitalize on it. We are excited to open our venture capital investment fund to external investors who also see the magnitude of this opportunity and can help amazing founders build world-leading companies.”