Outward Venture Capital holds first close of inaugural fund

The Fund’s founding investors, Investec Bank plc and NIBC, are joined by a range of UK and international investors. The Fund will be open to new investors for a 12-month window as it seeks complementary institutional and private LPs.

Outward VC has been in operation for the past 18 months and was an early investor in Monese, Curve and Bud. Core to the Fund’s strategy is to reserve a substantial portion of the Fund for follow-on investments, evidenced by its recent follow-on investments in Monese’s USD60 million Series B in September 2018, Bud’s USD20m Series A in February 2019, and Curve’s USD55 million Series B in July 2019. Outward VC is seeing a four times average multiple of first money invested so far.

"London’s fintech ecosystem is leading the world and we have a deep pipeline of attractive opportunities. A number of investments are under negotiation and we will be announcing new portfolio companies over the summer."

Kevin Chong, Co-head of Outward VC

As Outward VC invests in companies that address large global market opportunities, Investec and NIBC’s combined reach across Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa and the US is a major advantage for Outward VC’s portfolio companies.

"We are convinced that tech and fintech are poised to deliver the next generation of global category leaders. This unique initiative fits with NIBC’s entrepreneurial spirit and is a perfect opportunity to leverage NIBC’s platform across Northwest Europe and its existing fintech relationships including with OakNorth, Ebury, and iwoca as well as leading German fintech company builder Finleap. We are very excited to work closely with the Outward VC team and support its portfolio of leading fintech companies."

Nils Schaffner, NIBC’s Head of Fintech UK

"Outward VC’s distinctive edge is leveraging the platforms of its investors to add real value to portfolio companies and we have demonstrated this by facilitating follow-on funding from top tier investors, senior hires, and commercial partnerships for our existing portfolio companies."

Devin Kohli Co-Head of Outward VC

With its investment mandate based on full alignment with founders and other shareholders, the Fund is not bound by the corporate strategy considerations of its investors in selecting investments.