Viola holds $100m first close for maiden FinTech fund

July 12, 2017

Israel-based investment firm Viola has held the $100m first close for its maiden global FinTech fund.

Viola FinTech, which has a target of $120m – $150m, has seen contributions from banks, insurance companies and asset managers across North America, Europe, APAC and Israel. Some of the current participants include Scotiabank, The Travelers Companies, and Bank Hapoalim.

Last week, FinTech Global revealed the firm had launched the vehicle, but it had yet to register any capital on its US SEC filing.

This new vehicle will be used to invest in global FinTech companies, alongside other venture investors. Viola is hoping to accelerate the integration of solutions with financial institutions and guide startups in the growing regulatory and corporate environment.

Viola FinTech founder and general partner Daniel Tsiddon said, â€œAs regulatory, technological and cultural gaps all work to slow innovation adoption, Viola FinTech accelerates the integration of innovative ideas into financial institutions while providing the necessary resources to FinTech companies as they scale to transform the financial sector.â€

The firm is built up of four other divisions: Ventures, Growth, Credit and Partners, with each having their own dedicated investment vehicles. The new FinTech branch will be led by former deputy CEO of Bank Leumi Daniel Tsiddon, FundBox co-founder Tomer Michaeli, and Viola Group co-founder Avi Zeevi.

Scotiabank group head Ignacio Deschamps said, â€œThis partnership will allow us to access Israelâ€™s innovation ecosystem including well-established cybersecurity and anti-fraud expertise by leveraging Viola Groupâ€™s unique entrepreneurial and operational expertise.â€

Over the years the investor has been very active in the FinTech sector, with it recently taking part in the $20m funding round of RegTech company VATBox. The VAT recovery and governance solution provider was recently hand-picked by a panel of industry experts for the RegTech 100, a list of companies that every financial institution should know about in 2018.