BNP Paribas’s New Fund Intends to Close First Investment Before Yearend
This will not take long.
French banking giant BNP Paribas launched an investment vehicle last week to acquire minority stakes in financial services and insurance startups, and has told INV Global that it intends to close its first deal before yearend, a timetable some might consider aggressive.
“We want to focus on our specific and unique positioning rather than on an [funding] amount,” Thibaut Schlaeppi, fund manager for BNP Paribas, told INV Global.
BNP said it plans to make three to five Series A or B investments annually. BNP Paribas declined to disclose the size of the fund, but last year the bank outlined plans to invest roughly $3.6 billion in a three-year business plan to build the “bank of the future.”
“We intend to make our first direct investments in 2018 through a venture capital financial scheme and will follow the subsequent rounds of corporate financing in terms of their potential,” Schlaeppi said.
The fund is managed by BNP Paribas Capital Partners, an arm of BNP Paribas Asset Management that specializes in selection and multi-management in the alternative investments field. It will make indirect investments in sectors including AI, blockchain and cybersecurity.
“For several years, BNP Paribas has been building and structuring its relations with startups through many initiatives,” he said, adding “for example, BNP Paribas has launched acceleration programs and has also developed many new tools to do so.”
Perhaps as a result of the involvement of the asset management arm, the new fund is pursuing investments in startups and VC firms. Strategic investments in VC firms by BNP have been made over the last year, including in Serena Data Ventures, a fund dedicated to big data and artificial intelligence; Viola Fintech, a cross-stage venture fund that invests in global finTech; Ventech China, a VC firm funding early-stage IT, life sciences, mobile technology; and e-commerce companies.
As for stratups, BNP Paribas has invested in a handful before the fund’s formation, include a majority stake of Compte Nickel, a service bank account alternative and means of French Payment; a majority stake in Gambit, a Belgian robo-advisory investment solution; a minority stake in Paycar, an innovative payment solution for buying and selling cars; and a minority stake in Fortia Financial Solutions, a regulation technology company.
We’re expecting more of the same.
