Luge Capital Fund II: $71M First Close
We are ecstatic to announce a new chapter for our team: the launch of Luge Capital Fund II. With an initial close of $71M, our second fund is focused on early-stage fintech investments in Canada and the US.
When we originally began Luge Capital in 2018, we set out to reshape how we experience not only the basic financial products around us, but the underlying infrastructure that drives them.
We’ve assembled some of the most diverse, passionate, inherently-driven, relentless, yet caring people for our crew. The Luge team consists of world travellers, skiers, gymnasts, musicians, chefs, and of course, entrepreneurs. We come from Bangladesh, Ukraine, the US, Canada, Britain, East Africa and India. We are 40% women, and together, we speak seven languages. Furthermore, each member of the team has specific fintech domain expertise that helps us deliver on the promise to support and champion our founders, everyday.
The basic functions of financial services impact the lives of almost every person on the planet. Think about paying your rent, applying for a mortgage, taking out a loan, getting a new credit card, sending money to mom in India or just giving a friend 20 bucks. These basic functions still run on old legacy tech platforms, and the user experience is often manual, paper-based or clunky. As fintech investors, our job is to partner with founders who understand the root of these problems and have the ambition and audacity to solve them.
With the support of our LPs and our unwavering belief in the potential of fintech, we are excited to share why investing in this transformative industry is a fantastic opportunity right now.
Innovation That Transforms Lives
Financial Services (including real estate) accounts for approximately 20% of GDP in each of Canada and the US. It’s the single largest industry, and is continuously growing. Every person interacts with many financial products daily, whether they realize it or not.
Most of our encounters with these products are either manual and clunky or rely on outdated technology that are incapable of providing a modern user experience.
Fintech exists to change that, and lift us into a world of simpler design, less complexity, more automation and approachable products. For example:
- Flinks enables the fast and easy onboarding of new customers to digital finance products
- Plooto empowers small businesses to make payments with the click of a button, and helps them manage cash flow
- Owl combats insurance claims fraud, using AI tools to identify risks
- OneVest enables large banks and credit unions to offer a personalized wealth manager in your pocket
- Till helps kids manage their money through a fully-digital banking experience
Why Now?
In the venture capital world, we all experienced the sugar rush of 2021, with high valuations and excessive round sizes. Now that the markets have corrected, the fintech industry has reverted back to normal pre-pandemic levels. With the massive market opportunity, along with the fact that, relative to other tech-enabled industries, fintech is still early, we believe now is exactly the right time to invest in the category.
Check Sizes
Luge Capital Fund II will initially invest between $500K and $5M, with a sweet spot between $2M and $3M.
Stages
The focus of the fund is primarily Seed and Series A stages for initial investments. However, we will opportunistically consider Pre-Seed and Series B companies if the circumstances are appropriate.
Geographies
We invest in Canada and the United States.
Fintech is more than a trend; it’s a fundamental shift that is reshaping the way we interact with money and financial products. And at Luge Capital, we’re not just investors; we’re your partners on this journey. We support founders with the fuel they need to turn their fintech ambitions into reality.
If you’re a fintech founder, we want to hear from you. Allez!
