VC firm MiddleGame Ventures (MGV) has reportedly received a €10 million grant from Enterprise Ireland, in order to establish a pool of funding of up to €20m for Fintech businesses operating on the island.
As noted on MGV’s official website:
“Middlegame Ventures is a venture capital firm focused exclusively on early-stage fintech startups. Over the past decade, our partners have invested approximately $300M in financial services firms. The next decade will be even better. Because the second wave of fintech innovation will be a tsunami compared to the first wave.”
MiddleGame Ventures is supported by various other institutional, strategic and family office investors, which includes assistance from the Luxembourg Future Fund (LFF), the European Investment Fund (EIF), and S&P Global.
MGV’s management says they’ll focus on investing in Series A stage Fintechs in order to support the transformation of financial services to all-digital solutions and from centralized to decentralized.
MGV co-founders Michael Meyer, Pascal Bouvier, and Patrick Pinschmidt noted that they look forward to working with Enterprise Ireland to support Fintech firms in Ireland.
The co-founders stated:
“We are excited to put our platform to work on behalf of Irish innovators solving difficult problems and re-architecting the financial services industry.”
Heather Humphreys, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, stated that VC investments are needed for the development of innovative Fintech products and services
Humphreys remarked:
“This fund is very important because it marks a significant increase in the availability of capital for start-ups in fintech, supporting the sustained growth and internationalization of this vibrant sector.”
Digital bank Revolut announced on Wednesday the launch of Open Banking for its more than one million retail and business customers in Ireland.
Digital banks are on track to serve as many clients in Ireland as traditional banking service providers, according to N26, an all-digital challenger that recently secured $100 million in funding for its ongoing growth and development.
Last month, the Irish government outlined extensive plans to help support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic – which include a series of measures to further support small, medium, and larger businesses.