This strategic alliance is based on three initiatives that are believed to reach a Santander investment of up to USD 300 million. These three initiatives are:
The creation of Forgepoint Capital International (FPCI), a new venture capital management company to invest in cybersecurity start-ups predominantly in Europe, Latin America, and Israel;
Santander's participation in Forgepoint's next North American fund, its third since its founding in 2015;
And a programme for select co-investments.
FPCI is looking to launch a first fund in 2023, fund that will be open to incorporating both institutional and private investors, with Santander being expected to act as its anchor investor. Santander, Forgepoint and FPCI together will identify market gaps and investment opportunities in geographies with high potential, after which they are looking to help accelerate portfolio companies’ growth and development, while trying to tackle global business challenges.
The bank’s strategy to strengthen its Investment Platforms Unit is followed by the creation of FPCI, a unit that is already encompassing investment platforms that specialise in different types of additional financing to the bank’s traditional activities, such as private equity, growth capital, and venture capital.
Cybersecurity is considered critical by Santander when it comes to their goal of helping people and businesses prosper. Company officials have stated in their press release that investing in in cybersecurity companies, technology, and people will help them create an ecosystem that is more secure, enabled by the alliance and the Forgepoint Capital International formation. Forgepoint Capital representatives have said that this expansion marks the company’s next step in evolving as a venture capital platform investing in cybersecurity and infrastructure software, the partnership with Santander following their goal in investing and developing cybersecurity companies at a global scale, thus helping ensure economic growth.
In October 2022, Banco Santander formed a strategic partnership with Google aimed at helping companies across a multitude of industries transition from legacy mainframe systems to cloud technology, with Google having developed Dual Run, in collaboration with technology from Santander. By migrating mainframe systems to the cloud technology, companies and institutions are enabled to make better use of their data, enhance cybersecurity operations, and build a foundation to help further development and transformation.
In January 2022, Santander announced the acquisition of a 30% stake in independent manager of venture debt company Atempo Growth, investment aimed at supporting traditional bank financing and technology start-ups.
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