ING launches EUR 300 million fintech investment fund

The new initiative signals ING’s interest in the fintech landscape, an interest driven by innovation in payments, increased competition from startups and new regulations, like PSD2. 

The bank said, in a press release, that ING Ventures will expand the existing portfolio of investments in the coming 4 years.

Partnering and investing in fintechs is a key element of the bank’s innovation strategy. Reaching out to third party providers, along with supporting its own innovations, can help ING remain competitive and offer value-added services to consumers. 

This is not to say that the bank lacks experience when it comes to new financial technologies. Over the past 3 years, ING has made 115 fintech strategic partnerships and investments globally.

ING Ventures will be part of ING’s Chief Innovation Office and will be entirely funded internally by ING. While it will adopt investment methods and portfolio management based on venture capital structures, the aim will not be to achieve a solely financial purpose

ING Ventures will serve ING’s businesses to accelerate the Think Forward strategy. The fund will focus on start-ups and companies that already gained some market traction. The companies it will invest in are generally, but not exclusively, fintechs that are active in countries where ING has a presence or where ING plans to expand.