Venture capital fund Mouro Capital announced the first close of its third fund, with $400 million secured from Banco Santander, as Mouro Capital’s longstanding partner doubles down on the platform. This latest fundraising from the global fintech investor specialists brings their total investment commitments to over $1 billion. The firm will welcome additional investors to the platform for the first time in the near future.
Mouro Capital is an independently managed venture capital firm with a longstanding investment focus exploring the intersection of financial services and technology. Since 2015, Mouro Capital’s team has invested across North America, Europe and Latin America - typically from seed to Series C. Mouro Capital has developed a strong track record of supporting founders through market cycles, historically showcasing returns in the top 10% of the league table of global venture capital managers*. Across 26 exits, the firm has generated an average 4x return on invested capital.
With seven completed investments to date in the new fund, the thesis is already visible in the portfolio. Recent investments include ElevenLabs (conversational AI with strong focus on financial services agents) and Sakana AI (a Japanese factory for AI-driven modernization of banking processes).
Manuel Silva Martinez, General Partner at Mouro Capital added:
“Over the past decade we’re proud to have built a global platform delivering strong, consistent returns. With this fund we’re excited to back the next generation of global founders rewiring financial services through the lens of AI, data and infrastructure. We see compelling opportunities in specialist thematic areas such as capital markets and wealth management, where untapped opportunities are benefiting from a positive momentum. In parallel, shifts in AI and blockchain are creating new opportunities in the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) space, which is critical for future enterprise adoption of AI. Insurtech is another area that is massively underserved by venture and where we will likely double down our focus.”
Portfolio highlights
To date, Mouro Capital has backed founders of category-defining fintech businesses. The firm reserves capital to continue backing their bets, at a historical 66% follow-on rate. Mouro’s approach has supported their consistent identification of category-leading companies, with close to 100% average revenue CAGR** across its ten largest portfolio companies over the past five years. Standout examples include: iZettle (acquired by PayPal for over $2Bn) was a pivotal success in allowing SMEs to access cheaper, fairer acquiring capabilities; Ripple, one of the originals of the crypto revolution, is now playing a major role in global international payments; Truelayer is the pioneer of European Open Banking infrastructure; and Upgrade, Creditas and Klar, are three examples of how certain categories can be best served by challenger players.
Momentum underway
Mouro Capital’s recent investment activity already reflects the convictions of the management team. Burbank shows that regulation and shifts in commerce are reshaping classic payment infrastructure. ElevenLabs and Sakana AI point to AI’s growing impact across financial services - from customer service through to software development. Meanwhile, companies like Alinia support organisations to deploy AI with the right regulatory and policy frameworks.
Christopher Gottschalk, General Partner of Mouro Capital commented, “Financial services and technology have been converging for years, AI has further accelerated the pace of change. We’re seeing the emergence of AI-native financial infrastructure — from real-time payments to programmable money movement, identity and data platforms. We are proud to back founders building businesses that are more efficient and scalable. Mouro Capital has built a strong track record by combining deep sector expertise with disciplined investing approach, internationally and across expanding industry boundaries.”
Javier García-Carranza global head of Wealth Management & Insurance at Banco Santander added, “We are confident it is well placed to identify the founders and companies best positioned to shape the next phase of innovation across the market, which supports our decision to invest in this next fund.”
Led by General Partners Manuel Silva Martínez and Christopher Gottschalk, the team is based in London, Madrid and San Francisco. With hires from Andreessen Horowitz, Deloitte, FT Partners, Illuminate Financial and specialist funds Sure Valley Ventures and Transition Capital, Mouro Capital has expanded its team to match growing investment activity and is anticipated to reach 15 people by the end of year.