£125m fund to snap up tech darlings

AN INVESTMENT vehicle backed by Jacob Rothschild plans to plough up to £125m into financial technology firms.

Augmentum Capital, which was set up by entrepreneur Tim Levene, a former executive at online gambling firm Betfair and son of City grandee Lord Levene, will raise the money through a stock market listing in London. A maximum of 125m shares in a newly created investment company called Augmentum Fintech will be sold to investors for £1 each.

Investment trust RIT Capital Partners, which is chaired by Lord Rothschild, 81, will pump in £10m while Augmentum management, including Levene, 44, will provide £2.7m. The project is also backed by Betfair co-founder Edward Wray, 49, and former Chase Manhattan executive Phillip Riese, 68.

The proceeds of the fundraising will be ploughed into fintech companies across Europe, and in particular in Britain.

Augmentum already has £33.3m tied up in fintech firms Zopa, Seedrs, Interactive Investor, Bullion Vault and SRL Global.

‘The financial services sector is being revolutionised by technology,’ Augmentum said.