Mediobanca is to open up a London office to identify and back tech start-ups, Italy’s largest investment bank announced today.
Founders Factory will be Mediobanca's partner in a joint venture that will promote new fintech business, the two companies said, with the Italian bank initially to invest €12 mln euros on up to 35 fintech ventures over the next five years.
Consultancy Founders Factory has invested so far in more than 300 tech companies, according to Reuters, including nearly 50 financial technology ventures.
Mediobanca has wanted to boost in presence in the tech space for some years and in May agreed to buy London-based Arma Partners, a tech advisory firm.
"The (Mediobanca-Founders Factory) venture studio will build, finance and launch new fintech ventures that utilise advanced technologies, such as blockchain and artificial intelligence, to innovate the financial services market", the companies said.
Mediobanca added that its digital priorities are the adoption of artificial intelligence solutions to support its sales force, cut costs and improve customer experience.