This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Payments Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here .
Santander Innoventures, the London-based fintech VC fund, has secured another $100 million in funding from its parent bank.
This is on top of the $100 million Santander originally allocated to Santander Innoventures when it launched in 2014. Business Insider sat down with Mariano Belinky, managing partner at the fund, to discuss the new funding and his take on the hottest trends in fintech. Here are some highlights: Further funding for existing partners. Santander Innoventures has invested around half of its original $100 million in a portfolio of eight firms including US financial settlement fintech Ripple, US alt lender Kabbage, Swedish payments firm iZettle, and UK blockchain security fintech Elliptic. It plans to reserve the other half of that funding for additional investments in its original portfolio. This suggests that Santander’s initial partnerships have been successful, and it sees further potential in these relationships.
Latin American expansion. Belinky said the geographic focus of its second round will be on Latin America. That’s because the bank has a significant presence in the region. Companies working on products and services aimed at financial inclusion are likely targets — only 51% of adults in Latin America have a bank account , compared to 94% in the US. And while smartphone penetration is only 40%, that’s still 253 million people. Santander could also be looking to get ahead by investing in Latin American versions of fintech solutions that have been successful in developed markets.
Chatbots are the hottest area of fintech right now. Belinky believes that chatbots "are the blockchain of 2016," and can provide the most value to banks by handling low-value queries like retrieving a forgotten PIN. This function is beneficial […]
