Augmentum Fintech PLC

Operations

What's the mission of the company?

Augmentum Fintech PLC's mission is to support ambitious, high-growth fintech companies that aim to transform the financial services industry​.

Offerings

Augmentum Fintech PLC operates as a venture capital investor with a focus on the fintech sector. Here's a breakdown of their mission and operations based on various sources:

1. Investment Focus: Augmentum is dedicated to investing in ambitious, high-growth companies that are in the process of transforming the financial services industry. They particularly focus on fintech businesses in various verticals including digital banking, asset and wealth management, and financial services infrastructure​​.
2. Stage of Investment: They invest in both early and later-stage fintech businesses that show promise in disrupting traditional sectors like banking, insurance, asset management, and other financial services sectors​​.
3. Geographical Reach: Augmentum is one of Europe's leading venture capital investors in the fintech sector, with an outreach extending across Europe. They are also the UK's only publicly listed investment company focusing exclusively on the fintech sector​​.
4. Support to Portfolio Companies: Besides providing financial investment, Augmentum appears to be deeply involved in aiding the growth of its portfolio companies, offering insights into fintech and scaling, and partnering with these companies as they navigate through their growth phases​​.

In essence, Augmentum Fintech PLC's mission revolves around backing high-growth fintech companies in their early and later stages, aiding in their rapid growth and disruption of traditional financial sectors, while extending its investment reach across Europe.

Team

Management

Partner and CEO

Tim Levene is CEO of the UK’s only publicly listed, fintech-focused investment company Augmentum Fintech. After launching the first iteration of the fund in 2010 with the backing of RIT and Lord Rothschild, Tim and Co-Founder Richard Matthews launched Augmentum Fintech plc on the main market of the London Stock Exchange in 2018.

An experienced entrepreneur and investor, Tim has sat on multiple fintech boards including interactive investor, Tide and Zopa and is highly active in cross-industry initiatives working to boost the UK fintech sector such as the UK FinTech Strategy Group and Innovate Finance. Tim was a founding employee of Flutter.com, which became one of the highest profile digital businesses in the UK after it merged with Betfair.com in 2001.

A World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, Tim was elected in the City of London as an Alderman in the Ward of Bridge in 2022.

Principal

Ellen Logan is a Principal at Augmentum. She previously worked at OC&C Strategy Consultants and at HR analytics startup Bunch, after studying Economics at the University of Edinburgh. Ellen has a particular interest in emerging technologies such as the digital asset economy and alternative payment methods.

Outside of the office she spends her time practicing yoga, experimenting in the kitchen and exploring the art galleries of London.

Partner and COO

Richard Matthews has 23 years of venture capital and private equity experience in the technology, retail and leisure sectors on both sides of the fence.

Richard started his career at PwC before joining Tim at Flutter.com (now Betfair) as CFO. Richard joined Benchmark Capital Europe (now Balderton Capital) in 2002, where he worked on early stage technology investments both in the investment phase and assisting investee companies post-funding, then spent five years investing globally at Manzanita Capital from 2005 before co-founding Augmentum Capital with Tim Levene.

In 2018 Richard and Tim successfully launched Augmentum Fintech on the main market of the London Stock Exchange, in the process becoming the first fintech focused public VC in Europe.

Away from the office Richard enjoys spending time with his family, watching Arsenal and playing golf, though in the case of the latter 2 the word “enjoys” is used in its loosest sense.

Director of Marketing and Operations

Georgie Hazell Kivell heads up marketing and operations at Augmentum, which involves supporting portfolio companies, engaging with investors and the wider fintech ecosystem (including marketing and events), and supporting the team internally.

Georgie has worked in a number of startups across people, strategy and growth leadership positions. Following her MBA and a consultancy project with Crowdcube, Georgie moved into venture capital.

Passionate about diversity and inclusion, particularly in VC and entrepreneurship, Georgie co-leads the UK Women in VC community and is a qualified coach, working with women in tech and entrepreneurship.

Partner

Perry Blacher is a fintech specialist with 25 years’ experience in building and operating online businesses, and has spent the last decade as an investor in, and advisor to, numerous fintech businesses.

Perry graduated from both Cambridge and Harvard before starting his career at McKinsey & Company. In 1998 he left to join Microsoft, before later moving to become a founding Principal of Chase Episode 1 Partners.

Perry later followed the route of the entrepreneur when he went on to become founder and CEO of two businesses, both of which sold to public companies (Serum in 2002, and Covestor in 2007). More recently, Perry has been a Venture Partner at Amadeus Capital, and holds advisory or non-executive roles with Barclays UK, Google, Onfido, Transfergo, Clearscore, CDC and other fintech businesses.

Partner

Martyn Holman has nearly 20 years of experience as an operator, advisor and investor in tech and growth spaces.

Martyn’s early career was spent as a strategy consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, consulting to FTSE 50 clients across consumer, energy, financial services and heavy industry. Since this time he has accrued 15 years of experience as both an operator and investor in the tech/VC space. He was a key member of the early Betfair team, the UK’s first true Unicorn, and later co-founded LMAX Exchange which has since featured as the number 1 Times Tech Track Growth Company.

Most recently Martyn spent nearly 5 years as an investor and partner in UK venture capital where he helped raise a £60m early seed fund. Martyn is a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge University, from where he graduated in 1996 with a first class degree in engineering, and has an MBA from the Said Business School in Oxford, gained with Distinction in 2001.

Principal​

Reginald de Wasseige is a Principal at Augmentum Fintech. Reggie started his career in private equity in Belgium (his home country), at Cobepa, and went on to explore entrepreneurship through founding a software company focusing on document security for large organisations. Off the back of both experiences, VC was a natural evolution and Reggie joined ABN AMRO Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Dutch bank, and relocated to Amsterdam. This first VC position introduced him to the world of fintech and was also the start of his international adventure.

Advisory

Edward Wray

Co-founded Betfair, which later floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2010 valued at £1.4 billion, and has twice won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. Having stepped down from his role as chairman of Betfair in 2012, Edward continues to invest in Fintechs and currently holds directorships at Funding Circle, LMAX, Property Partner and Prodigy Finance, and is a trustee of Nesta, TheMix and Mental Health Innovation.

Competition

The main competitors of Augmentum Fintech are listed as follows:

1. Jupiter US Smaller Companies (JUS)
2. Invesco Income Growth Trust (IVI)
3. Gabelli Value Plus+ Trust (GVP)
4. JPMorgan Japan Small Cap G&I (JSGI)
5. Montanaro UK Smaller Companies (MTU)​​.

Market

Total Addressable Market (TAM)

This would encompass the entire revenue opportunity available for fintech services globally. Considering the global fintech market is projected to grow significantly, the TAM would be a substantial figure.

Serviceable Available Market (SAM)

SAM narrows down the TAM to the portion addressable by Augmentum given its geographical focus (Europe) and specific fintech sub-sectors it targets (such as digital banking, asset management, etc.).

Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM)

This is the portion of the SAM that Augmentum can realistically capture in the near term, considering its current resources, competition, and market share.