Financial technology leader FIS™ (NYSE: FIS) announced today that FIS Ventures, the newly created corporate venture investment division of FIS, has launched an effort to invest a target of $150 million in promising fintech startups over the next three years.
FIS Ventures will invest globally in early to growth-stage fintech startups with a focus on emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital enablement and automation, data and analytics, security and privacy, distributed ledger technology, and financial inclusion. In addition to capital investments, FIS Ventures will actively partner with these companies, providing proprietary access as appropriate to FIS’ global reach and scale, operating expertise, diverse customers and channel partners to help fulfill their long-term growth ambition.
“At a time when many other fintech firms are scaling back their investments, FIS is deepening its commitment to stay at the forefront of innovative technologies that can help our clients accelerate digital transformation and emerge even stronger from the current pandemic,” said Asif Ramji, chief growth officer of FIS. “FIS Ventures is a significant new component of our investment strategy to identify and bring to market innovative new technologies that advance the way the world pays, banks and invests.”
The recently announced funding in the Nigeria-based fintech startup Flutterwave marks the first investment made by FIS Ventures.
The launch of FIS Ventures further advances FIS’ broad-based strategy to nurture a growing ecosystem of innovators within and outside the company. This will complement other key initiatives such as the annual FIS FinTech Accelerator program, the annual FIS Innovatein48 research and development competition, and FIS innovation labs around the world.
