Flourish Ventures Secures $350M in Fresh Capital

Flourish Ventures, a fintech-focused early-stage venture firm, has garnered $350 million in new funding. This increase takes the total assets under management to $850 million for the firm, which was established four years ago.

Flourish Ventures operates as an evergreen firm, an approach that enables open-ended investing without any fixed end date. The firm, which emerged from eBay founder Pierre Omidyar’s investment company, Omidyar Network, in 2019, supports organizations that offer potential for commercial return and the capacity to “create systemic change” and construct a “fairer financial system”.

An Evergreen Approach to Investing

According to global managing partner and co-founder, Tilman Ehrbeck, Flourish’s evergreen investing model is more flexible and isn’t subjected to the same pressures as other funds that need to deploy or exit within a specific time frame. This, Ehrbeck believes, gives Flourish a comparative edge.

The firm’s objective is to back companies that show new or improved ways of doing business are viable, and by doing so, positively influence the performance of the entire financial sector.

Prominent Investments and Exits

Based in San Francisco, Flourish Ventures has invested in 71 startups on five continents since its conception. Approximately half of the fund’s capital has been deployed in the U.S. Some of the firm’s notable investments include digital bank Chime, Brazilian neobank Neon, embedded finance startup Unit, and African payments infrastructure company Flutterwave.

The firm has seen significant exits, with Grab Financial going public via SPAC, Ruma sold to GoJek, SeedFi sold to Intuit, and United Income sold to Capital One.

A Mission-Driven Strategy

Flourish’s commitment to creating systemic change is reflected in its strategic partnerships with policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, and ecosystem players such as Alliance for Innovative Regulation (AIR), Financial Health Network (FHN), and Consumer Reports.

The firm’s new capital will partially be reserved for follow-on investing. Flourish typically invests between $2 million to $7 million in new ventures and makes about six to 10 new investments every year.

Looking Ahead

Flourish is keen on investing in infrastructure and is on the lookout for “next-gen” companies in the B2B payments and vertical SaaS spaces. The firm also aims to tackle the transformation of poor legacy infrastructure and is exploring data analytics across banking, insurance payments, and lending identity.

The firm prides itself on a diverse team, which is majority female and non-white. They are also deliberate in their investment strategy, aiming for diversity. As a measure of their commitment to diversity, all of the firm’s last four new deals have female co-founders.

This recent capital raise by Flourish Ventures signals positive news for fintech startups, especially after a decline in capital raised in recent quarters compared to 2020 and 2021.