Rabobank launches a €60 million investment fund for the Fintech and Food & Agri sector

UTRECHT, 31-Jan-2018 — /EuropaWire/ — Rabobank is today launching Rabo Frontier Ventures (RFV), a €60 million strategic investment fund that focuses on high-potential early-stage Fintech and Food & Agri companies. RFV is a subsidiary of Rabobank Group and forms part of the bank’s innovation strategy.

Rabo Frontier Ventures (RFV) is completely financed by Rabobank with the related objective of providing an extra boost for Fintech and Food & Agri innovations. RFV will collaborate with and invest in Fintech and Food & Agri companies that offer new possibilities for customers in the long term and in doing so dovetail with the bank’s strategic direction and developments in society. The related focus is on four themes: Financial Cruise Control, Platform Banking, Emerging Technologies as a business model enabler and Data4Food.

RFV supports startups, spin-offs and scale-ups to scale up their activities and achieve collective value through partnership relationships with the bank. In addition to capital, RFV provides knowledge, expertise and the Rabobank network. Rabobank joins forces in this way in order to provide its customers with even better service en route to the future.

RFV has already invested in various startups, such as we.trade and Peaks. We.trade is a European platform based on blockchain technology that facilitates e-commerce trade for the SME sector. Peaks is the spare-change investment app that was launched in November 2017. These startups have emerged from Rabobank’s internal ‘Moonshots’ accelerator programme. In addition to introducing internal innovations to the market, Rabobank is a partner of various national and international accelerator programmes aimed at enabling startups to move forward. RFV will build further on these successful innovations and partnerships.

Harrie Vollaard, responsible for Rabo Frontier Ventures: ‘Investing in and developing strategic innovations is a key part of Rabobank’s strategy. We have, for example, already launched a number of successful innovations through our own internal accelerator programme. These innovations benefit both our customers and our long-term vision. We’ve been active in the worldwide FinTech and Food & Agri ecosystem for years and have succeeded in entering into various alliances. RFV provides Rabobank with an added vehicle for working more shoulder-to-shoulder with innovative businesses with the aim of transforming the Fintech and Food & Agri sector and building a sustainable and future-proof banking model.’

SOURCE: Rabobank

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