Flourish Ventures on repeat founders and when not to hop on the AI bandwagon | Equity Podcast

21 Aug 2024 (26 days ago)

Flourish Ventures: Investment Focus and Portfolio

Flourish Ventures, founded in 2019, is an evergreen firm with $850 million under management that exclusively backs fintech startups globally. (00:00:49)
Some of Flourish Ventures' recent investments include Spade, a company focused on credit card authorization fraud prevention, and investments in companies at the intersection of climate and fintech, as well as healthcare and fintech.
Flourish Ventures has been investing in challenger banks and digital banks globally, with nine investments in total.
Flourish Ventures is excited about the next generation of technology in core banking infrastructure, insurance, data, and payments.
Flourish Ventures sees a huge opportunity in climate, healthcare, and housing, not just in the US but globally.

Fintech investment has declined along with other sectors after a boom in 2020 and 2021.
Flourish Ventures has observed significant growth in Latin America, particularly in Mexico and Brazil, due to factors like nearshoring and a strong macroeconomic environment. (00:10:59)
Flourish Ventures has observed repeat entrepreneurs in markets like Indonesia, India, Brazil, and Mexico.
There is a significant amount of merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the market, with a trend towards larger, strategic acquisitions.
In emerging markets, there is less M&A activity due to a smaller pool of buyers, but some portfolio companies are becoming aggregators and acquiring smaller companies to accelerate product roadmaps and become more vertically integrated.

Flourish Ventures believes that generative AI is a valuable productivity tool but might not be suitable for compliance due to its accuracy limitations.
Flourish Ventures anticipates AI integration in financial services, particularly in streamlining processes and workflow automation, but emphasizes the importance of defensible data sets for startups.

Flourish Ventures prioritizes founder well-being and has implemented initiatives such as founder gatherings focused on leadership development and personal growth to support founders throughout their entrepreneurial journey. (00:20:57)
Flourish Ventures is looking to broaden the conversation and influence other investors to take a similar lens to working with their portfolio companies.

Flourish Ventures has exited two notable companies: United Income, a wealth management platform acquired by Capital One, and Grab Financial, a Southeast Asian embedded finance company that went public via a SPAC merger.