FTV Capital deepens European business

Investment firm FTV Capital is expanding its European presence with a London office. 

The London team of six, led by Richard Earnshaw, will “work on deals in collaboration with FTV’s U.S. offices, and we will be able to leverage expertise from both sides of the pond to strengthen our robust pipeline of European investment opportunities,” Brad Bernstein, managing partner at the San Francisco-based FTV Capital, told Bank Automation News. 

FTV Capital’s European portfolio includes: 

• Finance platform Liberis; 

• Pet insurance agency ManyPets; 

• Payments infrastructure provider Paddle; 

• Global certification provider PeopleCert; 

• Financial services group True Potential; and 

• Cloud-native security platform VikingCloud.  

“FTV’s already strong European track record has laid the foundation for us to capitalize on exciting future investment opportunities in financial and enterprise technology,” Bernstein said. 

Global funding

FTV is expanding in London as global funding grew 11% quarter over quarter in the first quarter of 2024 to $58.4 billion, according to data intelligence company CB Insights Q1 2024 State of Venture Report. 

U.S. funding in Q1 grew 33% sequentially to $34.2 billion, European funding grew 8% QoQ to $12.2 billion and funding in the United Kingdom remained flat QoQ at $3 billion, according to the report. 

“FTV has an active pipeline in Europe and, by having investment team members on the ground, we will continue to deepen our network of U.K.- and European-based founders,” Bernstein told BAN. 

FTV expects to expand its European team to 10 to 15 over the next year, he said, noting that “Europe is an exciting breeding ground for innovation.” 

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