• Mouro Capital has closed its third fund at $400 million
• The fund is fully backed by Banco Santander as the main limited partner, bringing total commitments to more than $1 billion
• The new fund has already made seven investments, including ElevenLabs and Sakana AI

Mouro Capital has closed $400 million for its third fund, with full support from its long-term partner Banco Santander. This brings the fintech-focused venture firm’s total investment commitments to over $1 billion for the first time.

Founded in 2015 and led by general partners Manuel Silva Martínez and Christopher Gottschalk, Mouro Capital invests in companies from seed to Series C that combine financial services and technology. The firm works across Europe, North America, and Latin America, with offices in London, Madrid, and San Francisco.

“The pace of change is accelerating, the competition is accelerating, and product and technology cycles have never been faster. Any new startup that can leverage tools to steal market cap and revenue from the incumbents has a massive market to attack,” Silva Martínez tells Tech Funding News.

Mouro’s investment approach focuses on making fewer, more confident bets. The firm plans to invest in about 30 to 35 companies from the new fund, with most initial investments between $8 million and $12 million, and some as high as $15 to $70 million.

It sets aside follow-on capital for every investment, keeping a 66% follow-on rate, because it believes staying involved throughout a company’s growth adds the most value, the fund claims.

“We like to establish long-term relationships with entrepreneurs ahead of investing in them. That’s the best way to get to know each other and assess fit. The firm is careful and patient; during the 2020–21 market peak, it invested less than many others, saving capital for when valuations changed,” Silva Martínez adds.

Seven investments have already been made from the new fund. These include ElevenLabs, which develops conversational AI for financial services agent applications, and Sakana AI, a Japanese company modernising core banking processes with AI.

The firm focuses on capital markets, wealth management, governance and compliance, and insurtech, which Gottschalk describes as “massively underserved by venture” and a priority for the firm.

Mouro differentiates itself by applying a global perspective to European deal flow, which is uncommon. The European fintech-focused VC landscape is less developed than in the US, where firms like Ribbit Capital and QED Investors have deep expertise. Mouro has co-invested with both.

“In Europe, there’s less focus on financial services, and the funds that do focus on it tend to be more subscale. When we talk to European entrepreneurs, they get really excited because we can bring precedents from the US and Latin America — companies that have built similar businesses in other markets — and that knowledge is extremely valuable,” says Silva Martínez.

The firm actively conducts ESG due diligence and supports portfolio companies’ DEI efforts, but recognises that minority and female founders remain underrepresented in fintech. “Whenever we can, we try. But we wouldn’t disqualify a better business on those criteria necessarily,” notes Silva Martínez.

Mouro has averaged a 4x return on invested capital across 26 exits, and its ten largest portfolio companies have seen an average revenue growth rate of 97% over five years. Notable successes include iZettle, which PayPal bought for over $2 billion, and Ripple, a major player in global payments.

“We are confident it is well placed to identify the founders and companies best positioned to shape the next phase of innovation across the market, which supports our decision to invest in this next fund,” adds Javier García-Carranza, global head of Wealth Management & Insurance at Banco Santander.