CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund (CEFIF), a venture fund investing in growth-stage fintech companies in China and globally, has made investments in three new fintech companies.
The three investment transactions include a Series C financing round in Trumid, an electronic trading platform for the bond market; a Series B financing round in WeConvene, an online corporate access management ERP provider for capital markets; and a seed round financing round in WorldCover, a peer-to-peer insurance network.
Ning Tang, founder and CEO of CreditEase, says: "We are excited to take the global stage and showcase the stars of our CreditEase eco-system. CreditEase is the market leader in wealth management and inclusive finance in China and globally. As China is increasingly embracing financial technologies that rejuvenate economic growth and improve financial health, we are well positioned to continue to address the underserved needs of fast-growing, mass affluent and high-net worth investors. We are also expanding our various investment funds to meet demands of our wealth management clients and enable them to take advantage of global investment opportunities while ensuring balanced asset allocation."
Founded in late 2015, CEFIF has an equivalent of USD1 billion in total committed capital. CEFIF has formed strategic partnerships with global venture capital investors to discover opportunities in five sub-segments within the domain of fintech: lending, payments, personal finance / private wealth management, enterprise solutions and insurance.
The fund has made a total of eight investments since launch, including Trumid, WeConvene and WorldCover. Other announced investments include Circle, a blockchain-based payment application; Tradeshift, a cloud-based buyer-supplier network; and DYCD.com, an auto financial technology platform.
Over the past three years, the global fintech sector has experienced tremendous growth, becoming a key destination for venture capital and private equity investments. The total investments in global fintech sector reached USD18 billion in the first nine months of 2016. Driven by strong investment interests, fintech companies continue to gain significant momentum, capturing greater market share and causing disruption in the traditional financial service sector. There has also been increase in collaboration between banks and fintech companies in the last couple of years.
Anju Patwardhan, senior partner of CEFIF, says, "We believe the Chinese fintech market will continue to grow in 2017 and beyond, as many 3-5 year-old companies have grown into large-scale operations. We expect many of these to mature into high-quality, mid-to-late stage companies. Similarly, we anticipate a slew of promising early and mid-stage growth companies in the US market, due to the improving climate for investment, as well as the more sustainable development of fintech sector.
"In the next 10 years, the fintech sector will continue to experience accelerating growth, which presents huge opportunities for smart investors. CreditEase's deep industry insights and expertise, coupled with our ability to invest globally, our fund is now being recognised as one of the top global fintech venture funds and we will continue to create value for our investors."
