Our Blog: Press

How do investment funds structure their capital, and what does this mean in practice for the companies in which they invest? Whilst it might seem an obscure question, the reality can have quite some impact

We are delighted to announce the Augmentum Fintech plc Interim Results for the six months ended 30 September 2020.

In our latest ‘Meet the Investor’ feature, we speak to Augmentum Partner Martyn Holman. Learn about Martyn’s route into VC, his view on the most underrated skill for working in the industry and the learnings he’s taken from his passion for long-distance running.

Released earlier today, the 30 minute film explores the evolution of fintech and digital transformation in the wake of the 2008 crash and more recently, COVID-19, featuring interviews with leading voices from across the fintech industry, including Augmentum Fintech CEO Tim Levene.

“A trading update for the six months to 30 September 2020 highlights just why the offer is worth taking up. Augmentum’s diversified portfolio of 18 private fintech companies offer innovative technologies, asset-light business models and have adapted well to the new ‘normal’. Many are performing incredibly well.”

“Augmentum Fintech (AUGM), one of the year’s best-performing investment companies, announced its intention to conduct a placing to raise gross proceeds of up to approximately £28m at a price of 120p”

We are delighted to welcome Akash Bajwa to our Investment Team.

We are delighted to be a pioneer fund for the Diversity VC Standard, championing diversity and inclusion across our investment and internal fund processes.

“Investment trusts are a superior option” and “Augmentum Fintech offers tremendous potential”, says John Baron in the latest Investors Chronicle podcast.

“On this week’s investment hour, James Norrington talks to Augmentum Fintech’s chief executive Tim Levene about his fund’s approach to investing in one of the fastest growing areas of technology.”

“The UK is a hub for fintech, but most companies remain in private hands. We outline ten UK fintech stocks that can help you gain exposure to this fast-growing sector.”

In our latest piece for our Master Investor fintech investing column, Martyn Holman looks at the reaction of venture capital in the wake of COVID-19, in particular those investing in the fintech industry, and explores the longer-term possibilities for the space.

“Augmentum Fintech has featured regularly in the ‘winners’ section since April, with digitisation take-up being propelled by the pandemic”

At Wellian Investment Solutions, wealth manager Richard Philbin gets exposure to private markets both by investing in dedicated private equity funds such as 3i and the venture capital fund Augmentum which provides exposure to unlisted fintech firms.

Coronavirus and changing consumer behaviours present a the fintech sector with “significant opportunity for further disruption,” Tim Levene, the CEO of listed investor Augmentum Fintech said today.

“There is no doubt in my mind that Augmentum is performing well. Annual results revealed an unrealised portfolio gain of 18 per cent on invested capital.”

Augmentum Fintech plc announce its Final Results for the year ended 31 March 2020.

We are pleased to have won ‘Best Marketing Campaign’ in the The Association of Investment Companies (AIC) Shareholder Communication Awards 2020.

We are delighted to announce that Augmentum Fintech plc will be joining the FTSE SmallCap Index and the FTSE AllShare Index with effect from after the close of business on 19th June.

Augmentum Head of Engagement Georgie wins WeAreTheCity Rising Stars Award

An intro to fintech in the UK: companies, stocks and how to invest

Fintech in the Eye of the Storm: A fintech investor’s view of the industry in 2020 and beyond

Today marks the start of UK Fintech ‘Week’ (taking place from 14th April until 1st May).

We are delighted to announce the launch of TeenVC, powered by Augmentum Fintech, a free digital education platform where teenagers can learn about Venture Capital (VC) and entrepreneurship.

Simon Thompson of Investors Chronicle featured Augmentum Fintech in his “Exploiting market mis-pricing” article today.

Our note to Shareholders outlining our approach towards managing the fund in light of the COVID-19 developments.

In the first article of our 'Fintech Investing' column for Master Investor, Augmentum Partner Martyn Holman weighs in on the rise of fintech and its position in the wider European venture capital ecosystem.Read the full article here

Yesterday we hosted the annual Augmentum Capital Markets Day at Plaisterers' Hall in the City of London. The audience of institutional investors heard about Augmentum's investment strategy and progress, along with the latest developments from across our portfolio from...

Our Head of Engagement Georgie Hazell has been named in the 'Standout 35' and 'Rising Stars' categories of the Innovate Finance Women in Fintech Powerlist 2019.See the full list here

Soldo's Martino Tramontin recently interviewed Augmentum CEO Tim Levene. They discussed evolving consumer behaviour in fintech, the Augmentum portfolio, the future of fintech and what being publicly listed means in practice for Augmentum.Read the article here

Financial Times published this article about Augmentum portfolio company interactive investor, on 18th February: "interactive investor to acquire Share Centre... Tie-up would see the UK’s second-largest investment platform manage £36bn of assets".   Read the...

Innovate Finance have published their 2019 Fintech Investment Landscape report, which highlights the UK's position as a European and global leader. The report explores the latest investment trends and top deals, European and global rankings, and much more. We were...

Augmentum was featured in this Investors Chronicle article; "Trading 10 per cent below NAV, and with pro-forma cash of £17m on hand to invest, Augmentum's shares have scope to resume their upward trajectory. Buy." Read the full article here

Grover was featured in this Silicon Republic article on the 20 European startups changing how we spend and manage money.   Read the full article here

Augmentum was featured in this London TechWatch article; "These are the 7 Most Active London Venture Capital Firms in 2019".   Read the full article here

Are you thinking about whether you should invest in fintech? Learn more about investing in fintech with Augmentum.

We were delighted to host an ambitious group of University of Cambridge MBA students at our offices last week, offering them an insight into a career in VC. We wish them all the best for their upcoming exams!

Augmentum Associate Freddie Evans discusses Augmentum Fintech's unique structure, what his first day at the fund was really like and his views on what makes both a great investor and investment in the latest 'Associated' podcast episode.   Listen here [49 mins]...

Our Head of Engagement Georgie Hazell has been shortlisted for We are Tech Women and JP Morgan's #TechWomen100 awards.   See the full shortlist here

Augmentum Fintech CEO Tim Levene has been named in the AltFi Powerlist 50: "The 50 most influential European people in fintech", alongside portfolio Founders/CEOs Daniel Hegarty (Habito), Norris Koppel (Monese), Jeff Lynn (Seedrs), Dr. Oliver Prill (Tide), Christoph...

Investors Chronicle featured Augmentum in their article: "Trusting in fast-growing unlisteds" from 14th November 2019.   Read the article here

We are delighted to have recently welcomed Ellen to the Augmentum Investment Team as an Associate. Learn about why she chose to make the leap from consultancy into VC, and what it is about fintech in particular that appeals.   Why did you choose to move into...

This is Money featured Augmentum in their article: "Small cap share ideas: Augmentum Fintech fund offers retail investors entry into UK's technology hotspot" from 4th November 2019. 'What's unusual about us is we are the only listed fintech fund in the UK,' says [Tim]...

Augmentum has won 'One To Watch' in the 'Growth Investor of the Year' category at the 2019 Growth Investor Awards. See the full list of winners here

Proactive Investors interviewed Augmentum CEO Tim Levene for their article Augmentum Fintech: A route into some of Britain's best growth hopes. “What's unusual about us is we are the only listed fintech fund in the UK,” says Levene.   “We are allowing retail and...

Miles Costello wrote about Augmentum in his article "One to augment your share portfolio" for The Times' Tempus on 15th October.Read the full article here

Investors Chronicle featured Augmentum in this article on 25th September. "Augmentum Fintech, the first publicly listed fintech fund in the UK, continues to justify my decision to include the shares, at 102.4p, in my market-beating 2019 Bargain Shares portfolio." Read...

We’re pleased to be supporting the first fintech edition of the popular Seedrs ‘Bitesize Pitches’ on 25th September at Level39 in Canary Wharf and look forward to meeting lots of fintech teams and investors.

Augmentum Fintech plc has been shortlisted for 'Best New Issue' in the Investment Company of the Year Awards. The awards aim to recognise and reward excellence in close-ended fund management and will take place on 20th November in London.   See the full list here

Anissa Zeghdoudi interned with Augmentum as an Analyst for three months over the Summer. Here, she shares her experiences: VC smart One of the main reasons I was excited about interning in the venture capital industry was because I was hoping to meet very smart...

Rahil has recently joined Augmentum's Investment Team as an Analyst. Get to know his motivations for working in the industry and what he'll be getting up to here... Why did you choose to join Augmentum? The unique nature of being the only listed fintech-focused...

Investors Chronicle featured Augmentum in their "Beating the Market" article from August 12th 2019: "Augmentum has been delivering eye-catching investment gains, reporting an annualised internal rate of return (IRR) of 28 per cent since IPO, buoyed by gains on its two...

Richard Matthews spoke at a media roundtable hosted by The Association of Investment Companies (AIC)'s Annabel Brodie-Smith about investing in unquoted companies, covering topics such as the closed-ended structure of investment companies, the opportunities in market...

Citywire Editor in Chief Gareth Lumsden interviewed Tim Levene. They discussed the Financial Conduct Authority, fintech ecosystem growth and the sub-sectors we find particularly compelling. Watch the video here    

Augmentum Venture Partner Martyn Holman explains the purpose and mechanics of Convertible Loan Notes.

This is the first stage in a £150 million share issue programme approved by shareholders last month, with Augmentum looking to target wider European opportunities, which Levene has put at around £450 million. Last year, $40 billion was invested globally in fintech companies across 2,300 deals, according to Augmentum.

Master Investor featured Augmentum in this article from 20th June. "Augmentum Fintech’s (LON: AUGM) portfolio of unquoted, early stage Fintech businesses has risen by an impressive 10.7% during its first year, with the managers looking to take advantage of a healthy...

Citywire wrote about Augmentum in this article from 19th June. "Trusts such as Augmentum may be the only way private investors can get access to the market-leading companies of the future. Most parts of the private equity market are dominated by US companies and US...

The Financial News featured Augmentum in their The Fintech Files newsletter: "Listed investment trust Augmentum Fintech has had a busy few weeks. First, it published a promising set of results that revealed an “unrealised annualised IRR” of 28% on its seed portfolio...

Citywire wrote about Augmentum in this article from 17 June: "Augmentum Fintech (AUGM), the £106 million venture capital investment trust backing peer-to-peer lender Zopa and stockbroker Interactive Investors, is looking to raise £30 million in its first share issue...

Investors Chronicle wrote about Augmentum in this article from 12 June: "Augmentum Fintech(AUGM:111p), a leading venture capital investment group that became the first London Stock Exchange listed fintech fund when it raised £94m, at 100p a share in March 2018, has...

Further to the announcement made by the Company on 5 June 2019, the Board of Directors of Augmentum Fintech is pleased to announce the proposed issue of new ordinary shares (“Ordinary Shares”) to raise gross proceeds of approximately £30 million (the “Initial Issue”)...

Fidante took a closer look at the growth opportunities for Augmentum Fintech ahead of our annual report: "Augmentum Fintech (AUGM) will publish its first full-year report on 11 June 2019. Since its IPO on 13 March 2018, the company has deployed its capital...

Augmentum CEO Tim Levene spoke to London Fintech Podcast's Mike Baliman.   "Today we merge two fascinating topics – the Gold Medal for a startup – the Public Listing and innovating in Venture Capital to provide more patient capital. Our guest who connects these...

The Future of Finance podcast hosted Tim Levene, Partner & CEO at Augmentum Fintech. They talked through his entrepreneurial journey from a juice bar in Canary Wharf to the first publicly traded fintech-focused VC in the UK and the sheer scale of opportunity in...