Bankinter releases the ‘MVB Fund’, a novel fund that will invest in high potential tech firms in Silicon Valley

Bankinter is making new, innovative strides in co-investment vehicles for customers by creating a fund that is one of a kind in the Spanish market. The ‘MVB Fund’ has come on the scene to invest in companies disrupting the Silicon Valley eco-system, the cradle of technological innovation.

Ultimately, it aims to offer private banking customers a unique investment alternative in a market niche closed off to many investors, namely high potential tech firms soon to be the next Uber, Facebook, Netflix and Amazon. These companies, which begin as start-ups and later become unicorns (companies valued at over 1 billion dollars) are difficult to identify early in addition to being complicated to access by new shareholders. Furthermore, in recent years, opportunities to buy equity in this type of companies have decreased, as they tend to take longer to go public.

To help invest in these tech companies, Bankinter has created the ‘MVB Fund’ as a fund of funds which will invest in venture capital funds that are also shareholders in these companies with high growth potential.

In order to invest in the world’s best venture capital funds with positions in future unicorns, the bank has partnered with the renowned tech investor, Martín Varsavsky, a pioneer in several business initiatives in Spain and other countries like the United States and Canada.

Varskavsky, an active player in the Silicon Valley eco-system, will support Bankinter in its search for opportunities to invest in these venture capital funds (mostly in the United States) known for having generated significant returns on investment in new tech and digital economy firms.

With Martín Varsavsky as a partner, the ‘MVB Fund’ will enter these venture capital funds to co-invest in companies with high growth potential event before they decide to go public. This makes the product unique and exclusive for any Spanish investor.

Management through Kanoar Ventures SGEIC in Spain.

To manage the fund of funds, Bankinter will get support from Kanoar Ventures, a venture capital fund that manages the fund, K Fund. It is one of the leading venture capital funds in Spain and has over ten years of experience in investing, creating and managing online companies, which have afforded a vast understanding of the dynamics of this market.

Therefore, investing in venture capital have yielded attractive medium and long-term returns, frequently higher than any other type of financial assets. When searching for greater yields, investing in venture capital funds situated in the first quartile for profitability (eg, in the first 25% of the funds with the highest yields over time) is key.

The new investment vehicle, which has just been approved by the Spanish Securities Market Commission, will require an initial capital investment of 100,000 euros from private banking customers. Furthermore, customers’ investments cannot exceed a specific percentage of their net worth.

The size of this fund is expected to be around 200 million euros. It aims to put approximately 75% of invested capital venture capital funds and 25% in co-investments in private companies with new plans to go public.

Ultimately, it will help Bankinter’s private banking customers take advantage of the Silicon Valley ecosystem and the new developments taking place there, hand in hand with the best partners available to access investment opportunities and manage the fund.