Smartfin Capital raises €240 million for its Capital II fund

06 January 2020 Consultancy.eu

Smartfin Capital, a Belgian private equity firm founded by Clear2Pay founder Jurgen Ingels and Bart Luyten, has raised €240 million in funding for its SmartFin Capital II fund. 

The Antwerp-based investor targets venture capital investments in the B2B technology segment with a focus on the Benelux region (Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg). The firm’s first fund, SmartFin Capital I, holds investments in a range of start-ups and scale-ups including Unified Post, Itineris, Divitel, NG Data and Maria DB. 

The fund’s stake in former portfolio company Newtec has meanwhile been sold to a company in Singapore, in a move that generated a strong return on investment for the private equity group.

“SmartFin Capital II will follow a similar strategy as its predecessor fund,” said Ingels, who is one of Belgium’s more known investors in the fintech space. After selling Brussels-based payments technology vendor Clear2Pay to FIS for €375 million in 2014, he became involved with all kinds of innovation initiatives in the financial services and technology space.

The team of Smartfin Capital

In 2015 Ingels co-founded The Glue, an ecosystem for innovation in financial services, and as part of the The Glue’s association with Projective, he also sits on the board of the international consulting firm. 

“We are eyeing targets in the broader technology sector, including software and hardware companies, or traditional companies that can be digitised by technology. 5G and predictive maintenance are also among our areas of interest,” said Ingels.

With the funds now raised, Smartfin Capital II is expected to strike quickly. In discussion with Belgian newspaper De Tijd, Ingels admitted that the firm is currently in discussion with three companies in Belgium and one in Turkey. “We expect to close the first investment later this month.”

Smartfin Capital is led by a team of five – alongside Ingels and Luyten this includes Thomas Depuydt, Bert Baeck and Simon Dewaele.