Investor Profile: Mouro Capital — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Mouro Capital is a London based venture capital firm investing where financial services meet technology. It began as Santander InnoVentures and became an independently managed firm in 2020, with Banco Santander as its anchor partner. In May 2026 it announced the first close of its third fund at $400 million, entirely committed by Banco Santander. That took its total investment commitments past $1 billion for the first time.

Investment thesis

Mouro Capital backs founders rewiring financial services through artificial intelligence, data and infrastructure. Its third fund concentrates on capital markets, wealth management, AI driven financial infrastructure, and governance, risk and compliance, where enterprise AI adoption is creating new demands. Insurtech is another priority area for further investment. The firm also applies a banking lens to diligence, testing whether a product can survive procurement, regulation and risk review inside a large financial institution.

Sectors and stages

Mouro Capital invests across Europe, North America and Latin America, backing companies from seed through to Series C. Its core territory is fintech in the broadest sense: payments, lending, banking technology, insurtech, embedded finance, wealth and capital markets infrastructure, identity and data platforms, and digital assets. The newer fund adds an AI layer: conversational AI for financial services, AI for banking modernisation, and tools that help firms deploy AI safely within regulatory constraints. At launch, the firm said it would lead or follow in seed through growth rounds, writing initial cheques of up to $15 million and reserving capital for follow-on rounds.

Notable portfolio / track record

The portfolio on the firm's own website includes Curve, the UK platform that brings cards together in one place, and TrueLayer, a pioneer of European open banking infrastructure. It also includes Creditas, offering secured credit to Brazilian consumers; Klar, a Mexican digital bank; Upgrade, a US consumer credit and banking company; and Ripple, the cross border payments infrastructure company. Earlier exits include iZettle, acquired by PayPal for more than $2 billion, and Kabbage, acquired by American Express. From the new fund it has backed ElevenLabs, focused on conversational AI for financial services; Sakana AI, applying AI to banking modernisation; Alinia, helping firms implement AI within governance frameworks; and Burbank, working on payment infrastructure.

How to apply for funding

Mouro Capital runs no public rolling application form like an accelerator, so the practical route is a direct approach through mourocapital.com, where its team and portfolio are listed. Lead with a precise fit statement: which part of financial services you are rebuilding, why the timing is now, and what evidence you have from regulated customers. A warm introduction through a portfolio founder, a Santander contact or a co-investor carries more weight than a cold note. General partners Manuel Silva Martinez and Christopher Gottschalk lead the firm, so research which partner covers your subsector first. Expect diligence to probe regulatory, risk and enterprise sales questions in depth, and prepare answers on compliance, data handling and bank procurement timelines.