Financial Venture Studio closes first fund with $13 million

The firm has invested in 18 companies, as well as other later-stage fintechs

 Financial Venture Studio, a venture firm focused on early stage fintech startups in the US, announced the final close of its inaugural fund, FVS Fund I. The Fund closed with over $13 million in commitments from an array of leading institutional investors, including pension and institutional funds, insurance companies and commercial banks, as well as family offices and notable individuals from the venture capital ecosystem.

Financial Venture Studio invests in great teams that it believes can improve the way that Americans conduct their financial lives. Selected companies receive an investment, as well as a bespoke six-month networking program, designed to help companies navigate critical elements of the financial services industry. To date, the firm has invested in 18 companies through three cohorts of its program, as well as a handful of other later-stage fintechs, including Dave, Point, Propel, and Digit.

Financial Venture Studio was founded in 2018 by Ryan Falvey and Tyler Griffin, who met through their work together at the $30 million Financial Solutions Lab, an accelerator funded by JPMorgan Chase through the nonprofit CFSI. Griffin had previously founded payments company Prism Money, which he sold to PayNearMe.

The firm has had two exits from its investments since inception: the sale of Sheltr to Hippo Insurance, and the sale of Joust Banking to ZenBusiness. Seventy-five percent of the program’s alumni have raised a total of nearly $60 million in follow-on capital from notable venture firms including QED, Valar, Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins and Matrix, among others.

Since selecting our first cohort of fintech startups two years ago, we have proven our program’s strength in helping early stage founders navigate some of the most critical parts of being successful in fintech, said Ryan Falvey, co-founder and Managing Partner. Our emphasis on building a network designed to accelerate growth has captured the attention of many top co-investors, some of whom have gone on to provide Series A funding rounds for our companies.