The Independent Bankers Association of Texas and FedFis are launching the fintech venture capital group Bankers Helping Bankers Fund.
The fund, managed by the venture capital group Latitude38 Venture Partners, helps pair community bankers with emerging technology providers. Organizers hope the BHB Fund raises approximately $100 million from limited partners, including bank holding companies. The fund’s first close of $25 million is scheduled for mid-September. IBAT Services, Inc., will participate in the fund as a limited partner.
“Technology is rapidly changing financial services,” said IBAT President and CEO Christopher Williston. “To help community banks navigate the future of the industry, we must engage with that future head on. The BHB Fund provides us the opportunity to build partnerships between fintechs and the community banking industry in Texas and beyond.”
Bankers Helping Bankers allows participating community bankers across the country to receive hard data and information on possible tech partners and/or emerging trends. It was launched in 2021 through a partnership between Dave and Tanner Mayo of the financial institutions data analytics firm FedFis and IBAT.
Lattitude38 Venture Partners was recently launched by managing partner Neeraj Vohra. K Street Capital co-founder and board member Richard Leggett serves as a venture partner as does former Independent Community Bankers of America president/CEO Camden Fine.
“Latitude38 Venture Partners is delighted to be working with Bankers Helping Bankers, FedFis and IBAT to invest in innovative fintech companies that bolster community banks — a critical pillar of the U.S. economy,” Vohra said. “The team we’ve assembled is uniquely positioned to add value to fintech portfolio companies. We will generally invest in Series A rounds and will also look opportunistically at earlier- and later-stage investments.”
The collaboration continues the recent growth of Bankers Helping Bankers. This past spring, BHB entered the crypto and BaaS sectors. In May, it entered into an education partnership with the San Francisco-based digital wealth management platform Unifimoney to hasten the adoption of digital wealth management and cryptocurrency. The month prior, it formed the BaaS Association, a group to support banks that sponsor fintech companies as they inch into delivering banking services.