Fintech start-up Nivaura, one of the original members of Allen & Overy’s Fuse cohort, has closed a strategic seed funding round, raising $20m from a number of prominent partners, including the three law firms Allen & Overy, Linklaters and Orrick.

Strength to strength

The other investors include The London Stock Exchange Group, Santander, InnoVentures. And Aegon. Founded in London in 2016, Nivaura was the first company invited to work in Fuse, Allen & Overy’s collaborative tech innovation space, in September 2017. Having participated in all of the first four FCA regulatory sandboxes, during which it gained its MiFID and CASS regulatory approvals, Nivaura were supported by Allen & Overy in the world’s first automated cryptocurrency denominated bond issuance. Phil Smith, partner at Allen & Overy, commented ‘we have been working with the team at Nivaura since they first joined Fuse and it is evident they are going from strength to strength. We have incorporated their platform in to the work we do for our clients, resulting in very positive outcomes.’The investment will allow Nivaura in particular to ramp up expertise across machine learning and natural language processing, in line with the increasingly complex client automation needs. The company also plans to enter new jurisdictions and to cover new asset classes.

Disruption

Linklaters says their investment is a part of its strategy of embracing new ideas, technology and tools, ‘as well as providing Nivaura with some of the investment necessary for the next stage of its development, it places Linklaters at the centre of new and emerging technologies that have the potential to fundamentally disrupt the way in which capital markets currently operate with knock-on effects for our clients.’ Richard Levy, partner at Linklaters, commented ‘I am delighted that we are able to help Nivaura in the next stage of its development. The team here is excited about the joint collaboration that Nivaura and Linklaters have planned. Financial market infrastructures and the technologies behind them are evolving and Nivaura are at the centre of these developments. Our investment in, and collaboration with, Nivaura is another opportunity for us to help shape the markets that we and our clients work in.’

Innovation fatigue

Richard Hay, UK head of fintech at Linklaters, commented ‘it is key for current fintech outfits to be able to point to clear benefits of deployment. Levels of hype are receding, and potential users are starting to show signs of “innovation fatigue” and healthy scepticism. Successful offerings provide customers an immediate benefit, such as cost-reduction, but also a way of future-proofing business lines. For that reason, we see Nivaura’s platform as having a potentially significant effect on the broader capital markets ecosystem. That includes law firms, as their platform places legal documentation at the centre of the drive towards automation.’ Orrick also announced it has advised Nivaura on the $20 million seed and seed extension capital funding round. The Orrick London tech companies team advising Nivaura included Chris Grew, Alex Gest, Charles Baker and Abdul Khan.