Illuminate Financial
Pre-Seed–Series B · 4 people tracked
Investment thesis
Led by Mark Beeston, invests in financial market infrastructure and mission-critical B2B fintech for incumbents, leveraging top-tier financial-institution LPs to drive enterprise adoption (1,400+ institutional clients, 1,800+ curated introductions).
Team · 4 people
from the firm's website
Mark Beeston, founder-turned-VC, previously built a fintech firm and a car dealership, relates to CEOs as one of them and runs a Grease Gun rule plus a Numpty Award to normalize mistakes.
Katherine Wilson blends Citi equity trading-floor experience, early-stage fintech execution at CoInvestor Technologies and dual law/commerce degrees with a thesis-driven approach, leading on climate intelligence and enterprise B2B go-to-market strategy.
Luca Zorzino leads Asia from Singapore, combining a computer engineering background from Imperial College with Murex experience redesigning post-trade systems and building an APAC B2B fintech franchise and institutional partnerships.
Charlton Hook is an investment executive focused on financial technology and institutional wealth-management innovation, with a limited public profile beyond transaction notices and event speaker listings.
What they invest in
from 11 of 41 portfolio companiesFintech ×8Crypto & Web3 ×5Enterprise Software ×5SaaS ×4AI & Machine Learning ×3Data & Infrastructure ×3Cybersecurity ×2AgTech ×1
HQs:United States×3France×1
Investments · 41 tracked
founders shown can be your intro pathBaton Systems provides a real-time, distributed ledger technology platform for liquidity management, collateral handling, and payments settlement in financial markets, serving major global banks and financial institutions.
Data & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareFintech<UNKNOWN>
A cryptocurrency trading and payment platform integrated with PayPal, enabling users to buy, sell, and spend Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins at millions of merchants.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
finres turns agronomic, soil, climate, and market data into resilience diagnostics and adaptation plans that translate climate risk into economic impact on farm yields and profitability.
AgTechAI & Machine LearningClimate Tech
Gladia provides a speech-to-text (STT) API supporting 100+ languages, with features such as native code-switching mid-sentence, accent resilience, and inline translation returned alongside transcripts.
AI & Machine LearningDeveloper ToolsSaaS
Fordefi provides MPC (multi-party computation) wallets designed for blockchain asset management and DeFi trading strategies, serving investment funds and institutional crypto traders.
Crypto & Web3Fintech
Blockdaemon provides blockchain infrastructure services including staking, node deployment, APIs, and wallet management across 60+ protocols for financial institutions and developers.
Crypto & Web3Data & InfrastructureEnterprise SoftwareFintech
Konstantin Richter(CEO and Founder)
Notabene provides compliance and regulatory technology for crypto businesses and financial institutions, helping them meet regulatory requirements like the FATF Crypto Travel Rule through real-time screening, sanctions checks, and wallet identification.
Crypto & Web3CybersecurityEnterprise SoftwareFintechNew York City, US
Pelle Braendgaard(CEO/ Co-Founder)inAndres Junge(Founder)inAnia Lipinska(Founder)inAlice Nawfal(Founder)inMatthew Walsh(Director)Peter Johnson(Director)
Pontoro is a fintech platform that provides an Automated Liquidity Pool (ALP) for private asset managers, enabling them to raise capital by offering investors enhanced liquidity while managing secondary transactions.
FintechMountain View, US
Antonio Vitti(CEO & Co-Founder)Robert Dewing(Co-Founder)Vikram Dhingra(Director)Imran Kizilbash(Director)
BoardClint Korver(Director)
Reality Defender develops an AI platform for detecting deepfakes and synthetic media, serving enterprise organizations to prevent fraud and impersonation.
AI & Machine LearningCybersecurityDefense TechEnterprise SoftwareSaaSNew York City, US
Ben Colman(CEO & Co-Founder)inGaurav Bharaj(Co-founder)Benjamin Colman(Executive Officer, Director)Ali Shahriyari(Director)Milos Fulton(Executive Officer)
BoardAlexander Ross(Director)
Frequently asked questions
- What stage does Illuminate Financial invest at?
- Illuminate Financial invests at the Pre-Seed, Seed, Series A, Series B stages.
- What is Illuminate Financial's typical check size?
- Illuminate Financial typically writes checks of $1M – $8M.
- What sectors does Illuminate Financial focus on?
- Illuminate Financial focuses on AI & Machine Learning, Crypto & Web3, Cybersecurity, Enterprise Software, Fintech.
- Does Illuminate Financial lead rounds?
- Yes, Illuminate Financial leads investment rounds.
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