Capital Constellation backs Motive Partners in third deal of year

Institutional-investor-backed Capital Constellation on Monday announced a strategic partnership with Motive Partners, which invests in financial-services-focused technology businesses.

This is the third 2018 investment for Capital Constellation, a collaboration of Alaska Permanent Fund, RMPI Railpen, the U.K.’s largest pension fund, and investment adviser Wafra on behalf of Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait, the national retirement scheme.

Earlier this year, Capital Constellation invested in Ara Partners and Astra Capital Management.

“Constellation’s three investments — spanning communications, energy and financial technology — are emblematic of our continued support for the entrepreneur investors who will define the next generation of private equity,” Daniel Adamson, managing director at Wafra and president of Constellation, said.

Capital Constellation will look to back 10 to 12 next-generation managers in the next three years, Adamson said.

“Unlike legacy managers built on centralized, monolithic, 20th-century organizational models, these next-gen managers are all about networks and collaboration,” he said.

Motive Partners was founded by Stephen Daffron, Michael Hayford and Rob Heyvaert in January 2017.

Its portfolio includes Avaloq, which provides solutions for banks and wealth managers; LMRKTS, which provides solutions to reduce risks and costs for financial institutions; and Global Shares, which provides software and services for employee equity share plan administration to companies such as Cargill, GlaxoSmithKline and Generali.

One out of every four dollars spent on technology is spent on financial technology, Adamson told Buyouts.

“Technology is disrupting financial services as we know it. We believe Motive Partners will be at the forefront of this revolution,” Adamson said.

For instance, collaboration and innovation are in Motive’s DNA, he said. “Case in point: Motive Labs arms them with unparalleled insights from a global network of financial services firms — the end users of the tech they built,” Adamson said.

Motive Partners set up Motive Labs in January, in strategic partnership with Allied Irish Bank, Bradesco, Emirates NBD, Mastercard and Royal Bank of Scotland.

The membership-only Motive Labs will identify innovation and investment opportunities and collaborate with fintech startups on new products and services, a news release said.

“Motive Labs and our partnerships with these leading global financial institutions furthers our mission to be a catalyst for creating value across the financial services industry,” Heyvaert said at the time.

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