Analysis
Fiat Ventures has combined its growth-consultancy arm, previously operating as Fiat Growth, with its venture-investing division under a new unified brand, FGV Capital, TechCrunch reported, alongside the close of a new fund. General partners Marcos Fernandez and Drew Glover are targeting at least 25 companies over the next two years, having already backed 13.
- Fund II size -- $35 million, closed after an 18-month raise
- Fund I size -- $25 million, meaning Fund II is roughly 40% larger
- Check size -- $1 million to $1.5 million per company
- Target portfolio -- 25+ companies over two years, 13 already backed
The fund's stated thesis centers on fintech intersecting with AI, healthcare and commerce, and its portfolio to date includes Wagmo, a pet insurance company, and Possible Finance, a loan-services startup. Institutional LPs backing Fund II include Reinsurance Group of America, MassMutual and Bank of America -- a notably established LP base for a fund still at its second vehicle.
- FGV Capital (formerly Fiat Ventures / Fiat Growth) -- newly unified brand combining growth-advisory and venture-investing arms, $35M Fund II
- Wagmo, Possible Finance -- named existing portfolio companies
- Reinsurance Group of America, MassMutual, Bank of America -- institutional LPs in Fund II
The integrated model is the more distinctive element of this raise than the fund size itself. Fernandez and Glover frame the pitch directly: portfolio companies FGV invests in can become clients of its growth-advisory business, and advisory clients can become investments -- an ecosystem approach meant to give founders access to both capital and hands-on growth expertise from the same firm, while the firm maintains it keeps governance of the two businesses separate specifically to avoid conflicts of interest between advisory fees and investment decisions.
That combined advisory-plus-capital model isn't unique to FGV -- several growth-stage funds have experimented with bundling operational services into their value proposition to founders -- but running both under one brand, with institutional insurance-company LPs underwriting the combined structure, is a more formal version of the model than most early-stage funds attempt. The real test for FGV's structure will be whether portfolio companies that also become advisory clients see materially different outcomes than those that don't, a distinction the firm hasn't yet published data on.
