The 2016 Fintech Finance 35: Richard Garman and Brad Bernstein

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< Fintech’s Most Powerful Dealmakers of 2016

7. Richard
Garman &
Brad Bernstein
Managing Partners
FTV Capital
Last year: 6

Founded in 1998, Financial Technology Ventures made its first investment the following year, in pioneering online investment adviser Financial Engines, which went public in 2010 and today has a market valuation of $1.7 billion. In June of this year, the San Francisco–based firm now known as FTV Capital invested in its 92nd portfolio company, leading a $30 million growth equity commitment for information-security services provider ReliaQuest. Up to that point FTV had raised a total of $1.8 billion in four funds, and on September 26 it announced the close of the oversubscribed, $850 million FTV V fund. All along the firm has followed “an institutionalized model that enables us to deliver consistent returns for our limited partners,” says managing partner Richard Garman. Its longevity and consistency make FTV a trailblazer, not just as a financial-technology-specific investor, predating by a decade the boom now defined as fintech, but also as a connector of incumbent institutions with emerging technologies. Those connections are organized through FTV’s Global Partner Network, which includes its limited-partner roster of major banks, asset managers, and insurers, and has facilitated more than 400 contracts for portfolio companies. “We have always been advocates of evolution rather than revolution” and “enterprise-facing rather than consumer-facing” ideas, says Garman. The 59-year-old was CEO of three technology companies, including banking industry joint venture Electronic Payment Services, before joining FTV soon after its founding by James Hale and Robert Huret, who came out of Montgomery Securities. “Incremental improvement” is valued over fads and hype, Garman adds, and the entire strategy is predicated on “existing players applying these great new technologies in their footprint.” That’s not to say FTV isn’t up on the very latest. “We speak to 3,000 companies a year to find at least 100 to take a hard look at, and then we invest in four or five,” explains Brad Bernstein, 49, who has headed FTV’s New York office since 2003 and was promoted to managing partner in May. The firm’s deal-size range of $20 million to $85 million is geared toward companies with profitable business models producing $10 million to $100 million in revenue and growing at least 20 percent a year, but by casting a wide net, 32-person FTV keeps an eye on up-and-comers that may eventually benefit from its capital and collaboration. Also new to the portfolio this year: foreign exchange technology company Edgewater Markets and U.K. wealth management platform True Potential; Bernstein sits on both boards.

The 2016 Fintech Finance 35