BnL Growth Partners, a fintech-focused ‘smartmoney’ company, has partnered with the Banking on Blockchain Fund to boost investments and facilitate banking use cases in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) blockchain space.

“With the blockchain space dominated by large global banks and VC firms, we see our partnership with BnL Growth Partners as a huge opportunity to provide a channel for banks in the CEE region through which they can gain exposure to the rapidly-growing blockchain space,” says Chris Skinner, partner and CEO of the BB Fund. 

As lead partner, BnL will target the CEE region to find and manage start-ups for the BB Fund. With several start-ups currently involved in this space, it will be quite challenging for BnL to decide which ones are worthy of attention. In addition, BnL will also guide and advise financial institutions in the region on different business models, and explore relevant use cases and appropriate technical architectures.

“In the CEE region, we see plenty of really exciting initiatives around blockchain and a lot of new approaches to this revolutionary technology,” explains Balázs Vinnai, one of the founding partners of BnL Growth Partners.

Headquartered in London, the Banking on Blockchain Fund (BB Fund) has been founded by financial technology consultant Chris Skinner and the Singapore-based venture capital firm Life.Sreda. The BB Fund is raising $50m by the end of the year, with an additional $50m to be raised in the first half of 2017.

The fund is aiming to raise capital from mid-sized financial institutions, giving them access to the rapidly-growing blockchain ecosystem. Its main investment focus will be on the European market.

“Life.Sreda, whose portfolio primarily focuses on FinTech and payments, has committed $5m, and the Fund has an additional $20m in soft-commitments from financial institutions so far,” Thomas Labenbacher, managing director of the fund, said in a statement.

Founded in 2014, BnL Growth Partners helps financial incumbents to successfully harvest on innovations by offering cutting-edge, customizable technologies by fintech disruptors.