Financial services firm Santander backed Mouro Capital has launched a massive fund in order to focus on blockchain and AI infrastructure development.
The move culminates with Mouro launching a third fund worth nearly $400 million, which will target startups functioning at the juxtaposition of AI, blockchain, capital markets and wealth management.
The new fund launch comes at a time when Santander has been expanding its footsteps in the blockchain and AI realm amid legacy financial systems being rebuilt around software and automation.
The new fund takes Mouro Capital’s total capital commitments to more than $1 billion since the firm was launched in 2015.
What will the fund focus on?
Media reports from Wednesday highlight that the London-based investor plans to continue focusing on startups working to modernize key parts of the financial system. This includes payments, lending, insurance, compliance and core banking infrastructure.
The investment strategy is already taking shape through active dealmaking rather than broad long-term positioning.
Separate reporting from Tech Funding News said Mouro has already made seven investments from the new fund, including in ElevenLabs and Sakana AI. The report also noted that the firm is placing increasing emphasis on AI-native financial interfaces, stablecoins and decentralized finance, which it sees as some of the core technologies likely to shape the next generation of financial services.
Blockchain a key part of the new fund
The blockchain component of Mouro Capital’s strategy appears to be far more than a passing trend or marketing angle. One of the firm’s portfolio companies is M^ZERO, which Mouro describes as decentralized stablecoin infrastructure built to help institutions move value more seamlessly.
That makes it clear the firm is still willing to invest in core crypto and blockchain infrastructure, not just AI-focused fintech startups.
The strategy reflects a broader shift taking place across financial services. Investors are increasingly looking at companies that can operate between traditional regulated finance and newer AI-driven software systems.
According to reports from Pathfounders, Mouro is paying close attention to areas such as governance, compliance, capital markets, wealth management, payments infrastructure and stablecoins.
The reasoning behind the approach is becoming easier to see. As AI tools become more embedded into financial operations, the systems handling payments, identity verification, settlement and custody may also need to become more programmable and automated.
Mouro appears to believe that AI will transform the front-end experience of finance, while blockchain and stablecoin infrastructure modernize the underlying systems moving money behind the scenes.
New fund launch comes as Santander expands heavily into blockchain
The new fund launch also comes at a time when Banco Santander has gradually expanded its blockchain and digital asset efforts from early experimentation into a much broader strategy that now includes retail crypto trading and institutional tokenization.
The bank is increasingly working to bridge traditional banking with blockchain-based finance through initiatives tied to digital asset custody and blockchain-powered payment systems.
Santander’s digital banking arm, Openbank, has expanded further into crypto by launching retail trading services in Germany and Spain. Customers can now buy and sell digital assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Polygon and Cardano through the platform.
At the institutional level, the bank has also been pushing deeper into tokenization, recently completing blockchain-based bond issuances using distributed ledger technology to make the process faster and more efficient.
At the same time, reports suggest Santander is also exploring the possibility of launching its own stablecoin and expanding its broader range of digital asset services for retail banking customers.
