ISIF puts €50m into ex-Goldman chiefs’ financial firm fund
A FUND run by former executives at Goldman Sachs has received €50m from the Irish Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) to develop financial services jobs in Ireland.
Reverence Capital Partners Opportunities Fund is run by former Goldman bankers Milton Berlinski, Peter Aberg and Alexander Chulack.
The firm is an investment fund that focuses on middle market financial services companies.
As part of the deal, Kabbage, a Reverence portfolio company, will establish its European headquarters in Ireland.
Kabbage specialises in providing quick loans to small and medium-sized companies using a range of data tools.
The company assesses the viability of loan applications using algorithms that take into account a number of factors which include everything from a company’s credit history to its social media following.
Kabbage said it expects to see strong growth across Europe in the coming years and added it expects to see significant opportunities in Ireland during that period.
“We are excited to announce the establishment of our European office in Ireland to support these key partners and drive our European expansion to additional organizations and markets,” said Kabbage ceo Rob Frohwein.
“We expect Ireland to be a very important part of our future business growth and to provide opportunities for a significant number of employees as we build out our Irish platform,” Mr Frohwein added.
Kabbage’s Irish office will support the company’s growing presence in Europe and will include partner management, engineering and product support functions.
In addition to the €50m investment, Reverence has said it will continue to work with the ISIF and the IDA to attract more of the firm’s portfolio companies to Ireland.Reverence Capital was founded by Mr Berlinski, Mr Aberg and Mr Chulack in 2013.
A former partner at Goldman Sachs, Mr Berlinski made millions on his 0.375pc stake in Goldman when the firm went public in 1999.
He retired from Goldman in 2011 after 26 years of service during which he served as the firm’s head of strategy and corporate development.
He began his banking career at Merrill Lynch.
“Reverence Capital is delighted to announce our partnership with the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund,” Mr Berlinski said.
“Ireland has a vibrant financial services sector, and we expect significant opportunities for European growth for both existing and future Reverence portfolio companies,” he added.
Reverence has a number of other portfolio clients that Irish authorities will be hoping can be lured to the IFSC, including asset manager Victory Capital, Russell Investments and Diamond Resorts International.
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