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Motive Partners
Motive Partners is a specialist private equity platform investing $6.4B in fintech across venture, growth, and buyout stages.
Motive Partners
Motive Partners was founded in 2015 by Rob Heyvaert and a group of former financial services and technology executives. The firm is structured as a private equity platform, not a traditional family office, and its wealth origin is undisclosed. Over 150 professionals operate from offices in New York, London, and Singapore. The firm targets technology-enabled financial and business services companies across venture (pre-seed to Series A, $1M–$10M checks), growth, and buyout stages. Its core sectors include wealth and asset management, banking and payments, insurance, capital markets, AI/data and analytics, and business services. Notable portfolio companies include FNZ, InvestCloud, Avaloq, Dun & Bradstreet, CAIS, Anchorage Digital, and Backbase. Geographically, the firm invests in North America and Europe. Motive Partners reports $6.4B in total deployed capital across more than 150 professionals. The firm has a proprietary value creation engine called Create, which integrates investment teams and portfolio leadership to execute transformation plans from thesis to exit. Recent activity includes a February 2026 investment in Alchelyst, a wealth and asset management company based in New York. The firm differentiates through its invest-operate-innovate (IOI) model, which embeds operational expertise from the outset. It sits at the nexus of portfolio companies, strategic partners, and industry leaders, orchestrating a connected ecosystem that fuels collaboration and growth. This hybrid approach distinguishes it from pure financial sponsors.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2015
AUM
$6.4B (per firm website, 2025)
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
New York
Corporate office
New York, NY, United States
Additional offices
London, United Kingdom · Singapore
Principals
Rob Heyvaert
Partner
Jeff Yabuki
Partner
Bob Brown
Partner
Scott Kauffman
Partner
Kristy Trieste
Partner
Neil Cochrane
Partner
Ramin Niroumand
Partner
Bridget van Kralingen
Partner
Sreeram Visvanathan
Partner
Chris Williams
Partner
Richard Lumb
Partner
Doug Smith
Partner
Hugo Bongers
Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Motive Partners?
The firm is led by a partnership that includes Rob Heyvaert, Jeff Yabuki, and Scott Kauffman among others. Investment decisions are made by the partnership team, which combines investment expertise with operational leadership in financial services, data, and technology (per firm website).
How does Motive Partners source proprietary deal flow?
Motive Partners leverages its deep networks in financial services, its internal value creation engine 'Create', and its position at the nexus of portfolio companies, strategic partners, and industry leaders to source proprietary opportunities (per firm website).
Is Motive Partners structured as a single family office or does it operate more like a venture firm?
Motive Partners is structured as a private equity platform, not a family office. It operates with a dedicated investment team, multiple funds across stages, and a centralized operational arm called Create.
Does Motive Partners participate in fund commitments or only direct deals?
Motive Partners primarily makes direct investments in companies across venture, growth, and buyout stages. It also acquires legacy technology platforms and provides growth capital, rather than committing to external funds as an LP (per firm website).
What investment stages does Motive Partners typically target?
Motive Partners invests across the full lifecycle of financial technology companies: venture (pre-seed to Series A with $1M–$10M checks), growth, and buyout. It also pursues legacy transformations and buyouts of established platforms (per firm website).
Which sectors does Motive Partners explicitly avoid?
Motive Partners focuses exclusively on technology-enabled financial and business services. It does not invest in sectors outside fintech, such as healthcare, energy, or consumer goods, though it has a dedicated practice for AI, data, and analytics within financial services.
What is Motive Partners' known posture on co-investments alongside external GPs?
Motive Partners frequently co-invests with other financial sponsors. Many of its portfolio companies, such as FNZ, InvestCloud, and Backbase, have involved co-investment from other private equity firms, reflecting an open co-investment posture (per firm website).
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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