Motive Partners
About Motive Partners
Motive Partners is a private equity firm based in New York City, specializing in financial technology (fintech). Founded in 2015, the firm also has offices in London, Berlin, and Amsterdam. With approximately 170 employees, Motive Partners focuses on empowering management teams in the fintech sector to create substantial value through its unique Investing, Operating, and Innovating (IOI) model.
The firm invests across the entire lifecycle of fintech companies, engaging in early-stage venture, growth equity, and buyout investments. Its target sectors include banking and payments, capital marke
Motive Partners was founded by Rob Heyvaert, its Founder and Managing Partner. He previously founded the consultancy Capco, which was sold to FIS. Sources differ on the founding year. Motive's own fund announcement says 2016, while the existing profile says 2015. Blythe Masters, the former Digital Asset CEO, joined as an Industry Partner. The firm's first flagship fund, Motive Capital Fund I, closed at $473M in 2019. Fund 2 closed in July 2022 at $2.54B including co-investment vehicles, above its $1.5B hard cap. A third flagship, Motive Capital Fund III, appears in regulatory filings, but I found no public close size. Motive has also set up a venture platform, which backs the AI rounds below. It agreed to acquire the European fintech venture platform embedded/capital. Named venture and investment people include Michael Hock (Partner, Venture), Hugo Bongers (sits on the Hadrian board) and Chris Williams (Partner, Investments).
Motive lists AI, data and analytics as one of its investing subsectors, alongside wealth and asset management, banking and payments, insurance, capital markets and business services. Its AI bets are mostly applied: agents and AI-led services built for finance and professional services, not general model infrastructure. In October 2025 it announced a $100M strategic investment in Electric Mind, an AI-led engineering services firm serving banks, capital markets, wealth and insurance clients. In venture, it led Obin AI's $7M seed. Obin builds agentic AI workers for financial institutions, and Dr. Fei-Fei Li and Lukasz Kaiser joined as angels. It also backs Limetax, which uses an internal AI platform called ATLAS to run tax and accounting practices it acquires stakes in. Motive publishes short notes explaining why it invested in these companies.
Motive invests from early-stage venture through growth equity and buyout. Fund 2 focused on growth and buyout investments in software, investment and information services in North America and Europe. Recent AI rounds on the Lounge deals desk range from a $5.1M pre-seed (Elio Mortgage, led) to a $40M growth round (Hadrian). Motive has not published a standard check size or ownership target, so none is given here.
- Obin AI: agentic AI workers for banks and asset managers. $7M seed led by Motive.
- Limetax: AI-enabled tax and accounting group based in Berlin. €36M pre-seed, led, September 2026.
- LawX: Berlin business services company. €7.5M seed, led, May 2026.
- Neno: Amsterdam company listed by Motive under AI, data and analytics. €6.6M seed, August 2026.
- Elio Mortgage: New York mortgage wealthtech company. $5.1M pre-seed, led, September 2026.
- Hadrian: $40M growth round, October 2026. Hugo Bongers sits on its board.
- Electric Mind: AI-led engineering services firm. $100M strategic investment announced October 2025.
- motivepartners.com/portfolio
- motivepartners.com/insights/the-agentic-workforce-for-finance-why-we-i
- motivepartners.com/content/why-we-invested-in-limetax
- motivepartners.com/content/motive-partners-invests-100-million-in-elec
- businesswire.com/news/home/20220712005158/en/Motive-Partners-Raises-$2
- finance.yahoo.com/news/blythe-masters-former-digital-asset-223923126.h
- sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1827821/000110465920135233/tm2032742-10_42
- tracxn.com/d/private-equity/motive-partners/__JCU3RHv4fQ4qw7TLV56IS_uu
Investing activity
Motive Partners appears in 6 AI deals tracked by the AI Lounge deals desk, rounds totalling $81M, and led 4 of them. The rounds are mostly Seed, Pre-seed and Growth, with a median round size of $8M and the largest at $41M. The most recent are Hadrian (Growth, $40M, Oct 2026), Elio Mortgage (Pre-seed, $5.1M, Sep 2026) and Limetax (Pre-seed, €36M, Sep 2026).
Motive Partners most often invests alongside Forgepoint Capital International, Smartfin, HV Capital and Oetker Ventures, and the companies it backs on AI Lounge are mostly in AI and AI cybersecurity.
Deals
Frequently asked questions about Motive Partners
Does Motive Partners invest in AI startups?
Yes. AI, data and analytics is one of its listed subsectors. Its recent AI deals include Obin AI, Limetax, Neno and Electric Mind, all aimed at finance or professional services.
What stages does Motive Partners invest in?
It invests from early-stage venture to growth equity and buyouts. Recent rounds on the Lounge deals desk run from pre-seed to a $40M growth round.
How large are Motive Partners' funds?
Fund I closed at $473M in 2019, and Fund 2 closed at $2.54B in 2022 including co-investment vehicles. A Fund III exists in filings, but I found no public size. Venture fund sizes are also not public.
What check size does Motive Partners write?
It does not publish a standard check size. Disclosed rounds it led include a $7M seed in Obin AI and a $5.1M pre-seed in Elio Mortgage.
Who should AI founders contact at Motive Partners?
Michael Hock is a Partner on the venture side. Hugo Bongers and Chris Williams are other named investment team members. Check the firm's team page for current contacts.
What AI companies has Motive Partners invested in?
Motive Partners's AI investments include Hadrian, Elio Mortgage, Limetax, Neno, LawX and Obin AI. The 6 rounds on AI Lounge are listed on this page with amounts, dates and co-investors.
Where is Motive Partners based?
Motive Partners is based in New York, New York, United States.
What stage does Motive Partners invest at?
In the rounds tracked on AI Lounge, Motive Partners has invested at Seed, Pre-seed and Growth, with a median round of $8M. Motive Partners led 4 of those rounds.
Who does Motive Partners co-invest with?
Motive Partners's most frequent co-investors on AI Lounge are Forgepoint Capital International (1 deal), Smartfin (1 deal), HV Capital (1 deal), Oetker Ventures (1 deal) and Picus Capital (1 deal).
How can founders reach Motive Partners?
Founders on AI Lounge can see Motive Partners's contact details in AI Investor Contacts (paid plans), check for a warm introduction through members who worked with the firm under Warm Paths, and add Motive Partners to their Investor Pipeline to track the conversation.