CO-FOUNDER & GENERAL partner

Sergei Kouzmine

Sergei is a serial entrepreneur, operator, and venture capitalist who has been part of the founding team of 10 companies, including numerous successful financial services ventures. He has held board director positions for 4 of Fintech Ventures Fund’s portfolio companies and has served on the board of directors for multiple publicly traded companies over the span of his career.

Sergei’s financial services operating experience includes being part of the founding team of a leading core banking operating system in Europe. In the 1990s, he also co-founded one of Europe's largest payments and remittance platforms, with over $14 billion in annual transaction volume, spanning over 30 different countries.

Sergei is also one of the founding investors and former board members of Affinity Bank, a community bank in Georgia with $250 million in assets. Sergei was integral to securing Affinity’s banking charters before the bank successfully sold to Newton Federal Bank (NASDAQ: AFBI) in 2020. The transaction created a top-10 bank (by deposits) in the state of Georgia.

Sergei received an MBA from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business, and also holds a Ph.D. in Physics. He is based in Atlanta.

 
 
 
 

CO-FOUNDER & GENERAL Partner

Lucas Timberlake

Luke has over 15 years of financial services experience in various capacities, including venture capital, private equity, and investment banking. Luke has held board director positions for 8 Fintech Ventures Fund portfolio companies, including currently serving on the board of formerly publicly traded IOU Financial (sold to Neuberger Berman in 2023).

Before launching Fintech Ventures, Luke was one of the first external hires to the investment team of a $1.5 billion AUM private equity firm specializing in infrastructure, financial services, and real estate investments.

Luke began his career in investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was an integral part of over $2 billion in advisory and capital markets transactions for public sector/private clients in the Northeast.

Luke holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from Columbia University. He is based in New York City.