Citigroup has promoted a fintech investor to lead Citi Ventures, a division that backs young financial technology companies.
Vanessa Colella, who has been global head of venture investing and strategic growth initiatives at Silicon Valley-based Citi Ventures since 2013, will take on the role in January, the bank said on Tuesday. She has also been named chief innovation officer for the group.
Colella takes over from the divisiom's founder and CEO Debby Hopkins, who will retire at the end of the year.
Previously Partner at McKinsey
Before joining Citi Ventures, Colella ran marketing for Citi’s North American Consumer Bank for three years. She joined Citibank from U.S. Venture Partners (USVP), where she was an entrepreneur-in-residence. Prior to USVP, she was SVP of Insights and Head of NA Marketing at Yahoo, responsible for developing and executing the company’s consumer data strategy. She was previously a partner at McKinsey & Co.
Founded in 2010, Citi Ventures takes equity stakes in young technology companies that can help the bank improve its technology and digital offering. It is one of several venture arms launched by banks over the past few years to stay on top of changes to their industry driven by new digital technologies.
Successful Investments
Citi Ventures has backed several well known fintech companies including Square, the mobile payments company launched by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, robo-adviser Betterment and blockchain startup Chain.
