Apollo Is Betting on Fintechs With the Help of Motive's Blythe Masters

Alternative asset firm Apollo has more than $470 billion in assets under management.
Apollo has partnered with a PE firm led by former top JPMorgan exec Blythe Masters.
Master’s Motive is partnering with Apollo to co-invest in deals and help lead digital projects.

Apollo Global Management is adding its name to the growing list of investment firms partnering and investing in fintechs, and it’s tapping a Wall Street veteran to help do it.

The $472 billion alternative asset giant, now led by Marc Rowan, is teaming up with Blythe Masters, a one-time top executive at JPMorgan and the former CEO of smart-contract startup Digital Asset, as part of its fintech-investing strategy.

Masters is now a founding partner at Motive Partners, a specialist private-equity firm focused on fintech.

This July, Motive and Apollo inked what they called a “strategic innovative partnership” that saw Apollo take a 25% minority stake in Motive. The deal “brings together the scale, the acumen, the brand, the balance sheet capacity of Apollo, with the fintech specialization and talent at Motive,” Masters said during a presentation at Apollo’s investor day Tuesday.

The announcement of the Motive joint venture preceded another high-profile fintech play Apollo announced this summer: a partnership with blockchain startup Figure, which is led by Michael Cagney.

Masters pointed to Apollo’s relationship with Figure as proof that the alternative asset manager, in addition to being an investor, can also serve as a “validator” to test new technology.

Cagney was previously the former CEO and cofounder of SoFi before leaving the consumer-lending startup in 2017 under allegations of misconduct.

Apollo’s partnership with Figure comes as the investment firm has navigated the exit of one of its own founder.

In January, an independent review conducted by the law firm Dechert detailed the extent of the business ties between the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Leon Black, the central founder of Apollo. Black announced then that he would retire from the CEO role in July and that Rowan, a cofounder of the firm, would replace him.

More opportunities in fintech

Even with today’s “eye-popping premiums” afforded to upstart competitors like PayPal, Robinhood, and SoFi, the fintech sector still has room left to run, Masters said.

“The fact of the matter is, not many of us would have bet on autonomous vehicles on our streets occurring before T+1 settlement,” she said.

“Fintech is becoming so pervasive, so relevant, so diverse, that no self-respecting financial services company should be avoiding the need to evaluate its positioning from both a defensive and an offensive point of view,” she added.

Motive and Apollo’s partnership will take shape in three ways, Masters said.

For one, Motive is co-investing with Apollo on fintech deals where Motive can provide tech due diligence.

The specialist firm is also partnering with Apollo portfolio companies to drive tech upgrades.

And Motive is also driving a tech transformation within Apollo itself via “APIs, enhanced data capabilities, marketplace technologies, new distribution channels” and other means.

There is “plenty” of co-invested deal flow under way, Masters said, but “where the bigger area of opportunity lies, and where the greatest excitement resides, is in the opportunity to use the resources at Motive and the specialization of Motive to drive digital transformation, both within portfolio companies and group companies of Apollo and within Apollo itself.”

In return, meanwhile, Apollo offers a significant balance sheet.

“Apollo has the brand, the track record, the infrastructure, the balance sheet capacity, to truly differentiate itself from most other fintechs in the pack. And if it enables its own businesses with digital channels and technology weaponization, the opportunity is to combine the fin in Apollo with the tech from Motive into a fintech killer,” Masters said.