Fifth Third Bancorp launched a partnership between Fifth Third Capital Holdings and fintech venture capital firm QED Investors. Under the terms of the partnership, QED Investors will advise on the continued development of Fifth Third’s strategy to leverage fintech innovation to bring new products and services to bank customers while promoting the growth of fintech companies in the U.S.

“There is an unprecedented amount of innovation emerging in all parts of the financial services ecosystem,” said Tim Spence, executive vice president and chief strategy officer for Fifth Third Bancorp. “Our partnership with QED should enable us to identify new, high-potential technologies to complement our internal R&D and innovation efforts.”

This partnership, in addition to prior fintech company investments such as GreenSky, Transactis and AvidXchange, supports Fifth Third’s NorthStar strategy of enhancing its products and serving its customers more effectively through technology.

“We are incredibly excited about partnering with Fifth Third, a bank that is at the vanguard of change in the fintech space,” said Frank Rotman, co-founder and partner at QED Investors. “Fifth Third is a natural partner for QED, one that embraces innovation and shares many of our views about what the future will look like in the space. We are thrilled for what this unique partnership means for the future of fintech and financial services at large.”

Fifth Third Capital and QED Investors led ApplePie Capital’s Series B capital raise in Q4/16. Fifth Third Capital and QED are also investors in GreenSky and AvidXchange. Fifth Third Capital continues to seek strategic investments in Fintech companies in the U.S. market.

QED Investors is a boutique venture capital firm based in Alexandria, VA focused on investing in early stage, disruptive financial services companies in the U.S., UK and Latin America.