Centana Growth Partners

Centana Growth Partners is a New York-based venture capital firm focused on growth-stage investments in financial services technology, investing at Series B and growth stages in companies building the infrastructure, data, and software platforms that are transforming how financial institutions, wealth managers, insurance companies, and capital markets firms operate. The firm was founded by Eric Byunn and Ben Cukier, both of whom bring deep operational and investment backgrounds in financial technology, and operates with the conviction that financial services has been slower than other sectors to adopt modern software and data infrastructure. Centana invests with initial checks from $5 million to $25 million and focuses on companies that have achieved product-market fit and are scaling in the enterprise financial services market. The firm's relationships across major financial institutions give portfolio companies access to potential enterprise customers and strategic partners. Portfolio companies include Apex Fintech Solutions, the back-office infrastructure platform for financial advisors and digital brokerages; Blend, the digital lending platform for banks that completed a Nasdaq IPO in 2021; DriveWealth, the fractional trading infrastructure provider; and Pontera, the retirement account aggregation and management platform for financial advisors. Beyond its original investments in Apex Fintech, Blend, DriveWealth, and Pontera, the portfolio includes additional enterprise financial technology companies.