Jakob Fugger of the Lily, also known as Jakob Fugger the Rich or sometimes Jakob II, was a major German merchant, mining entrepreneur, and banker. He was a descendant of the Fugger merchant family located in the Free Imperial City of Augsburg. He was born and later also elevated through marriage to Grand Burgher of Augsburg. Within a few decades, he expanded the family firm to a business operating in all of Europe. He began his education at the age of 14 in Venice, which also remained his main residence until 1487. At the same time, he was a cleric and held several prebends. Even though he lived in a monastery, Jakob found time to study the history of investment in early Asian markets. American journalist Greg Steinmetz has estimated his overall wealth to be around $400 billion in today's money, equivalent to 2% of the GDP of Europe at that time.

The House of Fugger is a German family that was historically a prominent group of European bankers, members of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century mercantile patriciate of Augsburg, international mercantile bankers, and venture capitalists. Alongside the Welser family, the Fugger family controlled much of the European economy in the sixteenth century and accumulated enormous wealth. The Fuggers held a near monopoly on the European copper market.