Moscow Seed Fund, the venture arm of the Moscow City authorities, is concluding its first three-year investment cycle.
In partnership with Softline Venture Partners, the fund supports venture investors in financing small businesses in the science and technology sector. It backed startups Context Broker and AppStarter at the end of 2012 and early 2013 respectively. Both startups have now begun to pay back their loans, $240,000 in the case of Context Broker and $195,000 in the case of AppStarter.
The startups received the loans as additional leverage, making up two thirds of the required funds they required, with the final third coming in the form of investment from Softline Partners. The projects had the option to take advantage of a ‘repayment holiday’, which would mean paying nothing back for the first two years. This option was taken up by ‘Context Broker’, while AppStarter chose to begin repaying the loan sooner.
The loans were offered at a 12.375%, which was one and a half times the refinancing rate of 8.25%. AppStarter and ‘Context Broker’ offered 22% and 19% of their respective companies to Moscow Seed Fund as security for the loans, with Softline ventures receiving 15% and 8% stakes for its investment.
These deals were typical of Moscow Seed Fund’s mode of investment. It invests in startups at the seed stage, offering double the value of its private co-investor in the form of a loan. At the end of three years, the loan must be paid back. Moscow Seed Fund receives a stake in the startup as security, which can either be returned to the startup upon repayment of the loan or purchased by the co-investor upon agreement with the company.
Softline Ventures invests in IT projects at various stages of development. The fund is worth $20 million, and usually invests between $100k and $1million.
Source: Firrma.ru
