Russian billionnaire Alisher Usmanov has invested in a Russian PSP named ‘InPlat‘ via structures affiliated to his holding company USM, acquiring a 35% stake previously owned by investment fund Supremum Capital.
The transaction, which took place in December 2015, was revealed last week by Russian tech blog Firrma.ru, which referred to an unnamed source from Supremum Capital. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
According to Firrma’s source, the new shareholder has ambitious plans to create a new payment ecosystem, spanning from corporate services in the fields of online payment, acquiring and banking services to B2C elecronic payment services as well as financial products and services.
Launched in 2010, InPlat serves such leading companies as Avito.ru, Mail.ru, Ozon.ru, Rambler, World of Tanks as well as Russia’s main social networks and mobile operators. It claims to be the leader in mobile commerce in Russia with more than 500,000 transactions daily.
From mining, to social networks, to e-payments
USM is a major shareholder in Mail.Ru Group, a leading, LSE-listed Russian internet company. In October 2015, USM announced an investment of “$100 million or more” in e-sports platform Virtus.pro.
Usmanov is also active in the international tech investment scene. Together with Yuri Milner, he backed the first DST funds, which hold stakes in a number of leading international Internet companies, including Alibaba, Facebook, JD.COM, Groupon and Zynga. In 2013 Usmanov spent about $100 million buying Apple shares. In 2015 he bought a stake in Uber.
Usmanov’s wealth has been recently estimated at $13.3 billion by Forbes and at $11.3 billion by Bloomberg. Although he made his first billions through mining and lumber operations, telecommunications, Internet and media assets now account for a significant part of Usmanov’s fortune.
