Russia’s Baring Vostok and Sweden’s Vostok Emerging Finance (VEF) have invested up to $20 million in two Russian startups: Sorsdata, which is developing a consumer marketing and analytics solution, and Revo Technologies, which offers a crowdsourced microcredit service for online consumers.
The deal, which took place last month, was confirmed to East-West Digital News by Björn von Sivers of VEF.
The Swedish fund is contributing $5 million, while Baring Vostok is bringing “up to $15 million.” The Russian fund declined to provide any details about its participation in the deal.
Established in 2013, Revo presents itself as a “first mover to [create] instant store finance services for leading on- and off-line merchants and services providers in Russia, leveraging mobile Internet and the latest cloud technologies.”
The company claims to have “a proven business model, an outstanding team, and a leading position in this fast growing segment.”
A sister company of Revo, Sorsdata leverages proprietary customer data and advanced digital marketing technologies to deliver personalized marketing services for merchants.
Fintech excitement
“Sorsdata is well placed to become the market leader in this growth segment,” believes the Swedish fund.
VEF had already invested in these two startups in two previous rounds, bringing them $2.5 million in September 2015 and $5 million in December of the same year. Of the latter amount, $4.7 million went to Revo while $300,000 was injected in Sorsdata, VEF told East-West Digital News.
As a result, the Swedish fund received a 25% stake in each company.
“In the short period of time since our initial investment, REVO has continued to grow at an impressive pace and deliver on our expectations,” stated VEF Managing Director David Nangle, which considers Revo and Sorsdata to be “two of the most exciting fintech players in Central and Eastern Europe.”
Vostok Emerging Finance is a spin-off of Vostok New Ventures, formerly Vostok Nafta. In Russia, the fund also invested in TCS, a leading online bank listed on the London Stock Exchange.
“We invest in emerging and frontier markets globally and Russia is one of those markets where we have been present and active for the longest,” von Sivers told East-West Digital News.
Baring Vostok is among the most established Russian investment funds, having invested some $2.4 billion in nearly 70 projects in total across Russia and other former Soviet republics since 1994. In the Internet field, Baring Vostok invested in Yandex, the Russian search giant, and Ozon, a leading online retailer, at very early stages. Recently the private equity firm participated in funding deals for 2GIS, an ambitious online mapping service company from Siberia, Doc+, an in house-call doctor service, and French unicorn Blablacar.
This article was updated on Feb. 15, 2017 based on information provided by VEF.
