Russia’s Sistema to set up 100% arm to handhold desi startups

KOLKATA: Russia’s Sistema JSFC is deepening its engagement with Indian startups. The $10-billion Russian conglomerate will shortly float a wholly owned unit in India to offer hands-on business execution assistance to local startups in the ecommerce, financial technologies, digital analytics, etailing and lifestyle brands domains, two people aware of the matter said.
The new Sistema India subsidiary will “handhold local startups under its new Scalerator platform through a host of services, including go-to-market strategies, solutions to swiftly scale up business and even the support of a back-up operations team if needed,” one person told ET.
Legal formalities are currently under way for setting up the subsidiary, which will be registered in Singapore, he said. Sistema’s global venture capital team is in India to identify potential startups in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kochi for lending support under its Scalerator initiative, the other person said.
The platform is aimed at helping startups scale up their businesses rapidly in a cost-efficient manner.
Startups that sign up for the programme may qualify for financing from the Sistema Asia Fund, the Russian company’s proprietary VC fund, which will double its kitty for Indian ventures to $100 million by early-2018. At present, the fund typically offers financing to startups operating in the technology and consumer-tech domains.
A Sistema Asia Fund spokesman declined to share details, saying “it’s too premature to comment on anything at this stage.”
The startup business accelerator industry is big in Europe, the US and Canada. Sistema is keen to tap emerging opportunities, especially after joining the startup financing bandwagon a year ago and identifying India and South East Asia as focus markets.
Sistema entered startup financing in India shortly after Anil Ambani-led Reliance Communications announced plans to acquire its telecom unit, Sistema Shyam Teleservices, which retails mobile services under the MTS brand.