Sistema Asia fund to invest up to Rs 80 crore in four Indian startups

KOLKATA:

Sistema Asia Fund

(

SAF

) Advisory, the proprietary venture capital fund of Russian conglomerate

Sistema

JSFC, will shortly pump in nearly $12 million (Rs 80 crore approx) to close a clutch of mid-stage financing deals in four Indian startups, a top company executive told ET.

Singapore-registered SAF Advisory aims to “wrap up midstage Series-B and Series-C financing deals in calendar 2017 in at least four Indian startups operating in the technology and consumer-tech domains,” Andrey Terebenin, Managing Partner of the fund, told ET.

SAF Advisory’s investment committee, he said, is “examining proposals from five to seven startups”, which are involved in software automation services (SAS), enterprise software and niche consumercentric internet technologies that enable online retailers and customers to engage.

Terebenin declined to name the startups on confidentiality grounds, but said Series-B and Series-C funding is, typically, extended to startups with established revenue streams that are trying to scale up.

The ticket-size of each startup financing deal by SAF Advisory is likely to be in the $2 to 3million range, he said.

Going forward, SAF Advisory plans to “double its financing kitty for Indian startups to $100 million (Rs 700 crore approx) by early-2018 from its initial $50 million tranche,” said Terebenin, who heads the fund’s operations in India.

SAF Advisory, he said, also “plans to support Indian startups” operating in its preferred domains that are looking to expand globally and into the Russian market.

Till date, SAF Advisory has invested in three Indian startups — Seclore, Qwikcilver and Wooplr.

Sistema JSFC joined the Indian startups financing bandwagon a year back shortly after Reliance Communications announced plans to take over

Sistema Shyam Teleservices

, which currently operates under MTS brand.