Sberbank sets up $100m fund for IT startups

2012-02-20



Sberbank, one of the biggest banks in Russia, created a venture fund which will invest in the growing startup companies developing ICT solutions for the financial sector. The bank is interested in investing not only in Russian startups but also in the companies from other countries. The bank allocated over $100m (€75.8m) for the fund. However, this is just the initial stage, since the company plans to attract foreign partners and increase the value of the fund to $500m (€379m).
The fund plans to invest $5-7m (€3.8-5.3m) in each startup also keeping a reserve for further investments.
According to Victor Orlovsky, vice-president of Sberbank, this project will be attractive for IT startups for two reasons. Firstly, it will be a source of growth financing, and, secondly, Sberbank could become one of the largest customers for their technologies at the same time. Solely in 2010, Sberbank’s IT budget totalled RUB 25.9bn (€642.3m). In 2011, the company created a subsidiary called the Sberbank Technologies IT, which is to run the process of the bank’s computerisation.