Life.Sreda

The Life.SREDA venture fund specializes in investments into financial mobile and Internet startups. The investment strategy includes the USA, Western and Eastern Europe (including Russia).

The fund already has positive exit-history: one of portfolio companies, the American Simple.com project it was sold to multi-national financial group with the Spanish roots – BBVA Group for $117 million.

Portfolio

For November, 2014 enter a portfolio of LIFE.SREDA:

• New yorsky Moven mobile bank,
• German online FidorBank bank,
• British financial technical-fund Anthemis,
• 'financial plasht' LifePAD,
• service of mobile acquiring LifePay,
• Instabank mobile bank,
• the designer for creation of mobile applications of My-Apps,
• service of fulfillment of desires MyWishBoard,
• service of mobile payments for Settle restaurants,
• leader of the European mobile acquiring of SumUp,
• on-line scoring of Scorista.

History

2012: Creation of fund with the capital of $10 million

In August, 2012 group the Life financial group set up Life.Sreda venture fund with the start capital of $10 million.

2014: Start of Life.SREDA II fund for $100 million

Against the background of rapid growth of the financial technical-market the Life.SREDA venture fund in October, 2014 announced start of new fund – Life.SREDA II for $100 million. Using the raised funds, new investment partners and Life.SREDA II portfolio companies is going to develop the Russian market of financial technologies actively.

2015

The Life.Sreda venture fund sells assets

The Life.Sreda venture fund is going to sell the most part of the projects which entered a portfolio of its first fund. Vedomosti^[1] reports about it ^[2].

The fund will slow down investment activity in Russia and in the nearest future will not invest in the Russian startups, and will focus on foreign projects. At the same time Life.Sreda selected 100 million rubles for support of projects in Russia to help them to endure the current market situation. The fund is going to focus on development of the project — LifePay which is engaged in mobile terminals for payment by bank cards.

According to the edition, Life.Sreda can stop existence in the form in which it was initially created. The fund was already left by the partner Alexander Ivanov. A task of the managing partner of fund Vladislav Solodky is "an exit from the maximum quantity of projects with benefit, at least minimum, for fund". In a portfolio of fund now 15 projects.

Besides, it is reported that Life.Sreda has problems with attraction of financial resources in the second fund which was going to open in 2015.

The deal on acquisition of iBoxPro is closed

On February 9, 2015 it became known of purchase by venture fund " Life.Wednesday " of service of mobile acquiring iBoxPro. Insiders estimate the transaction size within $10 million^[3].

According to the results of the transaction a payment service of LifePay (enters on " Life.Wednesday ") merge to iBoxPro will create separate company - LifePay Global, with the headquarters in Singapore. The base of clients of iBoxPro working in Vietnam, Indonesia and Thailand will become a basis. The cumulative base LifePay Global will make 20 thousand clients and 50 thousand mobile terminals with turnover of $4 million a month. Transaction amount does not reveal. According to the source, familiar with the course of negotiations, the price could be up to $10 million.

Mobile payment terminals allow to perform cash transactions by means of the reader — the small special device connected to the smartphone or the tablet. LifePay earns at the expense of the commission 2.7% from each transaction on the card. According to SPARK-Interfax base, revenue of Layfpey Ltd in 2013 made 20.4 million rubles, net loss — 55.1 million rubles. Investments into LifePay made $2.6 million — these means in 2012 were provided by fund " Life.Wednesday ". The Russian venture fund will be the controlling shareholder of LifePay Global.

the Russian venture fund Life.SREDA moves to Singapore

The Russian venture fund Life.SREDA transports the headquarters to Singapore. Together with it will move and a part of the Russian projects from a portfolio of fund^[4]. The DealStreetAsia edition reports^[5]that in Singapore Life.SREDA will be engaged in studying of an opportunity for work with startups in the developing financial technical-ecosystem of Southeast Asia.

Singapore will also become base for the second fund — Life.SREDA II of $100 million. He will also be engaged in support of financial technical-services in the southeast of Asia. The Life.SREDA II fund was started in October, 2014. Then his representatives reported that the fund will be focused on investments into the foreign mature startups interested in entry into the Russian market and also on support of advanced domestic financial developments.

Life.SREDA II already made several investments. For example, SumUp service, the operator of mobile acquiring (the European analog of Square) where Life.SREDA invested together with Groupon and BBVA banking group.

Vladislav Solodky, managing director of Life.SREDA fund: To develop financial that it is necessary that in the country there were finance (in the world four financial centers — New York, London, Hong Kong and Singapore, Moscow is not financial center) and tech. According to the statistics it is necessary that in the country the SME was developed (his representatives actively use innovations — both individuals, and legal). In Russia in GDP its share was also so small, and is now reduced. In Asia — it is an economy support. We were invited year to itself to London by the Ministry of Finance of Great Britain, but we as a result did not decide — both in Hong Kong and in Singapore fintech is selected in separate priorities of national value. In Russia the entrepreneur not to be honourable, all want to be state officials, or to work in Gazprom and Rosneft. Singapore and Hong Kong traditionally take the best places in the corresponding ratings — on ecology, education, security and so on — Moscow does not.

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