Russia’s Sberbank, an investor in Uber, announces its next $250M venture fund

By Mike Butcher for TechCrunch

It’s perhaps not widely known that Uber has Russian investors. But it does, in the form of Russian bank Sberbank, which invested as part of its first international fund a few years ago.

Sberbank has now announced its second 10-year venture fund put at US$200-250M in size. Portfolio companies in the first fund included Uber and eToro. Unlike the first fund this one isn’t financed by Sberbank alone, but involves private investors and companies.

Some of them are of Russian origin but the fund managers are said to be in talks with Chinese investors. It will also target industries from fintech to AI, marketplaces, sharing economy, and cyber security. Rounds covered will be A, B and C, with the average ticket size starting at $5 million.

Spokeman Lev Khasis, Sberbank’s first Deputy Chairman told TechCrunch that the previous 10-year Sberbank fund, “Moneytime”, was started in 2012. It specialized in A and B round investments in fintech companies. So far, US$40M out of US$100M has been invested in 10 companies, yielding 1 exit.

First appeared at TC