Russia’s Finstar to invest $150 million in fintech startups over five years

Russian private equity firm Finstar has announced plans to invest $150 million in fintech startups over the next five years.

Finstar will invest between $500,000 and $30 million in three to six deals a year in seed and Series A rounds, said Oleg Boyko, chairman of Finstar (pictured). The firm isn’t new to fintech investments, having previously backed Rocket Internet startup Spotcap and launched the Finstar Labs program in Berlin for developing startups in the fintech and adtech spaces.

Investment in fintech startups reached $12.7 billion last year, per CB Insights.

The private equity firm, which has some $2 billion in assets, will also invest in further R&D for its existing portfolio companies. The firm mainly invests in the European, Latin American, South-East and South Asian markets.

“Our R&D investment is about pushing financial technology further and leveraging that innovation across our already strong fintech portfolio,” added Boyko. “This means that – beyond our financial commitment to the sector – the businesses we work with benefit from the strength of our technical resources and the depth of our expertise.”