Sistema Venture Capital
Sistema_VC is a venture capital fund investing in growth-stage Deep Tech companies, using unique technologies that are hard to reproduce.
date of
foundation
2016 year
Sistema's
stake
90 percent
the fund's
target size
10 bn ₽
target
returns
25-30 percent
Development Strategy
Sistema_VC since 2016 is investing in growth-stage high-tech companies with potential to become leaders in their segments and capable of transforming conservative industries with innovative solutions or creating new market niches.
In 2017, two co-investors joined the fund: Sberbank and Maginvest. Sistema_VC and MTS investment in YouDo in 2018 was recognized the “Best Syndicate Deal” in the Venture Investor award by the Russian Venture Capital Association.
In 2019, the fund continued to invest in startups in the area of artificial intelligence. Three UK-based companies FiveAI, SenSat and KisanHub entered the portfolio, with Tencent, Notion, IQ Capital, Lakestar and Amadeus Capital Partners among Sistema_VC’s new investments partners. Seven companies from the its portfolio raised additional funding in 2019: DataSine, MEL Science, NFWare, Observe, Gosu AI, TraceAir and Connecterra. New partners that participated in the rounds include Brighteye Ventures, Propel, Pentech, Yandex and TMT Investments.
In 2017, two co-investors joined the fund: Sberbank and Maginvest. Sistema_VC and MTS investment in YouDo in 2018 was recognized the “Best Syndicate Deal” in the Venture Investor award by the Russian Venture Capital Association.
In 2019, the fund continued to invest in startups in the area of artificial intelligence. Three UK-based companies FiveAI, SenSat and KisanHub entered the portfolio, with Tencent, Notion, IQ Capital, Lakestar and Amadeus Capital Partners among Sistema_VC’s new investments partners. Seven companies from the its portfolio raised additional funding in 2019: DataSine, MEL Science, NFWare, Observe, Gosu AI, TraceAir and Connecterra. New partners that participated in the rounds include Brighteye Ventures, Propel, Pentech, Yandex and TMT Investments.
In 2020-2021, the fund's strategy focus is on supporting the current portfolio in raising funds in follow-on rounds as well as monetisation of assets.
During 2020, several portfolio companies (TraceAir, NFWare, MEL Science, KisanHub, SQream and Connecterra) successfully raised additional funding totalling USD 75 mln. New partners of Sistema_VC in these rounds included XTX Ventures, Softline Venture Partners, Russia-China Venture Fund, Mubadala Investment Company, Low Carbon Investment Fund 2, Mangrove Capital Partners, Schusterman Family Investments, Pymwymic, etc. As of the end of 2020, the fund was 95% invested.
In February 2021, Sistema_VC successfully exited from Observe Technologies with an IRR of 51%, having sold its stake in the British developer of computer vision solutions for fish farms to AKVA Group (Norway).
Investment stages
A
Financing the project at the stage of entering the market, organizing mass production and hiring a full-fledged team.
B
Scaling a company after reaching predetermined targets and developing new sales markets, expanding in a occupied niche and increasing profit margins.
Follow-ons
Late stages of development in order to create mass production and increase profits.
Investment focus
Deep Tech projects:
-
Artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine learning (ML);
-
Computer vision and cognitive technologies (machine recognition of speech, sounds, movement, video analytics, etc);
-
Next-generation infrastructure solutions and networks (SDN, NFV, etc.)
New emerging market niches:
- edtech,
- e-commerce and С2С,
- cybersecurity,
- agtech,
- construction and real estate.
The team
Dmitry Filatov
Managing Partner
Portfolio
MEL Science
Educational products based on VR/AR technologies.
The flagship product of the service is MEL Chemistry, which comprises 38 kits for chemical experiments, a learning app and VR glasses that allow seeing chemical substances "from inside."
Investment in 2016.
Investment in 2016.
Segmento
Russian developers that use machine learning technologies to target digital advertising.
The platform Segmento adjusts online ads to a user's behaviour and helps businesses to improve interaction with potential customers.
Investment in 2016.
Investment in 2016.
TraceAir
The startup helps construction companies reduce errors through automation.
The company uses data collected with drones and other sensors (including GPS receivers) to create accurate cloud copies of actual construction sites. The platform greatly speeds up design work and reduces contracting costs. The product has already attracted some large development companies in the USA, such as ENGEO (geotechnical engineering) and Independent Construction (construction), which are now co-investors in TraceAir along with some business angels.
Investment in 2018.
Investment in 2018.
Connecterra
Founded by the former Microsoft executive Yasir Khokhar, specialises in AI solutions for the food industry and agriculture.
Founded by the former Microsoft executive Yasir Khokhar, specialises in AI solutions for the food industry and agriculture. The technology uses artificial intelligence to increase the productivity of dairy farms, and relies on wearable tracking devices that monitor cow health. The company’s core product is the Connecterra IDA platform, which analyses and predicts behavioural patterns based on data collected from neck sensors. IDA informs farmers about behavioural changes, provides early diagnosis, gives recommendations about optimising fertility cycles of cattle, etc. The solution is already used by Danone and ZLTO (a large farm chain in the Netherlands).
Investment in 2018.
Investment in 2018.
Five
Five is a self-driving technology company founded and based in the UK.
The company's science and engineering knowledge is being applied to complex challenges the industry must solve before the widespread commercialisation of self-driving technology.Since its seed funding in 2016, Five’s science and engineering knowledge has been applied to the complex challenges that the automotive and tech industries must solve before the widespread commercialisation of self-driving technology can take place. In 2017, Five attracted UK government support for Streetwise, a project to develop, integrate, test and demonstrate a safe and highly functional self-driving system in London. It has attracted the most investment of any European startup in self-driving to date.
Investment in 2019.
Investment in 2019.
NFWare
А developer of solutions for
virtualisation of information network
functions.
The company develops network software for popular x86 servers that processes traffic as quickly as expensive specialised network equipment produced by leading manufacturers. NFWare's solutions are based on NFV/SDN technologies, which allow some functions of network infrastructure to be virtualised.
Investment in 2017.
Investment in 2017.
Luden.io
Developer of VR games with a scientific component.
The company was set up by one of Russia's oldest game developers, Nival. The best known games, InMind and InCell, are devoted to studying biology.
Investment in 2016.
Investment in 2016.
YouDo
The leading Russian online
marketplace for personal
services.
Russia's biggest online service connecting customers with service providers for performing household errands and business tasks. A user can publish a task on the YouDo.com website or in a mobile app (available for iOS and Android), set the price and select a provider among those who respond to the announcement. All providers are checked by the service and are assessed by users, which guarantees the high quality of their work.
Investment in 2016.
Investment in 2016.
SQReam
А developer of a leading GPU-accelerated database for massive data.
The company’s core product is a data warehouse that relies on machine learning algorithms and makes it possible to process terabytes of data 100 times faster and 10 times cheaper than CPUbased solutions. The product is already used by some major companies in telecom, advertising, media, and other industries (Orange, Cellcom, Amdocs, PubMatic). The company received the prestigious Big Data Excellence Award 2018 for providing the technology for a large-scale cancer research programme.
Investment in 2018.
Investment in 2018.
Ozon
One of the biggest players in the Russian e-commerce segment.
The company's strategy is aimed at accelerating growth and building a significant market share to support a subsequent IPO. Ozon has some unique competitive advantages — a strong brand and business model: an online supermarket with an extremely broad product mix; its own chain of warehouses and distribution centres, which allows for quick delivery.
Sistema transferred its stake in Ozon to the fund in 2016.
Sistema transferred its stake in Ozon to the fund in 2016.
KisanHub
Artificial intelligence to optimise grain supply.
The company has developed a cloud platform to optimise the supply chain for agricultural companies. The startup operates at the intersection of precision farming, big data, cloud computing, machine learning and mobile technology. Its platform collects and analyses data on the state of grain crops to forecast deliveries. The optimisation helps reduce the impact of seasonal risks on yields and save resources.
Investment in 2019.
Investment in 2019.
FinalPrice
A mobile app for booking flights and hotels and renting cards in the US at the lowest price available.
For the annual subscription users get access to the floor prices of over 800 airlines, 1 mn hotels and the world's top 40 car rental companies. The application is available only to US users and targets frequent travellers.
Investment in 2017.
Investment in 2017.
