OREANDA-NEWS.  February 06, 2012. Sberbank of Russia today announces the creation of a venture fund that uses a strategy of investing in high-tech companies and projects.

Starting by investing USD 100 mln in the venture fund, Sberbank intends to in time increase the volume of investments to USD 500 mln together with the fund’s international partners. Troika Ventures (the venture arm of Troika Dialog) will manage the fund. Currently the Troika Venture team manages over USD 100 mln of fund assets.

The new venture fund will focus on growth stage start-ups dedicated to the development of new information and communication technologies for financial institutions. This will not only include start-ups from Russia, but also take the most promising innovations from around the world and invest in their development.

In addition to the investment and its trusted reputation on the financial services market, Sberbank proposes to use the experience gained by its own Technology Research Centre. This will help the portfolio companies to grow new technologies and optimise their commercial prospects via accelerated paths to enter the market in accordance with the bank’s investment strategy.

Victor Orlovskiy, Senior Vice President at Sberbank of Russia, commented: “This venture fund is proof of Sberbank’s commitment to the idea of developing the latest technologies and applying them in Sberbank Group’s operations. With the help of breakthrough technologies, Sberbank will be able to discover new markets and offer clients unique services. We are certain that with our potential portfolio companies, Sberbank will be interesting not only as an investment partner, but also as the largest consumer of the technologies offered by the aforementioned companies.”