New London-based venture capital firm Sova VC has launched yesterday with plans to invest over €50M in building a portfolio of more than 20 early-stage tech companies. It claims its strategy is centred on recognising high-potential, disruptive tech companies in Late Seed and Series A stages with a focus on B2B and B2B2C marketplaces as well as software platforms that have the potential to expand across sectors and markets.
Launch of VC firm
Sova VC is a part of Sova group of companies, which also includes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated London-based broker Sova Capital. Although the VC firm claims to be sector agnostic, it has “a particular expertise and interest” in Urban Tech, Fintech and Healthcare sectors. The firm will initially focus on partnering with growth-stage companies in the UK, Baltic States, the US East Coast and Nordics.
“Typically, our partner companies will have developed a product, have a proven track record and are looking to accelerate their growth and development. In such cases an initial investment from us will typically be in the range of €0.5-1.5 million, growing to as much as €4M in a single portfolio company,” says Alexander Chikunov, partner at Sova VC.
Completes first Series B round
According to the firm, it has already completed its first investment of $2.5M (nearly €2.06M) in a Series B round in Smartcat, a global B2B translation platform solution. This platform serves over 9000 corporate clients and 5000 translation agencies and has witnessed a 100% year-on-year growth recently.
Chikunov announced that they have already developed a strong pipeline and will reveal further investment plans soon.
Sova Capital has also recently announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the banking business of Posojilnica Bank eGen (Poso Bank). According to the company, the acquisition of an Austrian credit institution will give Sova Capital a direct presence in the European Union, giving Sova Capital, and its clients, additional flexibility in the post-Brexit era.
It plans to expand its business lines following the transaction, which adds commercial and retail banking to the firm’s capabilities in independent investment research, securities trading, electronic and high-touch execution, public capital markets financing, and prime brokerage services.
