Fastlane Ventures
Gr. Xenopoulou 17, Limassol, 3106, Cyprus
Overview
Fastlane Ventures is a Russian company focused on the development, launch and promotion of innovative internet businesses. Founded in 2010 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs with a track record of successful investments, the company has launched 20 internet start-ups to capitalize on the increasing demand for online services and growing appetite for investment in the Russian internet market by Western and Russian investors. The company has attracted more than $85 million from international investment funds. Key strategic investment partners of Fastlane Ventures are Direct Group, e.ventures and VTB Capital. Among the investors of the company also Intel Capital, Kinnevik, Mangrove Capital, ru-Net, UMJ Russia, and some others to launch companies across the online retail, travel, relationship, health and recruitment areas. The strategic focus of Fastlane Ventures is to target business-to-consumer niche markets with low levels of competition. The Company's aim is to anticipate the not yet satisfied needs of Russian customers. Fastlane Ventures acts as both an operational and investment partner at the same time. It is the sole Russian company that provides an initial seed investment in addition to having a hands-on operational role with its businesses through its team of high calibre professionals. To launch its business quickly and effectively, Fastlane Ventures has adopted proprietary solution called Fast 50, which enables a new venture to launch in just 50 days and ensures an efficient path between launch and exit. Fastlane Ventures has established a team of highly regarded professionals, who possess unique knowledge and expertise in management, entrepreneurship, e-commerce, business development, marketing and PR, investment generation, HR management, web design and much more. Once the new business venture is operating effectively, Fastlane Ventures helps its investment partners realize their investment return through the sale of the business to other strategic investors. This usually takes place approximately 2-3 years after the initial business launch. For more information about Fastlane Ventures and its portfolio companies, please visit http://fastlaneventures.ru/en/
- Total investments
- 2
- Lead investments
- 0
- Investments · 12mo
- 0
- Active investors
- 0
Sector focus
- Finance
- Internet
- Venture Capital
Investment portfolio
- IQcard
Participated · Series B · Dec 2013
IQcard offers prepaid VISA and Mastercard cards that serve individuals and businesses without the need to open a bank account. Its card product supports family budgeting, parental control for a child’s first card, financial education, safer internet purchases, travel spending, payments for goods and services, money transfers, loan access and participation in bonus and coupon programs. The company is led by CEO Catherine Konovalov and is based in Moscow, Russia. IQcard raised $3.7M in a Series B to support its growth. The company intends to use the funds to develop services, expand opportunities for B2B partners, continue current promotions and launch new projects with large retail chains. It also plans to enter new markets using the proceeds.
- Sapato.ru
Participated · Equity · Nov 2010
Sapato.ru is a Russian online shoe retailer launched in June 2010. It secured $12 million in additional capital from Intel Capital, with existing investors Direct Group, eVenture Capital Partners and Kinnevik participating, bringing total funding to approximately $20 million. The company said the investments will be used to expand its assortment, increase marketing and improve customer service by enhancing its CRM platform. By May 2011 Sapato.ru’s turnover had grown 50-fold to more than $2.8 million and it has handled over 75,000 orders in less than a year. It currently offers more than 5,700 models from over 200 brands and reports about 100,000 active customers. Sapato.ru is the first startup of Fast Lane Ventures, a Russian company set up by Western investors to launch, accelerate and promote innovative Internet projects. Sapato.ru is an online footwear store launched in June 2010 that positions itself as a Zappos clone. The site stocks more than 3,000 models from 100 world-known brands and aims to expand to 10,000 models of men, women and kids footwear in 2011. The company plans to use new funds to increase assortment, improve customer service and to launch an aggressive marketing campaign. Sapato.ru says it will emulate Zappos’ customer-service focus as it scales. The Russian footwear market is estimated to be worth over $15 billion but remains almost entirely offline, presenting a large addressable opportunity. CEO Matthieu Lannegrand described the online footwear market as still immature but full of potential.
Team
No current team members are available.