Russia’s Sberbank VC invest $12mn in US tech firm
July 11, 2013, 6:40 pm

SBT Venture Capital is a venture branch of Sberbank [Image courtesy of Sberbank.ru]

“The new funding will fuel Sequent’s growth as it drives world wide commercial deployments of its innovative TSM and wallet platform with mobile operators and card issuers including leading banks,” a Sequent statement says.

SBT Venture Capital joins existing investors Opus Capital and Jado Investments.

The deal also stipulates that Mircea Mihaescu, Director of Sberbank IT Strategy Division, will join Sequent’s board.

The new board member says Sberbank has been seeking to increase its global footprint.

“Sberbank believes that Sequent’s technology and value proposition represent the best solution we’ve seen in both breadth and depth. Of particular interest to us is the ability to embed issuer cards into applications to turn any application into a wallet,” Mihaescu told The BRICS Post.

SBT Venture Capital is a venture branch of Russia’s largest bank – Sberbank.

It was established in February last year and focuses on funding startups in the information and innovation sphere.

“Sequent has solved this problem for both issuers and consumers with their application enablement technology that allows issuers of all types to digitize plastic cards that can then be embedded into applications with brands the consumers already know and trust,” said Mihaescu.

Mihaescu also suggests the industry has vast potential.

“We’d suggest that very soon consumers are going to look to their mobile device to store all card types, not just payment cards, and use those cards tied to applications that they already know provided by partners they already trust.

“The combination of value creation via enabling technologies in partnership with mobile operators, issuers, and device manufacturers along with application developers exploring infinite possibilities on behalf of consumers will provide Sequent an enduring role in the market.”

Sequent’s CEO Robb Duffield said: “Sequent’s TSM and wallet platform has been adopted and deployed by mobile network operators and card issuers around the world.

“This funding and the addition of Mircea to our board will allow us to continue to expand our team of industry experts, meet the growing market demand and scale for future growth.”

By Daria Chernyshova in Moscow, Russia for The BRICS POST, with inputs from Agencies