Zoom Capital intends to invest up to $40M in projects over 2012

Entrepreneurs Vadim Kurin and Gregory Berenstein create an investment company Zoom Capital. The first company they invested in is online credit service Vsevcredit and MFI Viva Money. Another transaction in e-commerce is at the stage of completion. Zoom Capital plans to invest $30-40M in 2012.

We are interested in projects focused on Russian and CIS markets, but we are happy to support a team with a global perspective. Thus, one of our assets - Vsevcredit – will enter foreign markets in a year. We are actively involved in assets management by investing not only money but also our strategic vision and expertise, - the Managing Partner of Zoom Capital Gregory Berenstein says.

We have already invested $1.5M in Vsevcredit. It is a Russian company, founded in 2011, which develops online credit service, and provides the opportunity to purchase goods and services on the Internet on credit from the comfort of home. The service increases sales of online stores and other online shopping sites; customer’s online crediting began in the spring of 2012.

VIVA Money (Center for Financial Support, LLC) is Russia's microfinance institution which had been established in December 2011 and opened its first offices in March. The company provides non-target unsecured loans from 1K RUR to 40K RUR for a term of 7 to 168 days. The company credited customers for 100 M RUR over three months, the average loan size was 10K RUR. $15M has been already invested in Viva Money

Zoom Capital’s Investment will be spent on Viva money’s infrastructure development and the formation of working capital.

Our task is to ensure the federal presence of the company, and we take into account local specificities of each market. We adapt to the situation in the region, adjust interest rates, adapting our product line and the process of underwriting, - Svetlana Zimenkova, the General Director of Viva Money says.

Today, there are 80 working offices of Viva Money in different regions of the country and it is planned to increase that number to 130 by the end of the year. The plans for the next year - to open another 150 offices in the European part of Russia and in Siberia and Far East. By the end of 2013 the portfolio of MFIs should reach 1B RUR, and by 2015 - 3.4 B RUR, which will allow the company to become a market leader in microfinancing.

Vadim Kurin and Gregory Berenstein have extensive experience of investing in Russia and abroad. One of the most notable of their realized projects is Broadband Internet Access operator Net By Net Holding, which was acquired by MegaFon in June 2011 for $270M. The new investment company is looking for promising projects in Internet and technologies, consumer markets and financial services. Zoom Capital is ready to invest from $1M to $10M in projects both at early and late stages of development.