At the moment, the content of the concept of "startup" is reduced to a company that has a relatively short history of operations. This refers to a newly established company that is in the stage of active development or exploration of potential and promising markets. Most often, start-up companies are based on innovative technologies: Internet resources, all types of nanotechnologies, the field of medicine, and much more.

To date, the main niche of startup creators is represented by young people in the age group from 25 to 30 years old, who have an original look at the organization of the enterprise and the ability to implement creative ideas aimed at generating profit. The main and first task of the project developers is to attract promising investors who are ready to provide a financial foundation for the development of a startup.

Between the words "startup" and "idea" you can actually put an equal sign, since in the age of domination information technologies and intense competition in all areas of activity original idea measured in monetary terms. The criteria for the value of an idea are usefulness and innovativeness.

Innovation is the final result of the implementation of a fundamentally new intellectual development aimed at updating various areas of human activity:

• technology;
• education;
• control;
• service;
• the science;
• informatization and much more.

Innovation also involves the implementation of a creative project and obtaining visible results. In this context, results are not only material values, that is, monetary profit, but also leadership, significant modernization, priority, progress, and so on.

Creating a full-fledged startup company involves overcoming several key stages.

Successful teamwork is very important in the development of a startup. Project development implies responsibility for many areas that require concentrated attention. It is impossible to improve the product and establish markets at the same time. It will be much more efficient if 2 different people do it. According to international experts, each startup goes through 5 key stages in its development:

• sowing stage - seed stage - forecasts;
• startup stage - a waste of resources;
• growth stage - growth stage - making a profit;
• expansion stage - expansion stage;
• exit stage - exit stage - entering the global market.

Startup and investments

A specific feature of a start-up company is a chronic lack of finance, the absence of a reliable material base, and the company's precarious position in a large market. Contrary to popular belief, a startup is not a smaller copy of a large enterprise, since the classical understanding of business does not imply the existence of innovative technologies.

For the active development of any startup project, financial investments are necessary. The amount of material needs increases in direct proportion to the growth of the company. At the first stage of the implementation of the idea, several thousand dollars may be needed, and in the process of development the amount will increase to millions.

In most cases, startup companies are financed by sponsors who receive certain rights to some part of the future company. If the startup is successful, then the deal will be beneficial for both parties.

Financing of such projects can be divided into two basic categories:

1. Postponed to stability. This type of investment is a classic investment of money with the need for a future return. An agreement is concluded between investors and developers, which includes the following information: definition of the stage of the project, up to which financing will be carried out. In return, the investor receives a certain share of the profits from further development project. You can draw an analogy with buying shares in a promising company that already has a specific product and convincing forecasts.
2. Rolling funding. The peculiarity of this type of investment is that developers have the opportunity to receive money in the early stages of project development. In some cases, a clear startup idea is enough to fund. Investors cooperate only with those start-up companies that have the potential to recoup investments not by 2 or even 3 times, but dozens of times.

Sources of financing

The main potential investors of startups are venture funds, which are created specifically to finance startups. However, some difficulties arise here, since in order to receive a loan from a venture fund, the company must already be at a certain stage of development, have a reliable reputation and have the final version of the product. Its place in the market plays an important role.

The source of funds for venture funds is the money of their investors, that is, insurance companies, individuals, as well as pension funds. They do not associate with unreliable companies and prefer startups with an average degree of risk. It is important that the company has good prospects and high profit potential.

Another source of funding for a startup company is business angels. This concept refers to individuals who invest in a growing business at an early stage. Their goal is to make a large profit in the future, and therefore business or investment angels do not insist on an urgent return of capital. In addition, they do not interfere in the process of doing business.

In some cases, the main source of funding may be family: relatives or friends. At first glance, this seems like a rather risky undertaking, but today it is this category that ranks second in Russia in terms of the amount of invested funds in start-up companies. If speak about international level, then the family will be in third place.

Finding a source of funding is a paramount task when creating a startup, since the further development of the project depends on the availability of material support. Currently looking for potential investors young startups are resorting to "Networking". This concept refers to core conferences and events aimed at studying promising projects. Any company that senses potential in its startup project can take part.

In addition to startups, investors also participate in such industry conferences and forums. They carefully watch the presentations offered by the participants, express their opinion about the advantages and disadvantages of the project, and also make deals with future partners.

Some startups found their investors by publishing the project on various sites. In addition, there are exchanges of startup companies in the network, as well as whole line organizations that finance such projects. You can contact them directly.

Creating a successful project depends on many factors, many of which are controllable. To do successful project, you need to be willing to devote an enormous amount of time to this. The first thing you need to pay attention to after the development of the idea itself is the assessment of the adequacy and feasibility of the project. You should study the competitiveness of the created project, as well as learn how to plan and allocate resources. Ideally, a startupper achieves maximum results with minimum investment.

Name	about the project
AmazingHiring is a SaaS application for IT recruiters that speeds up the search for suitable candidates.	AmazingHiring is a SaaS application for recruiters that allows any company to quickly find the most suitable IT professionals. The app searches a variety of sources, including social and professional networks, developer resources, blogs, and the company's internal HR database.
doctor at work	A professional network that united half of the doctors in Russia. A platform for communication with doctors, which is used by most of the largest pharmaceutical companies.
Intelligent control system inventory trade enterprises Forecast NOW!	The Forecast NOW! inventory management system for trade enterprises allows you to accurately predict the demand for products taking into account various factors, automate the procurement process, analyze the efficiency of the warehouse. The system is easy to use, which makes it available to SMB
freshoffice	A cloud-based web solution that combines on one platform all the tools necessary for running small and medium businesses. Over 20,000 users. The main markets are the CIS countries and Southeast Asia.
GeoCV - Mobile application for obtaining 3D models of premises using mobile devices with 3D sensors	3D cameras will soon appear in smartphones and tablets. With GeoCV, anyone can get high-quality 3D models of rooms on the web much cheaper and faster. We will change the sale, insurance and renovation of real estate, giving the opportunity to virtually inspect the premises from any angle, measure and try on the design.
Online loans MoneyMan.ru	MoneyMan.ru is an innovative online service loans for citizens of the Russian Federation from 18 years. Decision on the application in 1 minute. Instant receipt of money: to a bank card, Yandex. Money and through the Contact and Unistream transfer systems on any day of the week.
Piligrim XXI	Piligrim XXI is a time machine. Unique travel service mobile app augmented reality that allows you to combine real travel and time travel. Photorealistic reconstruction of lost architectural monuments and past events in real space.
BUBUKA	Cloud service for legal music and video design of trade, catering and service enterprises.
On Show - a geo-location service for assessing the workload of any place by people in real time	The world's first geo-social service with an interactive map of the workload of places and establishments by people in real time. Information is provided in real time and shows: how many people are currently in a particular room, how many seats are free.
Smart Museum	"Smart Museum" is a mobile audio guide that allows any museum visitor who owns a smartphone to receive audio, video, photo and text information about the exhibits. The mobile application has a simple and intuitive interface. The service supports iOS and Android platforms.

is not only a new convenient technology invented by advanced and progressive young people, but also a good way to earn money. Success stories attracting investments can bring hundreds and even thousands. But the most important thing is that the investor who invests, in case of success, pays off his investments tens or thousands of times!

How to invest in a startup through the stock exchange

For those who are not IT business gurus or do not move in relevant circles, but are eager to try themselves as a person who saw a successful project at an early stage, there are startup exchanges.

Napartner

One of the most famous startup exchanges in the Russian segment of the Internet. It is a full-fledged platform with the possibility of making profitable investments in many projects, unlike crowdfunding platforms such as kickstarter.com and planeta.ru, which are often put on a par with classic startup exchanges, despite the fact that voluntary investments cannot be made there. be called a full investment.

The official website napartner.ru presents many projects suitable for both budget and very wealthy investors - the total needs of various startups vary from several tens of thousands to several tens of millions of rubles. In addition, the authors of the projects indicate in the description the amount of profit that will be paid to investors. It can also vary greatly depending on the chosen startup and can be less than 10% or more than 50%.

One of the downsides that napartner investors point out is the periodic appearance of projects with inflated fees, even in cases where similar enterprises are already operating and the cost of launching them is obvious. For this reason, it is necessary to carefully read the description of startups and choose directions that the investor has an idea about in order not to be deceived. However, it is worth noting that such cases are typical for most sites operating on the principle of the free market, and frankly fraudulent projects on the napartner exchange are subject to manual moderation.

startup network

Another classic startup exchange. An interesting feature resource is the presence of projects on it both in Russian and in English language. All payments are made in US dollars. The amounts required for the implementation of startups range from several thousand to several million dollars.

Wherein minimum amount, which an investor can invest is not fixed and depends on the conditions of a particular project. The founders of some of them are satisfied with many investments of $ 1, thanks to which even an investor with minimum capital will be able to try his hand at investing in startups. At the same time, there are also projects that allow you to invest at least 10% -30% or even just the entire amount at once, which is why the minimum investment for them can often be over 100 thousand dollars.

As a reward, the investor can be offered both shares or shares of the company, as well as other financing conditions - this issue is decided by the startup itself. As on other sites, on the official website startupnetwork.ru there are projects with clearly inflated fees.

Crowdfunder

Another foreign site with settlements in dollars, offering investors investments in startups, for which they will receive not a product sample or other bonuses, as on many other sites, but a full-fledged profit. The investor's income here is most often determined by the interest rate, but there are other options, for example, a share in capital or in revenue.

Since the calculations are made in dollars, one cannot expect sky-high profitability from startups with a fixed rate, but it is quite possible to find offers at 10 percent or more, which is not bad even for rubles, but for dollar investments it is completely excellent.

The minimum investment amount is not fixed, and each startup has the right to choose it, however, croudfunder.com is hardly a place for investors with small capital. Usually, minimum investment on it is from 5 to 20 thousand dollars, less often there are projects where you can invest one thousand. Wherein maximum amounts often not limited at all - you can completely close the financing of a startup yourself, even if its size exceeds a million dollars.

business platform

A Russian resource that helps startups find funding from investors. Unlike the exchanges listed above, the business-platform.ru website does not provide for the possibility of indirect equity financing using the platform as an intermediary - all projects involve finding a partner to start a business, that is, for personal negotiations with project founders and their full financing.

For this reason, the size of investments there starts from 100 thousand rubles, and the average amount is more than 1 million.

A large number of sites operate according to similar schemes, such as

• rusinvestproject.ru
• towave.ru
• start2up.ru and many others.

However, due to their low appeal to small investors interested in equity rather than full partnerships, they are less interesting than classic startup exchanges.

Kickstarter

A unique community of creative individuals who alone and jointly create various projects, bring something new, useful and interesting to our lives. On the this moment about 7.5 million people have already added their projects to the pages of a modern and convenient site. Approximately 2.2 million people have added more than one project, and 264 thousand talents have uploaded 10 or more recent ideas.

The resource presents not only modern technologies. There are categories for music, videos, photos, games, design, fashion, theater, food, and many other popular destinations. Friends, fans and unknowns have already invested about 1 billion dollars in Kickstarter projects. Money is invested in everything from cute handmade homemade cards to Oscar-winning documentaries.

Smipon

A platform for the presentation and organization of co-financing of the most creative and striking projects of the Runet. In addition to the business sector, ecology, education and creativity are in demand.

Thanks to (the English analogue of the phrases crowd funding, crowd funding) it is possible to raise funds in order to implement the most interesting ideas and ideas, for the implementation of which everything has already been invented, except for the source of financing. In addition to raising funds, startups also get to know their potential supporters and partners and, in principle, declare the existence of their project.

Boomstarter

This resource lives up to its name. It is worth visiting here at least to admire the magnificent site, excellent advertising strategy and make sure that any project can become a creative, popular and successful undertaking.

There are too creative ideas on the site, like soap that saves from zombies, but even they collect some money. At the same time, a lot of projects were born on Boommaster that have already collected several million rubles in their investment fund. Total registered users of the resource 65,280 people. In total, 492 projects were financed for an amount that almost reached 97,000,000 rubles!!! Even the famous comedian Mikhail Zadornov raised funds here for his documentary.

planeta.ru

Do you fundamentally want to invest only in the best, new and progressive? Then go straight to planeta.ru! During the existence of the project, more than 152 million rubles were collected as investments. You can invest in already successful, well-established projects or donate a certain amount of money in the form of a charitable contribution.

The resource is regularly updated with new fresh ideas, and pleases its visitors with relevant news from the world of startups in all possible directions. Planeta.ru also stands out for its unique store, which sometimes offers amazing and exclusive items at more than affordable prices.

indiegogo

Another interesting English-language project that invites everyone to try themselves as a project creator or investor. The resource positions itself as a bank of ideas that are very easy to implement. To start the path to your dream, it is enough to create a campaign, start a community and start raising funds.

A user-friendly interface allows you to quickly find an attractive project that may become a very profitable investment in the near future.

Rockethub

Do you want to invest in art, science, technical creativity or business? RockHub is guaranteed to help you quickly find the shortest path to success. It has everything you need for an advanced investor. Thousands of users with the most best ideas and huge potential. Millions of dollars of investments pointing to the most promising directions.

There are a lot of social projects on this resource. If you want to help children or families from poor countries, as well as financially participate in the process of their education, feel free to launch a crowdfunding machine.

Crowdcube

A highly specialized resource aimed at raising funds for the development of innovative technologies of British origin. The project figures are impressive.

Despite the name, on this English-language exchange, investors can find many start-ups in the field of innovative technologies and Internet services in which they can profitably invest money. All calculations are made in pounds sterling, due to the British origin of the project.

Remuneration for investors is determined by the creator of the project and, as a rule, their amount is indicated as a percentage of the future capital of the company.

Unlike Russian startup exchanges, crowdcube offers sponsors an average share of 3% to 20%. However, there are also proposals that indicate fixed percentage, which the investor will receive after the return of his investments - most often they come from already existing companies, raising funds for business development and already quite aware of how and with what they will pay.

There are very large projects on the service, for example, a full-fledged bank B-North collects funds for opening there - over 1.5 million pounds. However, there are also much more modest start-ups, such as the Wingman app, which required £50,000.

• At the time of writing, the project has collected more than one and a half times the amount needed. Thus, the amount of investment on crowdcube.com is not limited to the amount required by the startup founder - you can always invest more if the project needs it.

Everything you need to get started quickly is here. profitable projects- a bunch of fresh ideas, a sea of ​​​​creativity and the absolute absence of any paperwork.

Most young businesses fail. There are various reasons for this, and financial difficulties are the second most common among them. To solve problems with the "cash", entrepreneurs can turn to bank loans, venture capital funds, business angels, loans from acquaintances, after all. However, each so-called “traditional” method of financing has its limitations: collateral or guarantees are needed to obtain a loan, venture funds are now in the company at an early stage of development, activity among Russian business angels, and the consequences of loans from individuals are unpredictable. Crowdfunding, crowdinvesting, crowdlending and other alternative financing methods will save a young company from a lack of funds. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each of them.

Crowdfunding and crowdinvesting

The two terms sound similar and are based on a similar mechanism. These are ways to centrally raise funds from a group of unrelated individuals. However, there are still differences between these concepts.

In the case of crowdfunding, investors, as a rule, do not expect cash dividends - they do not become shareholders. There are exceptions: fintech service Revolut last year announced a crowdfunding campaign with awards in the form of startup shares.

Startups raise money either on their own or on special platforms, such as international Kickstarter and Indiegogo or Russian Boomstarter and Planeta.ru. For their investments, investors receive in return either a material incentive - for example, a gadget whose production they financed - or an intangible one - an exclusive meeting with the startup team.

The main difference between crowdinvesting and crowdfunding is that in the first case it is provided share investors. They become shareholders of the company or co-owners of some object, for example office center. Together with the founders, they share the risks and future profits. Another difference is the amount of attracted investments. The average size funds raised from projects on one of the largest Russian crowdfunding platforms Boomstarter in 2017 amounted to 330 thousand rubles, and crowdinvesting campaigns at the same time collected $85.5 thousand each. There are also specialized platforms to attract funding in the crowdinvesting format - foreign AngelList and CrowdCube and Russian ones, such as StartTrack.

pros

There is money. Both methods of financing are becoming more and more popular with Russian investors. The total amount of fees increases by 200% per year. Crowdinvesting in Russia is predicted to grow in the next 5 years.

Independence from investors. When raising money through crowdfunding, the founders do not have to share their startup with anyone. Investors in this model expect a return on their investment, but, according to CEO Planeta.ru Fedor Murachkovsky, their interest is mostly intangible. Most often, people sincerely want to support the project or their idols.

Minuses

Not so easy. Most projects fail to raise the necessary funds through crowdfunding. In this market, the competition for capital is high, and without investment in marketing and PR, it is not so easy to get money.

Risks and restrictions. Crowdinvesting is not suitable for entrepreneurs who are afraid to give shares to unfamiliar investors. Another disadvantage is the limited range of areas for funding. one of the crowdinvesting platforms, only 8.5% of projects financed over 2 years were in the IT sector.

Who is suitable for

Crowdfunding is a good tool for manufacturers of technological gadgets to the mass market. This is confirmed by examples of successful campaigns of the past year. In Russia, crowdfunding has helped in the implementation of large creative projects- in the film adaptation of the novel "Empire V" for example. Thus, crowdfunding is suitable for technological, cultural and social projects.

Crowdinvesting is suitable for financing large projects, but on the condition that the founder is not afraid to deal with a wide range of investors.

Crowdlending

Another type of financing in which money is raised centrally from several investors at once is crowdlending. In this model, the money goes to the recipient as a loan. Fundraising is also conducted by specialized platforms. They offer investors a return of up to 30%. Crowdlending has two varieties - P2P and P2B (Peer-to-peer and Peer-to-business). In the first case, loans are issued to individuals, in the second - to companies.

pros

There is no bureaucracy. Crowdlending excludes the participation of banks, and with them the long procedure of scoring and approving a loan.

There is an offer. Experts note that Russians prefer the second financing option between crowdinvesting and crowdlending.

Minuses

Credit obligations. This year, the company, which raised money through crowdlending in Russia, for the first time investors. This case confirmed that a collective loan is primarily a loan with all the consequences. Investors won't step in and be willing to wait if a startup runs into financial difficulties.

Restrictions. Crowdlending is not suitable for startups that do not yet have a legal entity. To raise funds in this way, the founders will have to turn to P2P lending for individuals.

Who is suitable for

Crowdlending can be useful for companies that have stable cash flow but need capital investment.

Lending against crypto assets

In this case, the company's assets are used as collateral for obtaining a loan. Typically, companies that need to increase working capital resort to this method of financing. Real estate, equipment, and even receivables are suitable for collateral.

However, not all enterprises have the usual credit institutions assets. The solution for holders of bitcoins and ether is lending secured by cryptoassets. This market is valued at $30 billion. As in the case of the previous methods, the fundraising is carried out using a specialized blockchain platform. A loan on it is issued in fiat money, and cryptocurrencies or mining equipment serve as collateral. Until the loan is repaid, the borrower's crypto assets are kept in "cold wallets" - this guarantees the security of the collateral.

pros

Access to cache. Entrepreneurs involved in crypto business are forced to sell their bitcoins in order to maintain operational activities - pay for office rent, work of employees, purchase of new equipment. Lending against cryptoassets allows you to save cryptocurrency and receive fiat money.

Without delay. Instead of a banking scoring procedure, the blockchain platform uses an automated calculation of the maximum available loan amount. The borrower only needs to receive fiat money.

Minuses

You need crypto. The logic is simple: without a cryptocurrency, you cannot get a loan against it.

We do not fund treasure hunts...
(C) E-Trust Investment Group

Recently, I have been keenly interested in the issues of startups and their financing, perhaps because I am writing this article in the Strogino Technopark, which is both a Business Incubator for start-up companies and a Business Accelerator for innovative companies with experience.

An entrepreneur who is going to start a business with an idea that will turn the world upside down in the future (how could it be otherwise!) In addition to the idea, there is also a problem - where to get the money for its implementation.

As stated in Anton Belykh's article Funding Startups. Startup funding around the world is carried out according to the principle of "three F" - family, friends, fools (family, friends and fools).

I would say that not everything is so bad and there are still business angels and venture funds. The former, if they like the project or the entrepreneur, can sponsor a certain amount of money, even without interest, but for a share in the company and the opportunity to participate in management, while the latter are already picking up the baton and continue financing projects ranging from five hundred thousand to a million dollars.

A project that is at the idea stage, often called the seed or seed stage, and even at the prototype stage (Start-up stage), should not meddle in venture funds. Funds such as Russian Technologies, E-TrustInvestment, Moscow Venture Fund and others are easily found via the Internet and the first thing you want to contact is there. But venture capital not for a novice entrepreneur, they will pick up the baton if, after the project has successfully brought the first profit.

If you have your own savings the best option, but as a backup main option for obtaining financing for a new project, the search for an investor (business angel) will most likely be justified. According to CNews, business angels have opened the hunt for startups and soon, according to SeoNews, each startup will have a business angel. Their mouths ...

What is the problem? There is money, inflation does not allow them to be stored just like that, money should make money. They need to be invested somewhere and business angels are just eager to do it, but there is one thing. There are not so many real projects that will bring money. A large number of ideas that are interesting as ideas have unclear prospects in terms of monetization (the word is now fashionable). In a sense, the idea is good, but the purpose of business is profit.

An inventor who has decided to bring his idea to life often does not imagine that this idea is of interest to an investor only when it will bring money, or at least he will not lose it (the latter happens if you have crossed the road of some big company, then there will be attempts to simply buy you with giblets, so that your project does not interfere with the big uncle's normal work). And the money must be appropriate and preferably fast. A business angel should not just spend time with interest or even make some kind of profit (!).

As Rossiyskaya Gazeta writes: “ It should be recalled that business angels (however, like venture funds) invest their money not in order to extract profit from the company. She may not be. Something else is more important: market valuation As a result of its development and market conquest, the firm should grow so much that there is a buyer who is ready to purchase his share from the venture capitalist for 5-10 times more money than was invested.

That is, the goal is clear enough: to invest a certain amount, which is enough to monetize the idea and raise the market value of the company to such a size that the value of the share (he does not have 100%) of the business angel amounted to the amount that he expects to receive from the sale of his shares to another, larger investor.

And in this case, the entrepreneur must understand that if he raises 50-100 thousand dollars of financing from a business angel, then in three to four years the business angel will want and will have the opportunity to sell this share for about 0.5-1 million dollars and if in the project submitted for consideration by business angels it is not clear how the investor will take his million, then he will not give money either. Business angels are unlikely to cooperate on an altruistic basis.

Where to find a business angel?

If you decide to find a business angel on your own, then the Internet is at your service. Walk through the links at the end of the article, look for information and contact directly. But not everything is so simple. Many business angels do not want to be mentioned in the press and on the Internet, since there are many start-up entrepreneurs, and even more projects, but not all are suitable for investment. There is no time to deal in detail with every idea that has fallen on business angels, and you don’t always want to “shine” your participation in the project either. Remember the show "Capital", where business angels under the watchful eye of TV cameras considered the projects of start-up entrepreneurs. “They will laugh at me if they find out that I, as an investor, receive 60 kopecks from a glass of tea sold at your point,” said one of the capitalists.

Therefore, business angels unite in commonwealths, for example, SBAR - the national community of business angels, which carry out the initial screening of unpromising ideas and consultations and prepare the project for presentation to business angels. Of course, not for free, but for a certain percentage, the so-called “fee for success”, but only in case of receiving investments, i.e. in the end, the investor pays for their work. But this is understandable, if the community of business angels receives a percentage of investments, then it will help to receive them in their own interests. An additional advantage of the interaction of an entrepreneur with the community is the help with connections, the same SBAR is actively cooperating with the Moscow Government.

How to help a business angel finance your project?

“There are many projects, but there is nothing to finance,” business angels complain. In order for business angels to stand in line to finance your project, you need to do a few simple things.

Analyze the signs by which business angels determine a promising project and prepare them in your case.

Clearly imagine what you will sell, how your idea will make money.

Estimate, preferably with real numbers in hand, how much of this very product you can sell in the first, second, third year, etc.

Determine how the business angel will exit the project and take the money earned.

Write all this and many more in detailed business plan.

Signs of a promising investment project

1. The project solves some user problem that no one has solved yet. At the same time, there should be a lot of potential users. It is stupid to solve a problem that only you see, and no one else sees a problem in this, by the way, maybe that's why no one has solved it before you. As in the famous joke elusive cowboy Joe.

2. Your project is not a LifeStyle business. Those. the project is created to make money, not for self-realization, or because the future entrepreneur is tired of working for his uncle, fighting with higher authorities, etc. and wants to be independent and proudly say to everyone: "I have my own business".

3. We alienate your project. Money is not given for projects that are supported only by the founder. If you want to open a boutique selling designer products that you and your family members make, then this is not a business - this is a LifeStyle business. Without you, this project will not be able to work; it cannot be sold further or even expanded to normal commercial size to recoup the investment.

4. There are at least two founders - a “techie” who is well versed in the idea and a “businessman” who is well versed in what and how to sell. It is very rare to find two people in one person. Therefore, most often there is only a techie who does not understand sales at all, in this case it is much more difficult for a business angel to make an investment decision, since they speak different languages ​​with the entrepreneur.

26.08.2014 12:40

Special project: 26 Russian financial startups

At the request of Finparty, experts from the Russian Startup Rating (RSR) selected 26 unusual technological projects in the field of finance. Some of them have already found investors and even become profitable, while others are in the early stages, but look very promising.

Despite the interest of aspiring entrepreneurs in financial technologies, there are not many breakthrough startups in this area, says RSR co-founder Renat Garipov. Although from the point of view of investment, such projects are interesting. “Fintech is associated with a fairly regulated industry, with new technologies, with changes in people's habits in paying for goods and services. But most importantly, he is connected with the living cash flows. Investors, having heard about such projects, willingly pay attention to them,” explains the source of Finparty. In the near future, the number of emerging startups will increase, he believes: this is due to the active work on the market of the Qiwi Ventures fund and the launch of a special Alfa-Bank program for fintech projects.

In the selection below, startups are grouped into thematic groups. Some projects are already generating income for their creators and investors, others are in the early stages of development, but look promising. For example, in the group of payment services, startups such as 2can, LifePay and Pay-me have achieved success. “They appeared on the market on time and competently built sales and customer service processes,” notes Renat Garipov. And among the projects related to microcredit, we can single out MILI and Skorista. “Both companies have excellent teams, both have a clear and market-tested business model,” states the co-founder of RSR. He also singles out Rocketbank from the entire list, which boasts “outstanding founders, a revolutionary approach to banking and proximity to the client.”

Services for making payments and paying for purchases

These services help to accept payments from customers and make life much easier for sellers, giving them the opportunity to earn more.

CloudPayments

Gateway for bank card payments in mobile and web applications. Allows you to make a payment in one click, without going to the website of the processing center and waiting for the transaction. Provides built-in payment forms for desktops, tablets and smartphones. Project of the venture company Titanium investmens.

A B2B solution that allows you to accept card payments through mobile terminals and is a small device connected to a smartphone, as well as a free mobile application for iOS and Android. The project partners in Russia are Visa, Beeline and Alfa-Bank. It took several hundred thousand dollars to launch the first version of the system, and now more than $1 million has been invested in it.

PDF Pay

The main objective of the project is to simplify and speed up payment for purchases through automatic settlements that do not require additional confirmation from buyers. The developed logic of the project eliminates abuse and guarantees users the safety of their funds.

2can ("Smartfin")

Smartfin is a leading Russian developer of mobile acquiring service. 2can mobile app and card reader transform smartphone/tablet into Android based or iOS to the terminal for receiving payment cards. 2can earns on the transaction fee (2.75% of its volume). Customers are provided with a card reader and an application free of charge. The project investors are venture funds InVenture Partners, Almaz Capital Partners, as well as the ESN group of companies. The total investment is $7.3 million.

A comprehensive solution for small and medium-sized businesses for accepting any payments, conducting analytics and organizing loyalty programs. Allows you to replace the usual cash machine to a cloud POS terminal.

LifePay

System for accepting payments from bank cards through smartphones. It works wherever there is Internet and completely replaces bank POS-terminals. Using a special card reader connected to a smartphone and a mobile application, you can use cards to pay in any convenient place. The investor is the Life.SREDA venture fund. Investments - $2.6 million.

Services for lending and private loans, financial history analysis

For many reasons, the demand for short-term expensive loans remains high, so there are start-ups in this area. True, in order to exist, each of these companies must check borrowers and analyze the risks when issuing loans.

Money Hero

Aggregator of offers from microfinance organizations. Users of the service send an application for a microloan to several companies at the same time, and then they can receive it where the application will be approved at the most favorable conditions. Funds will immediately go to the card or bank account. MoneyHero lives off agency fees. Investor - Internet Initiatives Development Fund. Investments - $45,000.

Program for the analysis of bank borrowers - legal entities. Allows even companies that are difficult to assess to be involved in lending traditional methods. used comprehensive assessment credit risks, the possibility of prompt sale/acquisition of loan portfolios is allowed.

Moneymoo

The project allows you to earn thanks to the different cost of money in the world. Attract private individuals' savings in the form of loans at rates exceeding the profitability of bank deposits in the national market, and then place the accumulated funds in other territorial markets at a higher interest rate.

Zaimionline.ru

The system of instant online loans to bank cards. Consideration of the application occurs in 45 seconds. The borrower only needs access to the Internet, mobile phone and a VISA or MasterCard bank card of any Russian banks. Investor - Euro Vision Investments, investment amount - $300,000.

scorista.ru

An analytical agency that offers services for assessing the solvency of a borrower to companies specializing in issuing small and medium-sized loans. Allows you to evaluate quickly (in one minute) and efficiently. The investor is a private person. The investment was used to buy data from credit bureaus to test the system.

Rapid microfinance service. The company does not have its own branches and serves customers remotely. Uses, in particular, data on the borrower from social networks for assessing creditworthiness. To receive a microcredit, you need to fill out a short questionnaire once at the Euroset or Svyaznoy salon, repeated loans are issued online. Investors - the founders of the project, individuals and various funds. In total, about $2.5 million was raised.

Rubbles

A platform that predicts the behavior of bank customers based on their transaction history. Rubbles uses methods machine learning in order to calculate what purchases the customer will make in the future. Including which domestic banking products he is likely to acquire.

Corporate Financial Forecast Builders and Services financial planning

These financial services appeared relatively recently and have not yet become widespread. But they are already able to solve specific business problems. The market for such products is emerging, although it is not easy to gain a foothold on it.

E-Planificator

Online service for the preparation of multi-currency business plans and corporate financial forecasts (financial models) in five tax regimes (OSN, USN-6, USN-15, UTII, PSN) for up to 10 years. Risk modeling, graphing and charting, forecasting reporting in accordance with RAS and IFRS are provided.

ProfitOnTime

Cloud service for planning and managing the finances of an organization. Allows users to make decisions based on quality financial information.

An integrated platform for solving business process management tasks. Based on Microsoft SQL Server technologies, it supports a wide range of financial planning and enterprise budget management processes.

Personal finance management services

All the projects of this group are mature - the market is ready to pay for them. All of them solve specific and important tasks.

Easy Wallet

Control over the balance of several bank cards and selection of the most beneficial financial services for the user based on the analysis of SMS alerts from banks. Investors - Qiwi and the HSE Innovative Entrepreneurship Support Fund.

Blitz Budget

Accounting and planning of income and expenses with opportunities teamwork, automatic SMS import and quality reports.

Rocketbank

A multifunctional application allows you to manage your finances, and a Visa Platinum card allows you to make purchases while receiving privileges. In the model of a "light" bank, favorable conditions for the user are achieved through a radical reduction in costs. In addition to traditional banking services, auxiliary services are available: cost analytics, discount guide, support service through a mobile application. Partner bank - Intercommerce. Investor - Runa Capital. Investments - $2 million.