East-West Digital News 28 May 2012
Last week, Leta Group, a prominent Russian IT security holding, announced the launch of ‘Leta GIV,’ its corporate venture arm, along with its first investment – interactive air screen maker Displair.
“Generating projects internally is not enough to seize the opportunities offered by Russia’s booming innovation environment, so we decided to create this dedicated vehicle,” said Leta Group’s President Alexander Chachava in an exchange with East-West Digital News.
The 32-year old Chachava had just graduated from a Russian engineering university when he co-founded Leta nine years ago.
Leta GIV will invest up to $10 million each year in three or four early stage companies. The fund essentially targets Russian companies operating in the Internet, e-commerce, and software industries, in addition to IT security. “We will seek complementarities with our existing business and favor projects that are in line with our commercial expertise and capacities,” Chacava explains. “Above all, we seek original concepts with global potential.”