Life.Sreda and Marvelstone to spend $20M on fintech startups, beginning with South Korea

Venture capital firm Life.Sreda’s quest to find and invest in fintech startups will take it to South Korea, according to an announcement by the company. The Singapore-based VC is joining forces with private investment group Marvelstone Partners for a combined fund of US$20 million (Disclosure: Marvelstone is also an investor in Tech in Asia. See our ethics page for details). South Korea is the first destination for this collaboration, but other Asian countries are also in the pipeline.

The two investment firms chose to look at South Korea in closer detail because of the healthy fintech ecosystem in the country. The technological innovation seen in the South Korean banking sector is also a major factor, according to Life.Sreda’s managing partner, Vladislav Solodkiy. However, this decision is a bit of a departure from the VC’s previously stated strategy of starting its investment activities in ASEAN countries.

As Solodkiy tells Tech in Asia, he feels that services such as LoopPay, which was acquired by Samsung, and messenger KakaoTalk, which has implemented payment functions in partnership with several banks, are successful models to export. He cites the South Korean banks’ scaling down of ATMs and other self-service machines in favor of personal, web, and mobile banking as an indication of their ability to innovate quickly.

Life.Sreda will be operating through its InspirAsia accelerator, investing between US$50,000 and US$300,000 for a five to 15 percent equity stake in each startup.

According to the VC, the collaboration with Marvelstone will give it access to the investment group’s expertise in Asian markets, while Life.Sreda can present global opportunities for supported startups.

“We’ve chosen to work with Life.Sreda because they are experts in fintech investments and know global fintech markets and trends well,” Marvelstone CEO Gina Heng said in a statement. “They understand the potential and opportunities of Asia’s fintech sector, and we share the same vision for growth in Asia.”