U-Start Ventures, Interview with Marco Valta
Summary
We focused on sound, off-to-online business models in such sectors as ecommerce, fintech, travel, marketplaces, exiting twelve companies to date (including the IPO of Bravofly) with a 4x portfolio value.Marco: We decided to launch the fund, following a successful partnership with U-Start in the framework of IDCEE, the annual non-for-profit conference on Internet technologies and innovations that was started from our partner Viktoriya.Marco: We follow an opportunistic approach investing in seed (25%) and growth (75%) stage startups operating in large markets in fast growing countries such as Germany, USA, India, Russia, UK, Brazil, and others, even leveraging the global network of U-Start.We consider live projects run by tendentially proven (already successful teams) with a validated business model and a clear exit strategy.Marco: I’m personally interested in the Internet of Things, which promises to improve our lives by making our homes and cities smarter, for example.