Investment bank Adamant Capital announced the launch of the HIFE venture studio. The volume of the fund is $ 5 million. Representatives of the studio told AIN.UA about this.
What is HIFE
Venture studio HIFE is part of Adamant Capital bank, which deals with private wealth management. The studio fund is filled with Adamant investors – large Ukrainian agribusiness, players in the real estate market.
«In the initial round of investing, the studio targets the category of investors that are more risk averse. These are businessmen who strategically finance target industries”- comments in HIFE.
At the time of HIFE’s launch, the commit is $ 5 million for the first year. There are also preliminary agreements for an additional $ 5 million, studio representatives add.
The HIFE team is represented by three partners:
- Olena Velika – financier, managing partner of Adamant Capital;
- Andriy Zupko – IT entrepreneur, CEO of Talan.Tech;
- Glib Buryak – scientist-economist, associate professor of the Ukrainian-American University “Concordia”.
Who will invest in
As noted in HIFE, startups from $ 200,000 till 500,000 are considered for investment in the first rounds of funding with the possibility of additional participation in the future. Focus on projects in agribusiness, medicine, fintech, education and digital transformation. At the same time, HIFE is ready to consider other industries as well.
«The main criterion for us remains synergy, all our startups should develop in a single ecosystem, support each other’s development and take advantage of the opportunities that both the studio and our projects are ready to provide».
How projects are selected for funding
- At HIFE, they independently search for startups for funding. To do this, the studio team monitors the emergence and development of projects through a professional environment, news and events – hackathons, the results of the Ukrainian Startup Fund, the work of Ukrainian accelerators.
- If the author of the idea wants to contact the studio directly, he needs to send an email to glib@hife.vc.
«We evaluate the project team – who are these people with whom we will work, the idea and its future prospects – where the market will be in 5 years, what competitors are already there, whose problems the startup is going to solve. Also, traditionally, we evaluate the product – it’s good if you already have a prototype, an operational plan and a financial plan for the project».
HIFE plans to enter the first 10 startups in the next two years. Further, the studio plans to attract additional investments for the development of existing companies and entry into new projects. The first exits are also expected within two years.
What else does a startup get?
If necessary, the HIFE team provides support to the startup in the formation and development of the team, product and strategy. In addition, it stimulates entry into the market and the conclusion of successful partnerships at all stages.
«Some teams may lack technical expertise, others have never worked with marketing, others will come without experience in business development and administration, we are able to solve these problems and jointly form a company’s development strategy».