Finup with Belarus capital in Latvia was registered at the end of March 2021. The founders are five Belarus businessmen. Among them is Timofejs Lipskis, the founder of RocketBody (developer of sports applications). The main part of Finup (96%) belongs to Anton Dmitrijev, CEO of the investment company Quattro Capital.
dev.by asked Anton Dmitrijev why did he choose to register a company in Latvia, what is the development plan of the new company and whether Quattro Capital plans to expand the business in other locations.
What is Finup
- Finup will develop a comprehensive credit assessment platform using machine learning algorithms and historical data (big data analysis). The system automatically creates, validates and uses highly effective risk assessment models. We are planning to work with the European market. Our customers can be banks, fintech companies, large data aggregators working with a large number of users.
We are also going to study the European market for attracting investments to Belarus. It remains to be seen if there is a demand for our services. In the first stage, we will test our hypotheses. It will then become clear how to properly implement the business model. Plans for hiring employees in Riga and the size of the office itself will depend on it.
Why Latvia
- Two years ago, we decided on the geographical diversification of Quattro Capital. This is a standard way of business development. This is not an office relocation itself, but a standart diversification. Last year, due to the coronavirus, we faced difficulties to implement the opening plan. It was possible to register the company only this year.
The fact is that Quattro Capital venture capital is only part of our business. The company is also engaged in leasing and fintech. We invest in and develop solutions for financial institutions that allow us to transform credit and other decision-making processes into an online format. We automate the interaction between online sales channels (marketplaces, classifications and online hypermarkets) and funding organizations.
We chose Riga because there is a demand for such fintech solutions and there are specialists who will help to develop such solutions.
Process functions
- To start the business start-up process, a permit from the National Bank was required. That must be taken into account. First, you get permission from the Belarus authorities to enter the capital of a foreign company, and only then can you set it up. The Latvian Investment Agency helped us to register the company. The whole process took several months. Comprehensive legal support was provided by the global company BDO in Riga. It is really important to find the right law firm to accompany the whole relocation process.
The second important point is the coronavirus. Quarantine makes this trip longer. To perform many procedures in Latvia, you must first maintain a 10-day quarantine. Only then can you start doing something: meet, work with banks, negotiate.
Another important nuance is the opening of bank accounts. In Latvia, banks have seriously strengthened these procedures. Compliance control in Latvian banks is very complicated. It seems that in Switzerland it is easier to pass some funds than in Latvian banks. We are a completely transparent company in terms of shareholder structure and sources of capital. But even then, we were studied very carefully, they were interested in the specifics of the business, the size of the company, the approximate monthly income, the sources of money with confirmation.
Read the original interview form dev.by tech news source in Russian here.