Venture Capital Fund FXC-QCP Hunting for Online Trading Startups to Invest In

Venture capital fund FXC-QCP VC, which was established in December 2013 by private equity outfit Quadro Capital Partners and Forex broker Forex Club’s founders, officially kicked off its hunt for online trading projects in which it will invest in.

The fund is seeking to finance projects in FX, CFD, along with the regular online stock trading. It intends to invest in startups in Ukraine, CIS and Russia, though startups in the European Union and Eastern Europe are also open for consideration.

FXC-QCP intends to invest up to $50 million in the approved projects. The launch of the hunt for firms to invest in comes at an odd time, given the volatility in FX markets is very low and has affected the bottom line of most online trading businesses.

The approved projects will be considered as independent investment, M&A targets with potential for future integration with Forex Club.

Quadro purchased a minority stake in Forex Club, a Russian-focused firm, with the Russian media estimating the stake to be 10 percent. Quadro currently operates three venture capital funds with investments valued at least $1 billion.

Forex Club purchased the whole stock of Akmos Trade, a Russian FX company in 2010, with the integration process completed in 2013. This boosted Forex Club’s portfolio, especially with the LibertEx service.

Meanwhile, US broker Linkbrokers was charged by regulators for overcharging its clients $18 million by giving them false information about commission charges on their accounts. It pretended that it charged very low commission charges, yet it secretly overcharged them, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company was fined restitution charges totaling $14 million for the misdemeanor that took place from 2005 to 2009 and affected 36,000 transactions.