R ussian social networking site MiniBanda.ru has reached an agreement with AddVenture that provides the site with a USD 50,000 investment in exchange for a blocking minority stake in the company.
AddVenture is a seed venture enterprise patterned after the successful American firm YCombinator. Their investment in MiniBand is just one of many that are taking place in the growing Russian social networking industry.
MiniBanda.ru (www.minibanda.ru)
MiniBanda.ru was launched in May of 2008 as an information portal and social networking site for parents of young children. On MiniBanda.ru parents, can create profiles for their children, post pictures, and keep a diary of important things like the first steps, first words, teething, etc. Various communities are also available giving parents access to important information, stories from other parents, parenting advice, and other resources. The site currently claims 2,500 daily visitors.
AddVenture (www.addventure.to)
Addventure bills itself as an angel fund inspired by the success of YCombinator and some of the seeds it has spawned. The firm invests exclusively in the IT sector with seed capital for startups, providing on average USD 10-50K per venture. Their strategy involves an intense three month program to aid business founders in developing their companies quickly while preparing them for later stage investment from other sources.
