1C Joins DST and Sergey Orlovskiy in Nival Investment

Nival Network, the Russian online social gaming company, has scored a big round of financing which raises the company’s post-money valuation to USD 32 million. As part of the deal previous investor 1C will contribute another USD 1 million, raising its stake to 26.56%; Digital Sky Technologies (DST) will invest USD 4 million for a 12.5% stake; and another USD 2 million will be added by Nival Group CEO Sergey Orlovskiy. Mr. Orlovskiy’s share of the company will increase to 60.94%. With the online gaming market in Russia estimated to be worth more than USD 230 million last year, Nival Network could prove to be an exceptional investment for DST and 1C.

Nival Network (www.nival.com)
Nival Network is part of Moscow-based Nival Group which was originally established in 1996. The current group includes Nival Interactive, Nival Network, and a minority share of Astrum Nival. Nival Network was launched in 2008 to take advantage of the growing market for online social gaming in Russia. The ZZima social networking portal is one of Nival Network’s most popular offerings to date. The company operates design studios in Minsk and Moscow, and employs more than 300 people across the entire group.

1C Company (www.1c.ru)
Established in 2001, 1C Company is a Russian developer, publisher, and distributor of computer software. Though widely known as a prolific game producer, 1C also develops an impressive list of business software including the market leading 1C:Enterprise suite. The company also licenses and produces Russian language versions of the world’s most popular international software. 1C employs more than 500 individuals and partners with thousands of retailers, training centres, and certification centres throughout Russia.

Digital Sky Technologies (www.dst-global.com)
DST was started in 2005 by Mail.ru investors Yuri Milner and Gregory Finger. Together they pooled resources to fund what has become Russia’s leading private investment firm aimed exclusively at internet based businesses.

Since its inception DST has invested in more than 30 companies to the tune of over USD 1 billion. The average DST investment is anywhere from USD 10 million to USD 100 million.