Ostrovok.ru Snags Funding From General Catlyst, Four Others

Ostrovok.ru, the online travel portal co-founded by Russian-American businessmen Serge Fauget and Kirill Makharinsky, has apparently raised a new round of funding. Leading the round is General Catalyst Partners, the same investment firm that has previously backed other travel-based companies including ITA, Kayak, and Sabre. Joining General Catalyst were Kite Ventures and three individual investors: Epinions co-founder Naval Ravikan, IronPort Systems co-founder Scott Banister, and TravelPost founder Sam Shank.

Ostrovok.ru is just one of several companies that have taken successful U.S.-based Internet ventures and brought them to Russia.

Ostrovok.ru (www.ostrovok.ru)
Ostrovok.ru is a Moscow-based Internet venture offering travel services and discount packages for site members. To use the site members simply login, choose destinations and dates, and allow the site to search for the best deals.

Ostrovok.ru was founded in 2010 based on a similar US site named Jetsetter.com. If it proves to be successful it could be good competition to HipClub.ru, another Russian travel site that previously received funding from Western business angels.

General Catalyst Partners (www.generalcatalyst.com)
General Catalyst Partners is a venture capital and private equity firm established in 2000 and staffed by group of managing directors who have all been successful entrepreneurs in other areas.

In terms of venture capital the firm provides three types of investments: Hatch, seed, and the series A.

Their private equity strategy is focused on growth equity for companies with a minimum annual revenue of $10 million and a minimum annual profit of at least $3 million. General Catalyst prefers investments were company leadership plans to stay in place after their investment is complete.