Russian online advertising management solutions start-up Garpun has bagged a USD 3.5 mln first round of funding from iTech Capital in exchange for what may be a minority stake in the company. The investor’s funds will go towards speeding up Garpun’s product development and supporting an RTB marketing channel, among other online marketing channel additions. [...]

Russia and CIS-centric investor Elbrus Capital has acquired a significant minority stake of 23 per cent in Russian procurement portal B2B-Center. The procurement platform will use the funds to expand its operations and fortify its current market position. B2B-Center already has prior funding from an investor consortium led by DaVinci Partners and Insight Venture Partners; [...]

In the far reaches of sub-zero Eastern Russia, a new hi-tech park is being planned in the province of Yakutia (Sakha). A techno-park by the same name already operates in the area, and is expected to be the forerunner of the new park that is expected to be functional by 2015. The park will support [...]

UK-based, Russian-backed TMT Investments has made an investment of USD350,000 in Graphicly, a self-service digital distribution resource site for indie publishers and publishing companies. Former investors in the company include TechStars, Mercury Fund, Dundee Venture Capital and others. The investment has been made despite a loss exceeding USD1.6 mln in 2012. Graphicly (www.graphicly.com) Graphicly is [...]

Sendmebox.ru is the newest ecommerce site launched in Russia for providing cross-border shopping opportunities for local residents. The company was launched by a team of experts in the ecommerce domain, and has already raised USD300,000 from the Moscow Seed Fund (USD200k) and Andrei Golovin, angel investor (USD100k). Sendmebox was valued at USD800k (pre-money) prior to [...]

VTB Capital has acquired a minority stake – pegged at 25 per-cent plus one share – in Tricolor TV, Russia’s biggest satellite television operator. The investment amount is deduced to be in the range of between USD125 and USD175 mln, valuing the operator as as much as USD700 mln. The valuation is considerably lower than [...]

CapMan Russia made a first close worth EUR97 mln on its newly established CapMan Fund II late March. Nearly 3 per cent of that investment has been made in-house – by the investment team at CapMan Russia and by CapMan Plc – while the remaining has come from 10 other LPs – both new and [...]

TexDrive, Russia’s most successful private accelerator in the high-tech domain, has launched its new VC fund, called Genezis Capital. Chairing the board will be one of the nation’s premier venture capitalists, Maxim Shekhovtsov. Shekhovtsov has over 60 deals to his credit, and was formerly the Head of Venture Funds in Russia for the German Allianz [...]

In an agreement between South African company Naspers and Russia’s largest free internet classifieds company Avito.ru, the latter will merge with its two main competitors – Slando.ru and OLX.ru, both of which are owned by Naspers. In exchange for an 18.6 per cent stake of the company, Naspers will invest in Avito.ru to the tune [...]

Qiwi, Russia’s leading payment service provider is considering IPO on NASDAQ in mid 2013 that may value the company at USD 1bln. The company named JP Morgan and Credit Suisse as joint bookrunners, filed to raise USD 100 million last week, and plans to offer up to 30% of its share. Pricing terms remained undisclosed for [...]

After Oktogo.ru, an other major player of the Russian online travel industry raised funds in March. Ostrovok, the online hotel booking agency received USD 25mln from Frontier Ventures, Accel Partners and private investors like Yuri Milner, and ex-Expedia Erik Blachfold.  Blachfold invested in the company January 2012 as well in a series B round which totaled USD [...]

Russian accommodations booking website Oktogo has raised a massive USD11 mln round of financing from its present investors, which include VTB, MangroveandVentech in addition to Victor Sazhin, a well-recognized name in online marketing. The funding will go towards the Herculean task of converting local market regions from offline travel booking to an online service, and [...]

UK-based TMT Investments has acquired a 20 per cent stake (1 mln shares) in Adinch for an amount of USD1 mln. The target startup company deals in the space of mobile ad management and operates out of Delaware in the United States. Both companies were founded by Russian entrepreneurs: TMT by founders of RBC, and [...]

In a major agreement, website builder uCoz will take over all of Yandex’s Narod websites, which number over 2 mln. The transaction is based on Yandex seeing a need for the complex tools and processes that uCoz can offer; the deal will make the latter the biggest website hosting and building company in Russia, with [...]

Wine in Black  an online seller of premium quality wines has raised several million Euros in a financing round led by Bright Capital of Russia. Existing investors e.ventures (DE), Passion Capital (UK) and Project A (DE) also contributed significantly to the funding.  The raised sum will help Wine in Black to enter the international market, build a [...]

Paradigm Investments and TA Venture have participated in Series A funding for IQcard, a pre-paid card operator in Russia; in this round of financing, they have joined existing investors Direct Group and Fastlane Ventures to invest a combined USD2.5 mln in the startup company. The funds will be used to develop their internal customer resource management [...]

In what can only be considered a boom to e-baby commerce, three independent investments have been made in companies that sell babies’ and children’s products in Europe. First, Russian VC ru-Net has invested USD 6 mln for a 25 per cent equity stake in Esky, a Russian portal that serves the young children’s market. Another [...]

The Russian Direct Investment Fund is believed to be actively seeking German investments in Russian markets in order to leverage their own USD10 bln fund by attracting matching investments from strategic investors outside the country. German investment alone is expected to reach up to 20 per cent of the overall foreign investment target over the [...]

It’s a hattrick for IMI.VC Russia as they invest a third time in Game Insight, a domestic mobile gaming network that caters to over 140 million people. This time around, they have invested USD25 mln, which puts the target company’s value at around USD550 mln – previous investments in the gaming company were made in [...]

In a move that further consolidate Elbrus Capital‘s Russian market position, the equity firm recently purchased OSG Records Management from Aurora Russia. The target company was acquired through a secondary buyout that puts its value at between USD25 and 50 mln. The deal is expected to be closed as soon as March 2013, with Aurora [...]