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; [...]

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 [...]

Ukrainian online shopping club Hilt.com.ua has bagged equity funding worth USD500,000 from Xevin Investments. The funds will be used to cover marketing expenditure and increase the working capital of the target company. Hilt’s performance has been nothing short of impressive: with sales showing month-on-month increase averaging 50 per cent, the mid-2013 monthly sales figure is [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Lithuanian VC fund Practica Capital has provided a seed funding of EUR 180,000 to 3D graphics marketplace CGTrader. CGTrader’s offering is similar to that of GrabCAD, an Estonian designer community for 3D artists, but differs in that it provides a marketplace for designers to sell their work to the public. With a user base of [...]

SoftBank invested USD4 mln as part of Series B funding for Celtra, a Slovenian developer of unique rich media mobile advertising tools. This follows an earlier Round A in which Celtra garnered USD5 mln from Fairhaven and GrandBanks, and an original investment from RSG in 2009. Part of the funding will be used to double [...]

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 [...]

Runa Capital and Point Nine Capital are jointly investing USD 2 mln in Mambu, a German technology company that caters to the microfinancing industry. They are joined by existing investor Kizoo, and the funding will go towards product development, talent acquisition and global expansion. Mambu (www.mambu.com) Mambu is a Berlin-based enabler for the microfinancing industry. [...]

Augmented Reality is on a roll in Ukraine. Last October Google acquired Viewdle via Motorola Mobility. Earlier this month, A-Reality another AR firm successfully raised USD 70k

Russian software company Ecwid, which is a self-proclaimed leader in social ecommerce domain, has agreed to ‘take’ 200,000 customers from Payvment, a competitor in the same market. The bold move will nearly double Ecwid’s current client base of around 250,000 customers and will see Payvment closing the shutters on its own site as well as [...]

Kite Ventures and Ru-Net-backed TrendsBrands received USD 3 mln from Ventech, a Paris-headquatered venture capital firm. Transbrands’ core focus, both on its online and offline platforms, is designer clothes retail. Started in June 2011 the company targeted custormers seeking fashion items on low prices, yet with unique design and great quality. The concept of pairing high [...]

European Directories has sold its stake in Swedish local directory provider Lokaldelen i Sverige to FCR Media Holding, increasing the latter’s already-dominant presence in the local search domain for Europe. The acquisition of the company gives FCR media its first entry into the Scandinavian market for local search and operator services; it’s presence is already strong [...]

Pluribus Optimum, a Swiss PE firm, has earmarked EUR 100 mln for investments in Russia and surrounding countries over the next three years. The funds will target e-commerce platforms to improve certain operational aspects such as order processing, document handling, billing and payment acceptance. They will also be targeting the third-party logistics market, popularly known [...]

The world’s first “visual extension for audio speech recognition systems”, otherwise known as RealSpeaker, has a brand new equity partner in Startobaza, a Russian seed-stage investment company whose managing partner is Svetlana Nikiforova, wife of the Russian Minister for Communications. Both companies are located in Kazan, Tatarstan, a federal subject of Russia. Joining the investment are [...]

  Now that the world did not come to an end afterall, Russians started eagerly decorating and furnishing their living environment. Online furniture retailing indeed seems to be a philosopher’s stone, the companies founded just recently welcome investment after investment, the market is showing a steady growth. Online furniture retailer Mebelrama received USD 10 mln from [...]