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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

CEE-centric investment firm Abris Capital Partners have met their hard-cap target of EUR450 mln for their Fund II. There were 21 investors for this fund against 18 for Fund I; of the 21, approximately half the LPs were from Europe, with the remaining being spread out over Australia, the Middle East and United States. Notably [...]

Baxter Ventures, set up by global healthcare provider Baxter International, is investing EUR 2 mln in a EUR 4 mln round of financing (series A) in Zytoprotec. The Viennese biotechnology company is developing an innovative cytoprotective compound for peritoneal dialysis (PD).  Zytoprotec has previously attracted investments of up to EUR 6.7 mln from various institutional and [...]

Point Nine Capital‘s investment team has just announced a new EUR 40 mln fund to invest in early-stage companies. Dubbed Point Nine Capital II, the fund will be managed by existing partners -  Christoph Janz and Pawel Chudzinski – while advisory roles will be taken by the other partners - Kolja Hebenstreit and Lukasz Gadowski. Point Nine itself is an [...]

There may come a time, quite soon when Ukraine’s default and somewhat adverse label as an “outsourcing country” fades into the past. A-Reality, a Ukrainian IT firm specialized in augmented reality technology aims to change the current recognition of the country. The company has received USD 75000 from an individual investor, Eugenia Dubinskaya of Best Business Group. The seed fund enables [...]

The EBRD has decided to go for a second course of the Avallon MBO Fund with a kitty of EUR 27 mln this time. The transaction-specific fund will focus on MBOs and buy-ins in the small to medium-sized businesses, and aims to hit EUR 107 mln in investments. The Avallon II is following in the [...]

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 [...]

Fastlane Ventures has gained a stamp of approval for its investment strategy in the form of USD 13 mln dollars towards the fund from prominent Kazakh business leader Kenges Rakishev. Rakishev has shown his support for Fastlane’s acumen in identifying companies in Russia with disruptive technologies and business models; in addition, his own investment of [...]

Exactly a week after announcing the launch of the first Polish Venture Capital 2.0 Fund, Online Partners made their first investment: in Poland’s biggest platform for graphic design freelancing – Corton.pl. The unique model has clients ordering designs for their graphic media needs in the form of contests, which interested designers and graphic artists can [...]

A USD 200 mln-in-commitments fund called VGF Emerging Market Growth I LP has been launched by RUSNANO Capital, Virgin Green Fund and Virgin Group. The primary targets will be resource efficient, renewable energy companies operating in Russia, CEE and Turkey. The fund will focus on equity and buyout opportunities in mid-cap firms in this sector. [...]

Originally funded by Fast Lane Ventures, Russian healthcare content portal VitaPortal has taken on board two new investors – Prostor Capital and advisory board member Esther Dyson – in a USD 2 mln Series A round of funding. Offering a host of services, including health self-assessments, physician and hospital evaluations and other related services. The [...]

Warsaw-based MCI Management, a CEE-focused PE group providing multi-stage funding for technology companies, has invested USD 15.5 mln in Russia’s leading internet fashion retail club KupiVip Holding. The investment will support a diverse range of development, including launching new websites, order fulfillment capability and business growth. Revenue estimates put the company’s current turnover at USD [...]

One-year-old Turkish private equity investment company Bosphera PE is planning its first close in Q1 2013. The fund target is USD 350 mln, and the company expects the first close to be around USD 100 mln (EUR 77.6 mln); the outer target date for the first close is April 2013, with the final close expected [...]

Polish PE firm Tar Heel Capital has successfully closed its first fund after raising EUR 50 mln. The fund set-up is a divergence from Tar Heel’s typical modus operandi, which, for the past decade, has been to invest in target companies on a case-to-case basis. The new fund, known as THC 2, had Athos Partners [...]

The World Bank’s investment wing, IFC, has made two strategic commitments into growth investment funds managed by Elbrus Capital and Mediterra Capital. Elbrus Capital II (EC II) has a commitment from IFC worth USD 20 mln; the investment is expected to attract more LPs into the fund, which has a set target of USD 500 mln. [...]

Pending Lithuania Competition Council clearance, PE fund LitCapital I will invest in Nordnet Group, a logistics company that deals with chilled and frozen foods and beverages. The group comprises UAB Nordnet, which handles storage and distribution to retail chains and wholesale operators, and UAB Tehoreal, which manages their warehouse real estate properties. The funding from [...]

The new BVPEF V set up by Baring Vostok earlier this month is seeing the EBRD invest a further USD 75 mln into the Russian PE market. The fund, which will focus on acquiring 15 to 20 assets in the high-potential growth category chosen among midcap companies, could involve support through business expansion, consolidation of units or even [...]

Bankers Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs have been mandated by the Turkish group of hospitals, Medical Park, to look for sale offers or an initial public offering as an alternative. PE firm Carlyle Group has a 40 per cent stake in the company which it purchased in 2009; other shareholders include Dr Muharrem Usta and Haydar [...]