Quintura blog » Web 2.0 http://blog.quintura.com Russian internet news, venture capital and private equity deals, M&A Thu, 09 Jun 2011 16:06:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Flirtic Raises Funds from Almaz Capital Russia Fund http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/flirtic-raises-funds-from-almaz-capital-russia-fund/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/flirtic-raises-funds-from-almaz-capital-russia-fund/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:39:50 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=11032 VC turned entrepreneur Andres Susi online dating startup Flirtic raised a round of venture capital funding from Almaz Capital/Cisco Russia Fund I, the company announced today. The Estonian investor Allan Martinson funded Firtic also nominated Myspace Senior Vice President April Henry as its board member. The new investment should be in the range of $1 million.

Launched in early 2011, Flirtic.com makes it easy to meet, have fun and flirt with new people. Flirtic aims to make dating fun by giving its users the ability to express themselves and find their perfect match. Flirtic offers messaging, wall posts, likes and fun games. Flirtic shareholders include Andrei Korobeinik and Evgeny Pshenichnikov, founders of Rate Solutions, MTVP and angel investor Jaak Roosipuu.

Allan Martinson MTVP has had a few noitceable exits including sale of Reksoft to Technoserv in 2008.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/flirtic-raises-funds-from-almaz-capital-russia-fund/feed/ 0 Intel Capital Leads $12 Million Round in Sapato.ru, Russian Online Shoe Store http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/intel-capital-leads-12-million-round-in-sapato-ru-russian-online-shoe-store/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/intel-capital-leads-12-million-round-in-sapato-ru-russian-online-shoe-store/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 10:29:08 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=11000 Zappos for Russia, Sapato.ru has raised $12 million in new funding, the company announced today. The investment round was led by Intel Capital, which contributed a majority of $12 million. The previous investors such as eVenture Capital, Kinnevik and Direct Group also joined the round. Sapato previously raised over $5 million from German Otto Group-backed eVenture Capital Partners, Investment AB Kinnevik of Sweden and Direct Group (via Fast Lane Ventures) of Pascal Clement.

Launched in June 2010, Sapato.ru has 2 million monthly visitors. Based in Moscow, Sapato is headed by CEO Matthieu Lannegrand. Sapato‘s sales turnover ammounted to some $3 million for the first year of operations.

The other Russian online shoe store Lamoda.ru, which launched in early 2011, is backed by Rocket Internet of Samwer brothers,Tengelmann Group of Germany, Holtzbrinck Ventures and Investment AB Kinnevik.

In 2008, Intel Capital invested in Czech online retailer Mall.cz.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/intel-capital-leads-12-million-round-in-sapato-ru-russian-online-shoe-store/feed/ 0 Almaz and Intel Capital Invest in AlterGeo, Foursquare for Russia http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/almaz-and-intel-capital-invest-in-altergeo-foursquare-for-russia/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/almaz-and-intel-capital-invest-in-altergeo-foursquare-for-russia/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:15:37 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10965 Intel Capital and Almaz Capital have led a new round of funding in AlterGeo, a Russian geo social service. Intel and Almaz invested several million dollar in exchange for a 25% stake in AlterGeo, valuing it at $20 million, according to newspaper Vedomosti. That could imply $5 million new investment.

AlterGeo previously raised $1 million from Kite Ventures and AddVenture.

AlterGeo (formerly Wi2Geo), like Foursquare, is a Russian location-based mobile platform (geo social service) that makes cities easier to explore. AlterGeo users can “check in” via a smartphone app and share their location with friends while collecting coupons, points and virtual badges. For example, the leading Russian retail bank VTB24 launched a loyalty program “Become a major of VTB24!” with Foursquare in April 2011. Next month VTB24 added AlterGeo to its loyalty program.

Launched as Wi2Geo in Moscow in July 2008, AlterGeo has more than 0.7 million users. AlterGeo was founded by Sergey Kurlovich and Denis Alaev in 2007. Almaz Capital has investment in mobile social network provider Apollo.

Founded in 2007, Foursquare has over 8 million registered users worldwide. Its users make over 2.5 million check-ins per day. Over 250,000 businesses use its merchant platform. Foursquare raised more than $20 million from Union Square Ventures, O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz and angel investors.

In 2010, Intel Capital invested $2 million in Rock Flow Dynamics in Russia.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/09/almaz-and-intel-capital-invest-in-altergeo-foursquare-for-russia/feed/ 0 Yandex.Factory (Yandex.Start) to Invest in Zenmoney.ru http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/08/yandex-factory-yandex-start-to-invest-in-zenmoney-ru/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/08/yandex-factory-yandex-start-to-invest-in-zenmoney-ru/#comments Wed, 08 Jun 2011 11:06:15 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10927 The leading Russian search engine company Yandex, which completed $1.4 billion IPO on NASDAQ in May 2011, has invested in personal finance startup Zenmoney.ru. The investment was made as part of Yandex.Factory (Яндекс.Фабрика) initiative, according to Yandex start-up blog. Zenmoney will have to use Yandex.API for future service development.

Founded in early 2010, Zenmoney.ru (Дзенмани.ру) offers online accounting and planning service for personal finances. Based in St. Petersburg, Zenmoney is headed by CEO Anton Fedosin.

Zenmoney appeared on Yandex radar by taking part in Yandex.Start (Яндекс.Старт) start-up meeting on March 15, 2011. Yandex.Factory makes investments in seed and early-stage internet and mobile start-ups in the range several hundred thousand dollars.

Yandex recently acquired two Russian start-ups such as web login service Loginza and website analytics service WebVizor. Each deal was in the range of few hundred thousand dollars.

In 2010, Yandex invested $3 million in facial recognition company Face.com from  Israel.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/08/yandex-factory-yandex-start-to-invest-in-zenmoney-ru/feed/ 0 Rambler New Logo and Brand Unveiled http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/01/rambler-new-logo-and-brand-unveiled/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/01/rambler-new-logo-and-brand-unveiled/#comments Wed, 01 Jun 2011 09:36:35 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10794

When Rambler merged with Afisha in 2010, it appointed new CEO Nikolay Molibog from Afisha, who replaced Olga Turischeva. The united company of Afisha and Rambler, which is owned by media group ProfMedia, has unvelied a new logo and brand of Rambler, reported newspaper Vedomosti. The new logo and brand were created by Afisha’s art director, Irina Voloshina and designer Eugene Timerman, according to the paper. The new Rambler logo will be launched on June 6, 2011. The new Rambler logo and brand visual symbol looks like a compass, a navigational instrument for determining direction relative to the Earth’s magnetic poles.

Launched in 1996, Rambler.ru is one of the leading Russian online portals. Rambler.ru monthly audience reached over 14 million users, according to TNS Web Index. Rambler.ru search market share in Russia is 1.5%, as compared to Yandex search share of 65%. Rambler‘s annual revenues exceed $100 million.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/06/01/rambler-new-logo-and-brand-unveiled/feed/ 0 DST to Invest in Airbnb Apartment Rental Service http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/31/dst-to-invest-in-airbnb-apartment-rental-service/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/31/dst-to-invest-in-airbnb-apartment-rental-service/#comments Tue, 31 May 2011 10:58:16 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10767 Russian Yuri Milner‘s firm DST, which recently raised $1 billion for DST Global 2, is joining $100 million round investment in Airbnb at $1 billion valuation. The round is led by Andreessen Horowitz, according to TechCrunch.

There is a recent influx of Russian online travel agencies (OTA) such as Oktogo.ru, Travelmenu, HipClub, Ostrovok.ru and travel meta-search engine Jizo.ru, which has to compete with global OTA such as Booking.com, Hotels.com and Airbnb.

Airbnb was founded by Nathan Blecharczyk (CTO), Brian Chesky (CEO) and Joe Gebbia (CPO) in 2007.

Airbnb raised $7.2 million from Sequoia Capital, Greylock, SV Angel, Ashton Kutcher and Youniversity Ventures.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/31/dst-to-invest-in-airbnb-apartment-rental-service/feed/ 0 Pixonic Funded by Ventech, Kite Ventures and TA Ventures http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/30/pixonic-funded-by-ventech-kite-ventures-and-ta-ventures/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/30/pixonic-funded-by-ventech-kite-ventures-and-ta-ventures/#comments Mon, 30 May 2011 12:24:15 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10733 Social game publisher Pixonic is one of the social game publishers in Russia. It was first funded by AddVenture. The Russian leading online travel agency Oktogo.ru venture capital investor Ventech as well as Kite Ventures of Edward Shenderovich and TA Ventures of Ukraine has put $5 million in Pixonic at a valuation of ca. $10 million, according to business daily newspaper Kommersant.

Update: According to Ventech founder and general partner Alain Caffi, his firm Ventech invested $2.5 million in $5 million round in Pixonic.

In Russia, Ventech of France previously invested in Oktogo and women-centric online portal WomanJournal.ru.

Ventech is also an investor in Crocus Technology that recently agreed a multi-million dollar investment with RUSNANO.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/30/pixonic-funded-by-ventech-kite-ventures-and-ta-ventures/feed/ 0 Skype Engineers ASI Makes First Exit in Russia http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/27/skype-engineers-asi-makes-first-exit-in-russia/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/27/skype-engineers-asi-makes-first-exit-in-russia/#comments Fri, 27 May 2011 14:14:25 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10696 The Estonian Skype engineers prvate equity vehicle Ambient Sound Investments (ASI), which made its first Russian investment in Software as A Service (SaaS) inventory management software provider LogneX (Moy Sklad) in 2008, has sold its stake in LogneX to Russian ERP software provider 1C Company. In the future, 1C plans to increase its stake in LogneX (moysklad.ru) by an equity capital increase.

According to Margus Uudam of ASI, the Estonian firm Ambient Sound Investments generated positive return from its investment in Moy Sklad (МойСклад). In early 2008, ASI invested $0.2 million for a 30% stake in LogneX.

Founded in 2007, LogneX has over 400 small and medium-sized business customers who use its Moy Sklad web-based inventory management service. Moscow-based LogneX (Moy Sklad) is headed by CEO Askar Rahimberdiev.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/27/skype-engineers-asi-makes-first-exit-in-russia/feed/ 0 Yandex IPO Creates Bonanza for Cisco Russian Fund Almaz Capital http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/26/yandex-ipo-creates-bonanza-for-cisco-russian-fund-almaz-capital/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/26/yandex-ipo-creates-bonanza-for-cisco-russian-fund-almaz-capital/#comments Thu, 26 May 2011 14:57:05 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10625 Almaz Capital Russia Fund I, Russia-focused venture capital fund that is backed by Cisco, shall have returned all money to investors with just two investments, fund’s Managing Partner Alexander “Sasha” Galitsky revealed on twitter. Those investments should have been made by Almaz in Qik and Yandex. Almaz‘s first close was at $60 million. Then, Almaz added $30 million from EBRD.

Mobile video software provider Qik was acquired by Skype for over $150 million in January 2011.

Russia’s leading search engine company Yandex went IPO at $8 billion valuation on NASDAQ on May 24. Almaz Capital acquired a stake in Yandex at $1 billion valuation in September 2009.

Almaz Capital Managing Partner Peter Loukianoff was recently on the Board of Directors of Qik and managed Almaz‘s investment in Yandex.

In addition to Qik and Yandex, Almaz Capital invested into ERP software provider Acumatica, casual game publisher Alawar Entertainment, mobile social network provider Apollo, virtuallization software vendor Parallels and online travel agency Travelmenu.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/26/yandex-ipo-creates-bonanza-for-cisco-russian-fund-almaz-capital/feed/ 0 Travelmenu.ru Raises $1.6 Million from Almaz Capital and Runa Capital http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/25/travelmenu-ru-raises-1-6-million-from-almaz-capital-and-runa-capital/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/25/travelmenu-ru-raises-1-6-million-from-almaz-capital-and-runa-capital/#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 09:36:14 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10546

Over the past year, several Russian online travel agencies (OTA) such as Oktogo.ru, HipClub.ru, Ostrovok.ru, Anywayanyday as well as travel meta-search engine Jizo.ru have emerged and raised angel and venture capital funds. Today, yet another online travel agency in Russia, Travelmenu.ru announced Series A funding of $1.6 million from early-stage venture capital funds Almaz Capital Russia Fund I and Runa Capital. The two funds share the partners Serguei Beloussov of Parallels and Acronis and Alexander “Sasha” Galitsky.

Travelmenu.ru domain name was registered in 2005. The site was first launched for B2B agents in Russia in February 2009. Founded in 2006 by Nina Pogossova (Нина Погосова), Moscow-based Travelmenu (Тревел Меню) offers tour, hotel and airline ticket booking.

Travelmenu‘s business model is likely similar to Oktogo‘s, i.e. it earns a comission fee of 10%-15% from each booking.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/25/travelmenu-ru-raises-1-6-million-from-almaz-capital-and-runa-capital/feed/ 0 Quintura #1 Lifestyle App in App Store; Tops Yandex, Afisha, Skype http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/25/quintura-1-lifestyle-app-in-app-store-tops-yandex-afisha-skype/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/25/quintura-1-lifestyle-app-in-app-store-tops-yandex-afisha-skype/#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 07:59:28 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10426 We have released Quintura visual search apps for touchscreen devices for iOS, Android and Symbian. Most of the Quintura search apps reached top 10 apps in their respective categories.

On May 23, one of the Quintura search apps has become #1 app in App Store. Our visual-based search app for sex life and relationship Q Секс is #1 Lifestyle App in App Store in Russia and other Russian-speaking countries. It also reached top 10 app overall.

Quintura tops comparison shopping app Yandex.Market (Яндекс.Маркет) from Yandex, cityguide app Afisha (Афиша), classifieds app AVITO, and other lifestyle apps in App Store.

The Quintura search apps in iTunes App Store include kids’ search app Quintura Kids, recipes search app Quintura Cook and web & image search app Quintura Search.

Quintura mobile search apps can be downloaded from iTunes App Store, Amazon appstore for Android, Vodafone 360 Shop, Verizon Media Store and Nokia’s Ovi Store.

]]> http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/25/quintura-1-lifestyle-app-in-app-store-tops-yandex-afisha-skype/feed/ 0 Yandex (YNDX) Shares Close Up 55% at $38.84 Per Share at First Trading Day http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/25/yandex-yndx-shares-close-up-55-at-38-84-per-share-at-first-trading-day/ http://blog.quintura.com/2011/05/25/yandex-yndx-shares-close-up-55-at-38-84-per-share-at-first-trading-day/#comments Wed, 25 May 2011 06:20:02 +0000 admin http://blog.quintura.com/?p=10517 Yandex completed $1.3 billion IPO on NASDAQ yesterday, on May 24. Its shares (symbol “YNDX“) surged 55% from $25.00 to $38.84 at the first day of trading. More than 70 million Yandex shares changed hands, which is larger than Yandex IPO volume of 52.2 million shares. Yandex IPO underwriters included Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities, Goldman Sachs, Piper Jaffray and Pacific Crest Securities.

After underwriters discounts and comissions of $65.2 million, Yandex IPO proceeds amounted to $365.8 million. The selling shareholders of Yandex generated proceeds of $873.4 million from IPO.

Yandex reported revenues of $440 million and net income of $134 million in 2010. Yandex holds 65% search market share in Russia.

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