Investor Profile: Martinson Trigon Venture Partners Venture Fund
I publish an article from my blog about venture investments, venture investors and startups IdeaBlog.ru about the Baltic venture fund Martinson Trigon Venture Partners, which focuses primarily on Russia and startups made by citizens of the former USSR. The article describes the investment preferences of this venture fund, as well as other things that, as a rule, startups are interested in. The original article is here .
Interlocutor: Susi Andres , investment manager for Russia at venture capital fund Martinson Trigon Venture Partners
Fund size: $ 30 million
Fund-invested projects: Reksoft , InvisibleCRM , Microlink , TVCorp , Rate Solutions , TimeOut Solutions , Apaja Online Entertainment
Previous jobs: responsible for marketing at the Internet company Delfi.ru (a subsidiary of the largest Baltic portal Delfi ), marketing director for Russia of the international retail network of sporting goods, financial consulting
Contacts:
Tel: +372 667 92 12
Fax: +372 667 92 01
Email: andres.susi@martinsontrigon.com
Website: http://www.martinsontrigon.com/
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The venture fund Martinson Trigon Venture Partners manages Scandinavian money and was created in the summer of 2005. From the first day of the fund’s operation, Andres Sushi has been working in it. The full-time venture fund employs 3 people - Allan Martinson, Yullar Jaakso and Andres Susi; Also, of course, the foundation constantly attracts various experts and advisers to evaluate projects and work on them. Since the founders and employees of the foundation are all Russian-speaking and have roots in Russia (Andres Susi, for example, graduated from MGIMO and lives in Moscow), the company's main focus of investments is focused on Russia and the Baltic States, Central and Eastern Europe, although there are investments in the company's portfolio. Finnish company.
At the moment, the fund has managed $ 30 million, of which the bulk has already been invested. Already, the second fund is being actively formed, the volume of which, according to Andres Susi, will be no less than the first one. The new fund will focus on projects from Central and Eastern Europe, including from Russia.
In the first fund, not all investments were venture - some investments were direct, in companies already on their feet. An example of such an investment is the purchase of a stake in the St. Petersburg software company Reksoft , which at the time of financing, was no longer a classic startup.
The amount of investment in one company is from $ 0.5 to more than $ 4 million. At the same time, investments should be made for the development of the company, and not for the cash-out founders. At the same time, the fund does not seek control over start-ups and, as a rule, takes from 25 to 50% of shares for its investments.
The investment preferences of the fund are clearly defined: these are technology, media and telecom. Technology refers to software, media is, above all, Internet media, and telecom is the so-called “new telecom”: voice and TV over IP, Wi-Fi, etc. The fund is also interested in projects related to infrastructure - hosting, data centers.
According to Andres Susi, the fund is ready to finance projects that are also at the seed stage , although, of course, preference is given to companies with an annual income of $ 500 thousand or to companies that already have initial sales. According to him, investment in projects at the idea stage , when the founders have only a business plan, but there is neither a prototype nor a team, the fund does not finance, except when the project founders have experience of successful implementation of similar startups. For example, the founders of Rate Solutions , a company that develops social networks in 15 European countries, had the experience of creating a successful youth social network in Estonia, which had over 350 thousand users (given that just over 1.2 million people live in Estonia, this suggests the conclusion that almost all the young people in Estonia were users of this social network, which they sold to a strategic investor. They had a new project at the idea stage , the founders actually had only experience, a business plan and a new project platform, however, given that they have extensive and successful experience in creating and developing social networks, the foundation decided to finance their project.
When asked if the project is considered to be at the idea stage , when the founders have a team and a prototype in the form of wireframes and technical tasks , Andres Susi says that in this case the project is no longer just an idea, and such a project can already be addressed to the foundation. Although, I recall, priority is given to projects that already have initial sales and revenues of $ 500 thousand per year.
InvisibleCRM fund was financed in 2006 in conjunction with the ABRT fund. By the way, this project did not have income at the time of financing, but it already had a product and a formed team, as well as partnerships with major foreign companies such as Salesforce.com , Amdocs , and EMC Documentum .
In addition to Reksoft and InvisibleCRM , the fund has another project in Russia, however, the deal is currently in the process of being completed and Andres Sushi says that it is still too early to voice it. In the Baltics, the fund also invested in the seed stage the company TVCorp , which on September 4, 2006 launched a franchise in Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania, the MTV channel.
Financed startups receive from the fund not only money. The fund helps to develop a company development strategy, find partners, attract, if necessary, additional financing from banks, helps to establish contacts with customers. Naturally, the fund itself will not look for clients for a startup located in its portfolio - it’s enough to see how many employees are in the fund and how many projects are in the fund’s portfolio to understand that the fund is simply not able to do the work for all of its startups. However, everyone knows how important contacts and communications are in business, and it is this foundation that provides funded startups besides money.
Like all other venture capital investors, Andres Susi emphasizes that the fund invests primarily in the people who represent the project. If it can be seen that people are able to develop the promising project they are proposing, that they have thought through all its nuances, know how much and where they will earn it, and really look at the world around it, then the project has every chance of being invested . The fund can help to find the missing people in the project, but it is very important that during the funding negotiations the key team members were already in the startup - it is always much easier to find performers than people who can “lift” the project on their shoulders.
To my question, how does the foundation look at projects of nowadays social networks, in which the prospects for their monetization are not obvious, Andres says that it is in this area that they can consider the project that is not very detailed in terms of monetization, since they have rich experience in monetizing social networks . Although, I will note from myself, everything in the world has its price and, if startups want to rely on the experience of the venture fund in terms of the monetization strategy of the project, this will most likely have to be calculated by the larger share given to the fund.
The original article is here . At a reprint, an active link to IdeaBlog.ru and an indication of the name of the author (Arthur Welf) is required.
Interlocutor: Susi Andres , investment manager for Russia at venture capital fund Martinson Trigon Venture Partners
Fund size: $ 30 million
Fund-invested projects: Reksoft , InvisibleCRM , Microlink , TVCorp , Rate Solutions , TimeOut Solutions , Apaja Online Entertainment
Previous jobs: responsible for marketing at the Internet company Delfi.ru (a subsidiary of the largest Baltic portal Delfi ), marketing director for Russia of the international retail network of sporting goods, financial consulting
Contacts:
Tel: +372 667 92 12
Fax: +372 667 92 01
Email: andres.susi@martinsontrigon.com
Website: http://www.martinsontrigon.com/
')
The venture fund Martinson Trigon Venture Partners manages Scandinavian money and was created in the summer of 2005. From the first day of the fund’s operation, Andres Sushi has been working in it. The full-time venture fund employs 3 people - Allan Martinson, Yullar Jaakso and Andres Susi; Also, of course, the foundation constantly attracts various experts and advisers to evaluate projects and work on them. Since the founders and employees of the foundation are all Russian-speaking and have roots in Russia (Andres Susi, for example, graduated from MGIMO and lives in Moscow), the company's main focus of investments is focused on Russia and the Baltic States, Central and Eastern Europe, although there are investments in the company's portfolio. Finnish company.
At the moment, the fund has managed $ 30 million, of which the bulk has already been invested. Already, the second fund is being actively formed, the volume of which, according to Andres Susi, will be no less than the first one. The new fund will focus on projects from Central and Eastern Europe, including from Russia.
In the first fund, not all investments were venture - some investments were direct, in companies already on their feet. An example of such an investment is the purchase of a stake in the St. Petersburg software company Reksoft , which at the time of financing, was no longer a classic startup.
The amount of investment in one company is from $ 0.5 to more than $ 4 million. At the same time, investments should be made for the development of the company, and not for the cash-out founders. At the same time, the fund does not seek control over start-ups and, as a rule, takes from 25 to 50% of shares for its investments.
The investment preferences of the fund are clearly defined: these are technology, media and telecom. Technology refers to software, media is, above all, Internet media, and telecom is the so-called “new telecom”: voice and TV over IP, Wi-Fi, etc. The fund is also interested in projects related to infrastructure - hosting, data centers.
According to Andres Susi, the fund is ready to finance projects that are also at the seed stage , although, of course, preference is given to companies with an annual income of $ 500 thousand or to companies that already have initial sales. According to him, investment in projects at the idea stage , when the founders have only a business plan, but there is neither a prototype nor a team, the fund does not finance, except when the project founders have experience of successful implementation of similar startups. For example, the founders of Rate Solutions , a company that develops social networks in 15 European countries, had the experience of creating a successful youth social network in Estonia, which had over 350 thousand users (given that just over 1.2 million people live in Estonia, this suggests the conclusion that almost all the young people in Estonia were users of this social network, which they sold to a strategic investor. They had a new project at the idea stage , the founders actually had only experience, a business plan and a new project platform, however, given that they have extensive and successful experience in creating and developing social networks, the foundation decided to finance their project.
When asked if the project is considered to be at the idea stage , when the founders have a team and a prototype in the form of wireframes and technical tasks , Andres Susi says that in this case the project is no longer just an idea, and such a project can already be addressed to the foundation. Although, I recall, priority is given to projects that already have initial sales and revenues of $ 500 thousand per year.
InvisibleCRM fund was financed in 2006 in conjunction with the ABRT fund. By the way, this project did not have income at the time of financing, but it already had a product and a formed team, as well as partnerships with major foreign companies such as Salesforce.com , Amdocs , and EMC Documentum .
In addition to Reksoft and InvisibleCRM , the fund has another project in Russia, however, the deal is currently in the process of being completed and Andres Sushi says that it is still too early to voice it. In the Baltics, the fund also invested in the seed stage the company TVCorp , which on September 4, 2006 launched a franchise in Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania, the MTV channel.
Financed startups receive from the fund not only money. The fund helps to develop a company development strategy, find partners, attract, if necessary, additional financing from banks, helps to establish contacts with customers. Naturally, the fund itself will not look for clients for a startup located in its portfolio - it’s enough to see how many employees are in the fund and how many projects are in the fund’s portfolio to understand that the fund is simply not able to do the work for all of its startups. However, everyone knows how important contacts and communications are in business, and it is this foundation that provides funded startups besides money.
Like all other venture capital investors, Andres Susi emphasizes that the fund invests primarily in the people who represent the project. If it can be seen that people are able to develop the promising project they are proposing, that they have thought through all its nuances, know how much and where they will earn it, and really look at the world around it, then the project has every chance of being invested . The fund can help to find the missing people in the project, but it is very important that during the funding negotiations the key team members were already in the startup - it is always much easier to find performers than people who can “lift” the project on their shoulders.
To my question, how does the foundation look at projects of nowadays social networks, in which the prospects for their monetization are not obvious, Andres says that it is in this area that they can consider the project that is not very detailed in terms of monetization, since they have rich experience in monetizing social networks . Although, I will note from myself, everything in the world has its price and, if startups want to rely on the experience of the venture fund in terms of the monetization strategy of the project, this will most likely have to be calculated by the larger share given to the fund.
The original article is here . At a reprint, an active link to IdeaBlog.ru and an indication of the name of the author (Arthur Welf) is required.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/18658/
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