Rarely, but aptly: the Russian Target Global fund was allowed to invest $ 13 million in the American "unicorn"
American service Blue Apron received $ 13 million from the Russian venture capital fund Target Global . Now the fund owns 0.65% of the company. Two years later, Blue Apron plans to go public. The fund expects to return investments with a yield of at least 50%, since the company's performance is growing by 300% year-on-year, says Mikhail Lobanov, managing partner of the fund.
In the three years of its existence (since 2012), Blue Apron has raised $ 193 million in four rounds. 16 investors have invested in the company. The most famous among them are Fidelity Investments , which invested in Airbnb , Uber and Pinterest , and Bessemer Venture Partners, which invested in 279 companies (these investments resulted in 72 outlets and 25 IPOs). In the last round in June 2015, Blue Apron raised $ 135 million, the company's valuation reached $ 2 billion.
A lot of funds competed for the Blue Apron stock, so it was not easy to participate in the deal, Lobanov says. The Leta Capital Foundation tried to start work in the US market, but refused this idea and now there is only one US startup in the fund’s portfolio, the founder of the fund Alexander Chachava notes. It’s not enough for the Russian foundation to come up with the money - the startup still has to accept it, but according to Chachava, he will almost always choose the American one between the American and Russian foundations.
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First, funds from the USA are more powerful financially and, investing in the company at an early stage, they reserve money for future rounds. Secondly, American funds have a start-up sales channel, Alexander Chachava explained to Vedomosti.
The managing director of the fund Prostor Capital Alexey Soloviev and the partner of the Gagarin Capital Partners fund Nikolay Davydov, who moved to Silicon Valley to develop the business of his fund, agree with him. According to Davydov, in addition to connections with strategic investors, large American funds help start-ups with lawyers, financiers, recruiters, and international relations. Such funds Davydov calls pipelines. And Russian funds have nothing to offer a quality Western startup, except money, Solovyov complements.
Venture Fund GVA Vestor.In also enters the US market. Most of these deals are on a club basis and cannot be accessed by them, the fund’s partner Pavel Cherkashin is sure. To participate in the transaction, such an investor must either overpay, or offer expertise - for example, entering the market of other countries, but Russia does not belong to promising areas, Cherkashin notes.
Probably, to participate in such a transaction is possible only by overpaying and enlisting recommendations, believes Davydov. Lobanov recalls that in April 2015, Target Global had already invested in the American project Prosper , in which Sequoia Capital was also invested several years ago. According to the CBInsights startup base, it is estimated at $ 1.9 billion. According to Sergey Belousov, co-founder of venture fund Runa Capital , Russian origin is not a plus in the US, but it does not block the work of the fund. Belousov does not note the difficulties in the work of Runa Capital in the United States because of the Russian roots of the foundation.
Contrary to the well-established view of the difficulties of Russian funds entering the American market, the DST Global fund, Yuri Milner, has a good reputation and serious ties in the USA.
In October, it became known that the O1 Group of Boris Mints invested in the American Palantir, according to the CBInsights database, estimated at $ 20 billion, as well as in Prosper.
A month earlier , Ziyavudin Magomedov, chairman of the board of Summa Group, created Caspian VC Partners venture fund of up to $ 300 million and reported on investments in Uber and Hyperloop Technologies. Only a fund with international management could participate in the deal with Uber, Solovyov from Prostor Capital assured. The representative of Summa, Yevgeny Timoshinov, clarified that the management company of the fund will be headed by William Shor, known for his work in the field of private and portfolio investments in Europe.
In the three years of its existence (since 2012), Blue Apron has raised $ 193 million in four rounds. 16 investors have invested in the company. The most famous among them are Fidelity Investments , which invested in Airbnb , Uber and Pinterest , and Bessemer Venture Partners, which invested in 279 companies (these investments resulted in 72 outlets and 25 IPOs). In the last round in June 2015, Blue Apron raised $ 135 million, the company's valuation reached $ 2 billion.
A lot of funds competed for the Blue Apron stock, so it was not easy to participate in the deal, Lobanov says. The Leta Capital Foundation tried to start work in the US market, but refused this idea and now there is only one US startup in the fund’s portfolio, the founder of the fund Alexander Chachava notes. It’s not enough for the Russian foundation to come up with the money - the startup still has to accept it, but according to Chachava, he will almost always choose the American one between the American and Russian foundations.
')
First, funds from the USA are more powerful financially and, investing in the company at an early stage, they reserve money for future rounds. Secondly, American funds have a start-up sales channel, Alexander Chachava explained to Vedomosti.
The managing director of the fund Prostor Capital Alexey Soloviev and the partner of the Gagarin Capital Partners fund Nikolay Davydov, who moved to Silicon Valley to develop the business of his fund, agree with him. According to Davydov, in addition to connections with strategic investors, large American funds help start-ups with lawyers, financiers, recruiters, and international relations. Such funds Davydov calls pipelines. And Russian funds have nothing to offer a quality Western startup, except money, Solovyov complements.
Venture Fund GVA Vestor.In also enters the US market. Most of these deals are on a club basis and cannot be accessed by them, the fund’s partner Pavel Cherkashin is sure. To participate in the transaction, such an investor must either overpay, or offer expertise - for example, entering the market of other countries, but Russia does not belong to promising areas, Cherkashin notes.
Probably, to participate in such a transaction is possible only by overpaying and enlisting recommendations, believes Davydov. Lobanov recalls that in April 2015, Target Global had already invested in the American project Prosper , in which Sequoia Capital was also invested several years ago. According to the CBInsights startup base, it is estimated at $ 1.9 billion. According to Sergey Belousov, co-founder of venture fund Runa Capital , Russian origin is not a plus in the US, but it does not block the work of the fund. Belousov does not note the difficulties in the work of Runa Capital in the United States because of the Russian roots of the foundation.
Contrary to the well-established view of the difficulties of Russian funds entering the American market, the DST Global fund, Yuri Milner, has a good reputation and serious ties in the USA.
In October, it became known that the O1 Group of Boris Mints invested in the American Palantir, according to the CBInsights database, estimated at $ 20 billion, as well as in Prosper.
A month earlier , Ziyavudin Magomedov, chairman of the board of Summa Group, created Caspian VC Partners venture fund of up to $ 300 million and reported on investments in Uber and Hyperloop Technologies. Only a fund with international management could participate in the deal with Uber, Solovyov from Prostor Capital assured. The representative of Summa, Yevgeny Timoshinov, clarified that the management company of the fund will be headed by William Shor, known for his work in the field of private and portfolio investments in Europe.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/297024/
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