TMT Investments

Shareholders

At the end of 2019, the composition of the company's shareholders looked like this:

• Nely Morgulchik owned a 24% stake in TMT Investments through offshore.
• Herman Kaplun, through Ramify Consulting, had an 18.3% stake.
• Another 1.25% was held by his daughters Vlada Kaplun and Marina Kedrova.
• Andrei Kireev (via Wissey Trade & Invest) had 17.1%.
• Nika Kirpichenko, through Electic Capital, owned 9.6% of the shares, and her husband Dmitry Kirpichenko, through Menostar Holdings, had another 6.1%.
• Artem Inyutin's daughter Natalya Inyutina owned a 2.5% stake in the company. Inyutin himself in 2016 left the list of direct shareholders of TMT Investments. But in May and July 2020, he bought a 4.9% stake in the company for $5 million.

Project portfolio

As of June 2015, TMT has more than 30 companies in its portfolio, a significant number of which are from Silicon Valley.

Among them:

Wanelo. Social network for shopping, founded in 2010. The fund bought out the company's minority stake based on an estimate of $4.4 million for the entire business. Now, judging by the latest deals, the network costs about $100 million.

DepositPhotos is a photo bank. In the first year after TMT's investment, site traffic grew 17 times. Now it is the fourth most popular photo bank in the world. The company is creating a similar service for lay photographers.

Backblaze. A service that allows you to store all information from your computer in the cloud. The cost of disk space is 17 times lower than that of the world leader Amazon. This allows you to dump. TMT's total investment is $5 million.

Ninua. Developer of an application for Facebook that gives users the opportunity to read news and blogs (700 thousand blogs). Together with TMT, the founder of the 500 Startups Dave Makklyur fund invested in this company.

Socialize. An application for iOS and Android, it allows you to communicate with consumers of goods and services. In March 2013, the fund sold its stake, recording a return on investment of 28% per annum.

Astrid. Task Scheduler. Since 2008, 4 million people have downloaded it. TMT invested $1 million in the project, and in May 2013 it was bought by Yahoo!.

WeatherMe (VitalFields) is a solution that allows you to fully control the operation of the farm via the Internet and a mobile application. By optimizing the schedule of field work and using resources, farmers are able to produce more efficiently. TMT announced its entry into the company's capital in December 2013.

Anews - In September 2014, the foundation reported that it had acquired a 9% stake in the project.

Adinch - In September 2014, the fund announced that it had increased investment in the project.

Later, in 2016, TMT received a stake in Scentbird, an Internet perfume service.

The main assets in which TMT Investments has stakes in 2020 are also:

Bolt - passenger fitting service,

Timbeter - a mobile application that determines the number, volume and diameters of logs in a stack, on a timber truck or in a container,

Pipedrive is an online customer management service.

Performance indicators

2020: TMT Investments asset value rises to $178m

Venture TMT Investments, a fund that invests in fast-growing technology companies, announced its 2020 results by standards on March 25, 2021. IFRS

For 10 years of operation (from December 2010 to December 2020), TMT Investments invested in 68 startups, implemented 14 profitable full and partial exits and established itself as a successful, fast-growing company.

• At the end of 2020, NAV (net asset value) per share is $6.10, an increase of 73.3% (the 31.12.2019 value was from $3.52 per share).
• NAV reached $177.9 million, that is, an increase of 57.8% (the 31.12.2019 cost was $102.8 million);
• NAV per share has risen 6.4-fold since being admitted to AIM in December 2010, including dividends paid as of March 2021;
• 5-year IRR is 28.7% per annum;
• $41 million in net cash receipts to exit Pipedrive;
• $12.5 million investment in 16 startups;
• The diversified portfolio consists of more than 35 companies focused mainly on big data/cloud, e-commerce, marketplaces, EdTech solutions, SaaS (software as a service), fintech;
• Cash reserves in the amount of $34.6 million as of March 24, 2021.

"In 2020, we turned 10 years old and this year is one of the most successful for the fund: we had a large number of significant portfolio revaluations, as well as a unicorn exit from Pipedrive, on which we earned $41 million, and the total cash income from the transaction was more than 51 times compared to the initial investment. Over the entire period, the fund invested in 72 companies, implemented 14 profitable full and partial exits. In addition, last year the fund began to actively invest in new topics of online education and medtech, "said Artem Inyutin, managing partner of TMT Investments.

History

2023: TMT Investments holds three-quarters of its funds in burst Silicon Valley Bank

The TMT Investments fund in March 2023 warned that most of its cash was placed in the burst US bank Silicon Valley Bank. A number of portfolio companies of the fund also placed their funds there.

TMT Investments Fund reported that in the ruined American bank Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) he kept $8 million. In total, the fund accounts $11.5 million. That is, in SVB, the fund "hung" 72% of its total funds.

In the British subsidiary of SVB UK, the fund did not have funds. At the same time, of the fund's 56 portfolio companies, five held substantial deposits with SVB and six held minor deposits.

TMT Investments notes that US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has promised to ensure the return of all deposits placed in SVB. This statement was made after the recommendations of the US Federal Reserve System (FRS) and the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). In this regard, TMT Investments does not expect serious problems for itself and its portfolio companies.

2022

Investing in Feel Holdings

In mid-October 2022, it became known that Feel raised £10 million (approximately $11.5 million at the exchange rate) during the Series A funding round. The funds were provided by several investors, including venture capital fund TMT Investments. Read more here.

Investing in Adwisely

On June 27, 2022, Adwisely, which develops a platform for automating online advertising, announced that it had raised $1.5 million in investments as part of a seed round of financing led by TMT Investments. Gaingels, Mana Ventures, Cabra VC, ICU Ventures and a group of other angel investors including Wrike's Andrew Filev also participated in the deal. Read more here.

Investing in Bairro food delivery service

On February 1, 2022, it became known about the investment of 2.3 million euros in Bairro. TMT Investments, Vershina Capital, Startup Lab, Insta Ventures and European fund Flyer One Ventures participated in the funding round of the Portuguese food delivery service. The deal was closed in early 2022, TMT Investments said. Read more here.

Investing in OneNotary Notary Services

On January 13, 2022, it became known about the investment of $1.75 million in OneNotary. The startup intends to use the funds raised to improve business solutions, a system for detecting fraud threats and speeding up the processes of preparing documents using artificial intelligence. In addition, it is planned to implement a marketing strategy with the funds received, the task of which is to expand the market potential. TMT Investments participated in the funding round, as well as Adventures Lab VC, GoodPaper Venture, Digital Future VC and U.Ventures. Read more here.

2021

Investing in the Educate Online education platform

On December 14, 2021, the Educate Online team announced a $4 million investment. Xploration Capital, TMT Investments, Flyer One Ventures, Softline and Angelsdeck have invested in an educational platform to help students study in schools in the UK, USA and Canada. The parties did not disclose the company's assessment following the transaction. Read more here.

Investing in the platform for helping to enter foreign universities StudyFree

In mid-December 2021 StudyFree , it announced the attraction of $3 million from I2BF Global Ventures TMT Investments, TechStars and other investors. Also, the round of financing was attended by CEO PandaDoc Mikita Mikado and ex-product Google director Andrei Doronichev. The parameters of the investment transaction, including the estimated value of the startup, were not disclosed. More. here

Investing in the Russian service for renting electric scooters and simulators My Device

In mid-December 2021, it became known about investing $1.9 million in. My Device electroscooters TMT Investments ($850 thousand) invested the most in this round of financing for the rental service, simulators, game consoles and subscription TVs. More. here

Investing in African small business service Verto

In mid-November 2021, the payment platform for small businesses Verto raised $10 million as part of the Series A investment round. The round was led by Quona Capital, Middle East Venture Partners (MEVP), and TMT Investments, Unicorn Growth Capital, Zrosk Investment Management and P1 Ventures also invested in Verto. Among the existing investors: Accelerated Digital Ventures and Ace & Company. Read more here.

Investing in the Prodly Application Platform

In October 2021, it became known about investing $10 million in Prodly. The main investor in the Series A funding round was Leta Capital. TMT Investments, Altair Capital, FlyerOne, Shasta Ventures and Norwest Capital also participated in the deal. Read more here.

Raising $18.5 million

In October 2021, the TMT Investments fund announced an investment of $18.5 million. The funds received are planned to be used for investments in new technological projects and startups that already exist in the fund's portfolio.

TMT Investments issued a total of 2.2 million new common shares (7.5% of the total) at a price of $8.50 apiece for existing and new institutional investors, which is 7.6% less than the average price that was on the London Stock Exchange the day before the announcement of the transaction. The organizers of this placement were Cenkos Securities and Hybridian.

In addition to raising capital, this offering will provide other investors with the opportunity to participate in the issue of shares through the PrimaryBid retail platform. It is assumed that the fund will place 176,470 shares on the platform at the same price, thanks to which it is planned to earn an additional $1.5 million.

During the first part of the placement, TMT Investments raised about $18.5 million. Of this amount, top managers of the company paid $5.1 million. During the second part of the placement, the company received another $760 thousand.

In total, the company raised $19.3 million. The authorized capital of the company increased by 7.7% - from 29.19 million shares to 31.35 million shares.

Thanks to the proceeds from this fundraising, carried out with a premium to the latest published net worth of the company's assets, we look forward to continuing our investment program by attracting new interesting companies and further investments in our strong operating portfolio as financing opportunities emerge, said Executive Director Alexander Selegenev, whose words are quoted in a press release.[1]

Sale of stake in Depositphotos for $14.3 million

In October 2021, it became known that the TMT Investments fund sold its stake in the international photo bank Depositphotos. The transaction amount amounted to $14.3 million. Of this amount, $12.9 million has been received at the moment, the remaining $1.4 million will be paid during the year. The fund's investments in this project brought a fivefold return. News of this was published on the website of the London Stock Exchange (LSE).

TMT Investments owned a 16.7% stake in Depositphotos. In September 2021, the fund announced the conclusion of an agreement on the sale of this asset.

At the end of the first half of 2021, TMT Investments estimated the value of its stake in Depositphotos at $10.83 million. The amount of the transaction exceeds this amount by $3.5 million (32.3%). It is not known to whom the package was sold.

In total, TMT Investments invested $4 million in Depositphotos. Taking into account two transactions, the total revenue of the fund from the sale of a share in this asset amounted to $20.15 million - five times the size of the investment.

Sale of stake in Pandadoc for $2 million

At the same time, the TMT Investments fund announced the sale of 11% of the fund's stake in the service, electronic document management PandaDoc created by immigrants from Belarus Mikita Mikado and Sergei Borisyuk. The transaction amount amounted to $2 million. The company's valuation in this transaction was 30% higher than it was estimated at the end of the first half of 2021.

At Pandadoc, the TMT Investments fund owns 1.3%. The fund's investments in the project amounted to $3.6 million.

Investing in MetroSpeedy delivery service

At the end of September 2021, MetroSpeedy raised $5 million in investments. The startup plans to spend the funds raised to develop the "last mile" delivery platform. The initial funding round was led by the Russian fund AddVenture, and TA Ventures, Joint Journey, Fores Investments and Russian funds Vershina Capital and TMT Investments also invested in the startup. Read more here.

Investing in Collectively Medical Billing Software Developer

In mid-September 2021, it became known about investing $3 million in Collectively. The main investor in the funding round was the venture capital fund TMT Investments. In addition, the deal involved the Cabra VC fund, an investor in the company from the 2017 issue of Y Combinator, and venture capital funds S16 and Starta Capital. Read more here.

Investing in EstateGuru's international platform

Venture capital fund TMT Investments has emerged as the lead investor in a round of funding to the international platform EstateGuru, which provides real estate collateral loans. Read more here.

Investing in the EdTech platform "Academy of Change"

In early August 2021, it became known about investing 242 million rubles in Academy of Change"." The TMT Investments fund (acted as the main investor), the corporate venture capital fund, MTS as well as the Quantum A group of companies, etc. invested in the EdTech platform. More. here

Investing in Estonian developer SaaS for retailers

At the end of July 2021, Estonian, startup Outvio which provides SaaS a solution for fulfilling orders for medium and large online stores Spain in and, Estonia closed an early stage funding round of $3 million led by Change Ventures. More. here

Investing in Novakid Online English School

In early August 2021, Novakid announced the attraction of $35 million in investments. Invested in the online English language learning platform are the EdTech market-focused Owl Ventures fund, previously invested in educational services MasterClass and Quizlet, and Goodwater Capital, an investor in Twitter and Spotify. Current shareholders also participated in the round, including Leta Capital, PortfoLion, TMT Investments, etc. Read more here.

Investing in Qumata Insurance Companies Health Tracking Service

In early June 2021, the British developer of a customer health tracking application insurance companies Qumata announced the completion of a $10 million Series A funding round. Round was led by the MMC Ventures fund, joined by AdirVentures and TMT Investments. More. here

Investing in the accounting automation service Synder

On June 15, 2021, it became known that Synder had attracted an investment of $2 million. The main investor in the funding round was TMT Investments, a venture capital fund. For what purposes the received funds will be spent, it is not reported, as well as the estimated cost of the startup. Read more here.

Investing in Muncher food preparation and delivery service

At the end of April 2021, Muncher raised $7 million in investments. TMT Investments, a venture capital fund, has invested the most in the startup. Copernion Capital Partner, Femsa Ventures, MGM Innova and Amador Holdings also participated in the funding round. Shares that investors received in Muncher following the transaction. Read more here.

Investing UK digital bank 3S Money Club

On April 21, 2021, venture capital fund TMT Investments announced an investment in digital bank 3s.money. As part of the Series B round, the startup raised a total of $4 million and was valued at $55 million. What share TMT Investments received in the project in exchange for investments was not disclosed. Read more here.

Investing in dietary supplement manufacturer Feel

On April 20, 2021, it became known about the attraction by Feel of investments in the amount of $6.2 million. The Fuel Ventures fund has invested the most in the startup. TMT Investments venture capital fund, Richard Longhurst (founder of Lovehoney.com) and Igor Ryabenky (founder and managing partner of AltaIR Capital) also participated in the funding round. Read more here.

Investing in a Ukrainian service for recognizing the size of clothes by photo 3DLook

In mid-March 2021, the Ukrainian service for recognizing the size of clothes by photo 3DLook attracted $6.5 million in investments. The Series A funding round was led by Almaz Capital. TMT Investments and Zubr Capital also took part in the deal. The total volume of investments in the Ukrainian service for recognizing the size of clothes by photos reached $11.2 million. Read more here.

Investing in Workiz Field Service

At the end of February 2021, TMT Investments invested in a service for field specialists Workiz, which collected about $13 million following the results of the investment round. Aleph, Magenta Venture Partners and Mayor Investments also participated in the deal. Read more here.

Investing in Lithuanian ad campaign platform developer Affise

On February 24, 2021, Affise announced an investment of $8 million. As part of the Series A funding round, Leta Capital and TMT Investments were the main investors. Their shares in the project and its estimated value have not been disclosed. Read more here.

Investing in Scalarr Ad Fraud Solution Developer

In mid-February, TMT Investments invested in the Ukrainian developer of solutions for finding advertising fraud Scalarr. The startup raised $7.5 million in the Series A round. The project team plans to spend the funds received on expanding the client base and creating new products. Read more here.

Investing in Postoplan social media and messenger publishing service

In February 2021, it became known about the attraction of Postoplan investments in the amount of $550 thousand. TMT Investments venture fund, top managers of the Estonian taxi service Bolt, as well as Insta Ventures and Wise Guys Ventures funds have invested in the startup. The investments of each participant in the transaction are not specified separately. The estimated value of Postoplan was also not disclosed. Read more here.

2020

Investment in fintech startup Outfund

In December 2020 Outfund , it raised an investment of £37m. The Fuel Ventures fund invested the most. Funding Round - fintechstartup TMT Investments and Force over Mass also participated. How much money each of the investors provided and what share he received is not specified. More. here

Novakid Online English School Investment

As it became known in early December 2020, LETA Capital and TMT Investments invested in Novakid. According to the results of the entire A Series round, the Russian online English school raised $4.25 million. Read more here.

Investment in the Ukrainian advertising startup RetargetApp

In November 2020, RetargetApp announced the attraction of $2.4 million in investments. Several funds have invested in the startup, including BeeVentures and TMT Investments, which provided $1.2 million. Read more here.

Investment in the Ukrainian-American online school AllRight

At the end of November 2020, TMT Investments invested in the Ukrainian-American online school AllRight. It is an English language learning platform aimed at children aged four and over that combines lessons with real teachers and homework with AI-based mentors. The company raised $5 million in investments from funds such as Genesis Investments, TMT Investments, TerraVC, and also received the support of existing investor Flashpoint. Read more here.

Sale of a stake in the developer of the CRM system Pipedrive for $41 million

On November 12, 2020, TMT Investments announced the sale of its stake in Pipedrive to US investment firm Vista Equity Partners. The transaction value was $41 million. Read more here.

Investing in a video platform developer to find Hinterview employees

October 20, 2020 it became known about the attraction of Hinterview investments in the amount of £1.47 million ($1.9 million). The main investor in this funding round was TMT Investments, a venture capital fund. Read more here.

Canadian Cannacord Authenticity Group Fund owns 5% of the company

In August 2020, the Canadian Cannacord Authenticity Group fund became the owner of a 5% stake in TMT Investments. The market value of the package is $5.9 million. This follows from a message posted on the website of the London Stock Exchange. The market value of this package is $5.9 million^[2].

Investing £500k in online banking service 3S Money

TMT Investments on July 9, 2020 announced the investment in the online banking service 3S Money, focused on international trade, £500,000. The first payment was made in April 2020. As specified in TMT Investments, the total investment in this round amounted to £1.5 million. Read more here.

First fintech investment: £150k into 3S Money Club digital bank

At the end of April 2020, it became known about the investment of the TMT Investments fund in the digital bank 3S Money Club. The volume of the entire round of funding amounted to £665 thousand (almost $828 thousand). Read more here.

Investment in Estonian logging software developer

At the end of January 2020, Timbeter announced that it had raised $1 million in investments. The funding round was led by a fund with Russian roots TMT Investments. In addition, EigenKapital, Change Ventures, Contrier Ventures and Wiser have invested in the startup. According to the Russian Venture Telegram channel, TMT Investments provided Timbeter with about $220 thousand. Read more here.

2019

Andrey Kareev through offshore Wissey Trade & Invest is one of the oldest shareholders of TMT

At the beginning of 2019, it became known that Andrei Kareev was behind the oldest shareholder of TMT Investments - offshore Wissey Trade & Invest. According to TMT Investments, Kareev, like Inyutin and the Kirpichenko family, had common interests with Alexander Morgulchik and Herman Kaplun.

As of January 2019, TMT's largest fund shareholders are:

• daughter of Alexander Morgulchik Nally (she owns 25.5% of the shares through the offshore Macmillan Trading Company),
• Herman Kaplun (19% stake via Ramify Consulting),
• Andrey Kareev (18% via Wissey Trade & Invest),
• wife of Maxwell Capital Group President Dmitry Kirpichenko Nika (16.7% through Electric Capital) and
• Zaur Ganiev (8.8%).

Largest exit: sale of a stake in the Wrike service for $22.6 million

In January 2019, TMT Investments reported receiving $22.3 million in cash for its stake in the American Internet service Wrike. Prior to that, TMT reported that Vista Equity Partners became the main investor in Wrike.

This fund bought out TMT Investments' stake in Wrike, which was 3.3%. Initially, the amount of the transaction was supposed to be $22.9 million. Then the parties agreed to reduce this amount by $300 thousand. The fund will receive another $300 thousand later.

Wrike provides software for managing social projects and online collaboration. The service has more than 1 million users, of which 15 thousand are paid.

Based on the amount of TMT Investments' deal with Vista Equity Partners, the entire Wrike company is valued at $684 million.

TMT invested $1 million in the company in 2012. Wrike went on to attract several rounds of investment. After each of them, TMT's share in the company eroded, but the cost of the remaining share increased significantly.

So, in 2013, a group of funds led by Bain Capital invested in Wrike. After that, TMT's share fell to 4.5%, and its value almost doubled. In 2015, a group of funds led by Scale Ventures Partners invested $15 million in Wrike. After that, TMT's share fell to 3.7%, and its value more than doubled, amounting to $4.3 million.

In 2017, TMT sold a 0.3% stake in Wrike for $800 thousand. After that, the cost of the fund's share in the company again doubled - to $8.4 million. In the current deal, the value of the TMT-owned stake in Wrike rose 2.5 times from the previous deal.

Collectively, TMT will receive $23.4 million from investments in Wrike with an initial investment in the company of $1 million. The executive director of the fund, Alexander Selgeev, noted that this is TMT's largest cash exit from its investments^[3].

2018: Additional placement of a 5% stake for $3.5 million

In the spring of 2018, TMT Investments made an additional placement of 5% of its shares for $3.5 million. Part of this package was bought by offshore Nally Morgulchik.

2017: Zaur Ganiev takes 8.8% stake in TMT Investments

In the fall of 2017, Zaur Ganiev received an 8.8% stake in TMT Investments.

2016

Sale of 15% stake in Depositphotos for $5.85 million

The largest cash yield of TMT Investments was the sale of a stake in a photo bank. In Depositphotos 2016, the fund sold 15% of its 24% stake in the photo bank for $5.85 million.

Herman Kaplun receives Artyom Inyutin shares and becomes the largest shareholder

In October 2016, it was announced that Artem Inyutin transferred 2.674 million shares of TMT Investments to another shareholder Herman Kaplun. As a result, Kaplun accumulated 19.28% of all TMT Investments shares.

The deal was cash-strapped, according to documents filed with the LSE. Thus, Kaplun became the largest shareholder of TMT Investments with a share of 19.28%. According to the resource 4-traders, except for him,

• about 18% of the company's shares are owned by Wissey Trade & Invest Ltd.,
• about 16.8% - Eclectic Capital Ltd.,
• about 12.3% of the shares were owned by Nelli Morgulchik, the daughter of Alexander Morgulchik (the third native of RBC).
• Another 10.6% of the company's shares are owned by Alula Trading Ltd., this is another major shareholder^[4].

2015

Stock moves between company founders and their children

On December 29, 2015, from the information disclosed by the London Stock Exchange, TAdviser learned that Artem Inyutin's company Advance Consulting Services Ltd ("Advance") transferred 2,674,490 ordinary TMT shares to Artem Inyutin himself, 727,156 shares of his adult daughter Natalya Inyutina and 666,106 shares to Alexander Morgulchik. After these transactions, Advance ceased to be a shareholder in TMT Investments.

On the same day, the company of Herman Kaplun and Alexander Morgulchik MacMillan Trading transferred 553,874 shares to Herman Kaplun, 727,156 shares of Alexander Morgulchik's adult daughter Nelly Morgulchik and Herman Kaplun daughters Vlada Kaplun and Marina Kedrova for 363,578 shares.

As a result of the transactions, the participation of managers in the capital of the company became as follows:

Herman Kaplun on U.S. Investment Strategy

From an interview with Herman Kaplun with Firrma in June 2015:

We like founders from the countries of the former USSR. We believe they tend to be more focused on business than Native Americans. They are ready to sacrifice a significant part of their rest for the sake of work, which means that they have more hours in their day, they have more time. And they have a different perception of defeat. Americans have an attitude towards a startup as a favorite business, but there is an understanding that this is not the last chance in life - there will be more. And the Russian is afraid that this is the last chance in his life. That's the difference. Plus, of course, we better understand the mentality of people from the former USSR, and they are ours.

We prefer projects that have reached $50,000 in monthly revenue or show rapid audience growth.

Promising for investment in the United States are robotics, SAAS services, the new generation of e-commerce, media, Advertising, Big data.

When the company has already grown more than 10 times, its revenue exceeds, for example, $15 million, and an estimate of about $100 million is no longer our stage. Suppose we invested $1 million, after three years the value of our investment became $10 million. Investing another $1 million is only 10% to improve the result, that is, a very insignificant effect. In addition, the company itself needs to constantly expand the list of investors - this increases liquidity and expands opportunities. And as an investor, we will prefer to invest new money in a smaller company.

We plan to make a separate fund focused exclusively on investments in the United States. It will already be a classic fund, not a venture fund like TMT Investments. We expect to close this deal within a year, so I would not want to name the numbers yet.

2014: Investment in Anews and Adinch

On September 3, 2014, it became known that TMT Investments invested in two startups with Russian founders that are developing abroad. News aggregator Anews received $1 million, and mobile advertising network Adinch - $600 thousand. In both cases, the fund became only one of the participants in investment transactions.

News aggregator Anews managed to raise $3 million. A number of unnamed funds joined the deal, as did Russia's TMT Investments. The latter invested $1 million in the startup, receiving a 9% stake, according to a press release from the fund.

Anews is a media and blog reading platform. The system allows you to form personalized news output from various types of media - news agencies, newspapers, magazines, blogs and social networks. In addition, the user can set the content topic of interest to him.

Anews claims that over 10 months of operation, more than 1.5 million people downloaded their application. Per month, the number of users of the resource increases by 20%.

Anews creates a Russian team, but the company is registered in Delaware, USA. Initially, the 101 Startup fund was invested in the company, co-investors of which are top managers of TMT Investments Herman Kaplun, Alexander Morgulchik and Artem Inyutin. According to CrunchBase, in September 2013, $1.6 million was invested in the company.

In addition, TMT Investments has re-invested in mobile advertising startup Adinch. The fund invested $600 thousand in the company. The total amount of the round was $3 million. As a result of the transaction, the estimated value of the startup increased to $9 million.

Adinch allows targeted advertising campaigns in mobile applications and on mobile websites. Like Anews, the company has Russian founders, but it is registered in Delaware. Adinch has offices in San Francisco, To Moscow and Kyiv.

Adinch was launched in 2012. In February 2013, TMT Investments invested $1 million in the startup. In March 2014, the 101 Startup^[5] fund also invested^[5].

2013

As of June 2013, TMT Investments has 24 Internet companies in its portfolio.

Principles of investment

In June 2013, Herman Kaplun spoke about his vision of the basics of venture capital business on the Internet^[6]

When I first went to America as an investor, I sincerely did not understand why Google, Facebook, Microsoft buy small startups for crazy money. I will plant, I think, 100 programmers in Moscow, and they will do the same in a month. Now I understand that a large company is always less turning than a small one. While she makes a decision, the little one will already give birth to the product. Plus purely financial tricks: buying a startup is an investment, hiring new staff is an increase in costs.

Investments

often lack mathematics. But there are a lot of things related to sensations. Immigrants from traditional banks are trying to calculate everything, see the multipliers, compare. In the high-tech industry, it all doesn't work. Subjective evaluation of the product comes to the fore. Whether he shoots or not. For example, we invested in the Astrid project - a popular planner for. smartphones There are hundreds of such products, but our most popular in. Android Because the founder makes it with love, he has a high level of expertise, beautiful design and everything is sincere.

The product has to be sexy. He should look like he wants to use it. Moreover, this does not mean that everything should work perfectly. Glitches are normal. The main thing is that people can solve their problems.

Many Russian investors are looking at the cost of projects and are in shock. They want to buy a very cheap growing company. But there are no miracles - many have almost no deals. If the company is already growing rapidly, it is not interested in an investor from Russia, it will choose a partner from the top 20 global funds. If you believe in breakthrough technology, in a company, then you need to take the risk and buy a business before others.

E-commerce warms the soul. The investor sees cash flows that can be valued. But a huge number of such projects are tied to advertising. As soon as they stop buying it in gigantic quantities, problems begin.

We don't terrorize companies. We prefer passive investments - we advise something, but we absolutely do not get into the business. When there is a proper team that is focused on the project, it will achieve more if it is not interfered with.

The Russian investor is not ready to give the money and forget about it for ten years. By placing TMT Investments shares on the London Stock Exchange, we expected to give partners an understandable tool. A lot of people want to have an external valuation of investment.

A large

audience is like a room with large windows on Tverskaya. You can set up a building materials store there, or you can set up a restaurant or nightclub. There is already a passing place, monetizing it is the task of technology.

If a startup has a financial model, throw it out right away. It is much more important to see how he builds this model, what he is thinking.

American funds are not ready to pay business founders. They prefer to invest in the company so that the "foundation" does not relax. And it turns out that he has already entered the money, the investor is not. This circumstance allowed DST to enter the global market - they began to pay shareholders.

We have

two Israeli companies in our portfolio, three Ukrainian, one Estonian and only one Russian - Adinch, all other American. Why so few? Russia is not the most developed market. 10 million people can afford a lot, the rest - nothing. We invest in all companies that are capable of making a global product. That's all.

95% of the Russian startup market is stillborn companies. The bulk is the cloning of Western models. In order for the clone to defeat the original in the global market, some stunning idea is needed, but it, as a rule, does not exist. The second layer is a huge number of "fennets," that is, products that are kind of cool, but it is not clear why they are needed. To create an effective incubator, we must select 40 projects at least once every six months. But we do not see so many potential ideas and projects even close.

The dominant ideology of Russian startups - let's do something cool to sell it to a rich investor. Ukraine, where the population is three times smaller than in Russia, has more attractive startups. It's a paradox. Perhaps it is connected with oil money. At the same time, half of the American projects in which we invested were created by former Russians. But there, in California, they're all trying to solve some problem.

Artem Inyutin increases its stake in the company to 19.6%

On 26 November 2013, Advance Consulting Services Ltd. (Advance), which is majority owned by Artyom Inyutin, co-founder and head of TMT's investment division, acquired 3,571,429 TMT Investments PLC shares from Wissey Trade & Invest Ltd.

From then on, Advance owns 19.65% of TMT's share capital. Prior to the completion of this transaction, she owned 1,300,000 shares of TMT Investments, which make up 5.28% of the company's share capital.

Wissey Trade & Invest Ltd. holds 5,000,000 TMT shares, representing 20.17% of the total issued shares.

"I am glad that I managed to increase my stake in TMT, as I believe in the potential of our portfolio companies, as well as in the ability of TMT to make high-quality investments in the future. I think that other shareholders-managers will increase their packages, "Artem Inyutin commented on the deal.

Investing in WeatherMe

In December 2013, the board of directors of TMT Investments PLC announced an investment in WeatherMe OÜ. WeatherMe OÜ (VitalFields) provides a solution that allows you to fully control the operation of the farm via the Internet and a mobile application. By optimizing the schedule of field work and using resources, farmers are able to produce more efficiently.

VitalFields is an analytical tool that helps improve farm productivity by issuing recommendations based on in-depth analysis of data from other farms.

Artem Inyutin, head of investment at TMT Investments, commented: "European farms have a low level of penetration of IT systems, unlike American ones, so we see great potential for cloud growth in this market segment."

The transaction was closed on December 20, 2013, and all agreements reached entered into force. The size of the investment has not been disclosed.

2012

Investment of $1 million in the Wrike service

Wrike was one of the first investment targets for TMT Investments. In 2012, the fund provided the company with a convertible bill of exchange in the amount of $1 million. A year later, the fund converted this bill into a 6.3% stake in Wrike^[3].

Investment in Backblaze and Pipedrive

In July 2012, TMT entered the American market by investing $5 million in a data backup service. Backblaze The deal between TMT Investments and Backblaze was closed on July 24. The companies agreed that TMT Investments will invest about $5 million in Backblaze in two equal tranches in two years. As the investment director of TMT Investments Artem Inyutin told Kommersant, if Backblaze's management fulfills the plan for the year and the company reaches the necessary financial indicators, then the purchase of shares will take place at the maximum estimate - $40 million and TMT will receive about 13.3% of the securities. Otherwise, according to him, the investor in a year will receive a 19% stake at a valuation of $26.3 million, respectively. "The price is floating so that the company's management has motivation for growth during the year," explained Artem Inyutin. The funds received will go to advertising, increase the company's staff, as well as to develop applications for devices on operating systems iOS and. Android

TMT acted in this deal as a "net portfolio investor," added Artem Inyutin. "The ideology of our foundation is not to own control packages," he added.

Having received the money, Backblaze management will develop a strategy for the next year, and then new rounds of financing are possible, says Artem Inyutin. In the future, one of the development options is an IPO, but first you need to increase the customer base, adds Gleb Budman.

In August 2012, it became known that TMT Investments invested $325 thousand in a startup of Estonian origin to develop software for managing online sales - Pipedrive.

First mention of RBC founders as co-owners of TMT

On April 10, 2012, it became known that Herman Kaplun and Alexander Morgulchik (founders of RBC) are TMT advisers, as well as beneficiaries of offshore MacMillan Trading (owns 20% of TMT)^[7]

2011

Purchase 27% at Depositphotos

In 2011, TMT Investments bought 27% of Depositphotos for $3 million. For a young Ukrainian company, the $10 million valuation was an achievement. But in 2013, TMT was very pleased that they were not greedy. "In two years, the company has grown almost 30 times - there are very few of them in Runet," Kaplun notes.

Purchase of Ninua promissory notes

On June 9, 2011, TMT Investments acquired unsecured convertible promissory notes from U.S. company Ninua, which developed the NetworkedBlogs app for Facebook to allow users to read news and blogs (it has 700,000 registered blogs). The amount of investments is $300,000. These securities may be converted into Ninua shares in the next round of financing or when its controlling shareholder changes. Ninua previously raised $125,000 from Dave McClury, 500 startups and the Facebook Fund. Under an agreement with Ninua in the next round of funding, TMT Investments could buy up to a 20% stake in the developer.

First public mention of RBC founders in connection with TMT Investments

On June 9, 2011, it became known that the founders of RBKGerman Kaplun and Alexander Morgulchik are advising TMT Investments, according to documents filed with the London Stock Exchange (LSE). Its board of directors also includes Petr Lanin, a former RBC analyst and ex-CEO of Maxwell Capital. Despite the fact that the company is public, its beneficiaries are not fully disclosed. According to the annual report, TMT Investments shares are owned by six offshore companies^[8].

2010: Creation and IPO of the company

TMT Investments was established in September 2010 to invest in telecommunications and technology companies, follows from its report.

Already in December 2010, she held an IPO at AIM, an alternative to the LSE site, where she raised $20 million. For this money, she sold all her shares to six offshore companies.

Small companies regularly attract money to AIM, which often do not have any assets, except for licenses, ideas (as in the case of Internet projects), etc., explains a source in one of the Western investment banks. For example, start-up mining companies that have nothing but licenses to develop fields whose resources have not been proven. If the production is successful, investors will find themselves in a significant profit. This is a highly speculative and high-risk market, summarizes the investment banker.

Since its inception, the company's consultants have been the founders of the RBC media holding Herman Kaplun and Alexander Morgulchik. After the offering, their offshore MacMillan Trading took a 20% stake in TMT Investments. Offshore companies Caninton Trading and Wissey Trade & Invest each received 25% of the company's shares, another 15% were held by offshore Menostar Holdings, associated with the Maxwell Capital group.

In its annual report, TMT Investments promised it would make three investments within 18 months.

Notes