ABRT

Investments

Investing in the Internet, ABRT usually acts as the partner of the Luxembourg fund Mangrove Capital Partners (the early investor of Skype). Among the supported projects — Quintura search engine, the developer of the social games Drimmi (it is based by the former president of Mamba and Odnoklassniki Nikita Sherman) and KupiVIP shopping club.

History

Timashev got acquainted in the summer of 1985 in the hostel of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology with the partner in business Andrey Baronov Ratmir: both came to be translated from the institutes. Timashev - from Ufa, from the second year Ufa aviation, Baronov - from Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology. Neither that nor another managed come to Physics and Technology faculty from the first. Baronov was failed by sight, Timashev did not gather additionally points. But it was succeeded to be translated to both without problems.

Timashev and Baronov together studied and together earned a living. At first in construction crews, then got a job in one of the country's first construction cooperatives. "And on the sixth rate of Physics and Technology faculty we already began to find objects", - Timashev says. There was enough money earned during the summer then for all year.

In 1992 already the graduate student of MIPT Timashev filed documents to several American universities. Out of curiosity, and at all not because wanted to be the scientist and in the new Russian economy could not find any peace, he tells.

It was admitted to Ohio University in provincial Columbus. The student's visa did not grant the right neither to get a job, nor to be engaged in own case. He felt the free person only in 1995 when his family acquired at last the right to residence in the USA.

Timashev immediately started own business. His Russian friends were engaged in assembly of computers, and it began to supply them parts: memory, hard drives, graphics cards. He managed to improve the strong relations with large American distributors - Ingram Micro, Merysell, Techdata.

"We bought approximately for $100,000 a month, - Timashev tells. - Distributors sent us the directory to several thousand names". These directories also pushed Timasheva on the idea of online store. "Then all magazines wrote that the Internet will replace with itself almost everything, it will even be possible not to go to church", - he tells. The computer genius was necessary for Timashev for the implementation of "the revolutionary idea". And in another visit to Moscow he called the friend Baronov to America.

Thanks to it in only several months the online store safely earned - much earlier, than the well-known amazon.com. "We started too early", - Timashev is sure now. In the technology industry it is very important - to hit the nail: not too early and not too late, he says. "I on the Internet made the first purchase in 1999, and tried to sell in the 1996th", - Timashev laughs.

The only thing good that turned out from an invention with online store, - Baronov learned Windows NT, Timashev tells. And in half a year became one of world-best experts on this platform. Well also found in it, of course, several holes.

And then Baronov on the quiet wrote a small applet - "krekalka" - and posted it On the Internet. Everything that this program was able to do, - to open passwords on remote computers running Windows NT. Literally for one night it was downloaded by more people, than was visitors at online store which had to be advertized on all Network.

Why not to try this program to sell, entrepreneurs thought. But it is necessary to position it not as "krekalka" and as the product checking force of protection of the password was offered by Timashev. Since then they and worked in a tandem. Barons wrote programs, Timashev thought out as to advertize them and to sell.

The packet which entrepreneurs called "The red button", or Red Button became one of intermediate results. The program used weak points in protection of Windows NT and allowed the owner to get access with the administrator's rights to any computer in network. Couple of other utilities fixed this problem. Entrepreneurs suggested to correct Microsoft the hole detected by them, but that had to tell the clients as as it was corrected, and publicly to thank Baronova and Timasheva. The corporation refused. Her representatives just suggested Baronov and Timashev to work as consultants. Those requested $30,000 and once again were refused. "Then we posted "The red button" On the Internet. In couple of days, on April 2, 1997, they put on the market two utilities eliminating Red Button threat.

Aelita Software

On April 2, 1997 Timashev and Baronov consider a birthday of the still main achievement - Aelita Software companies. For 1997 they managed to naprodavat utilities for $200,000, in the 1998th - on 1.5 million. "We learned to put on the market good software products. Baronov became one of world-best programmers, and I became the cool marketing specialist", - Timashev says. And then the Internet boom began, and to any American who wrote half-programs on a BASIC, right there offered salary from $50,000 a year. Therefore Baronov moved to St. Petersburg and created division of development, and Timashev remained in the USA with group of sellers and marketing specialists.

In 2002 in Aelita Software third-party investors appeared. "We attracted them not because of money, - Timashev says. - Our annual turnover then exceeded $15 million, and was $8 million cash in the bank". Entrepreneurs needed three things, he tells. First, they wanted to deliver a peculiar quality label on business. Secondly, the third-party look was necessary. Thirdly, there was a wish to expand communications in the industry.

The Insight Venture Partners fund was ideal for all these purposes. Scott Maxwell, at that time the operating officer of Insight Venture Partners, and nowadays managing partner of Open View Ventures venture fund, got acquainted with Timashev at the end of 2001. "We looked for objects for investments and contacted creators of Aelita Software", - Maxwell told.

Aelita Software received $10 million in exchange for slightly more than a third of actions.

By 2004 Aelita Software pushed aside two closest competitors and came very close to the leader of a segment - Quest Software company. But in Aelita 300 programmers in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in Quest - only 100 people in Canada worked. Aelita did more software products and quicker put them on the market.

"Us purchased because were afraid that we will be ahead of them", - Timashev says. In 2004 recent competitors hit on hands: Aelita Software was sold for $115 million.

Insight received $47 million. "Reasonable return on investment, - Maxwell says. - On average, the companies in which we put brought us fivefold return. In this case the coefficient made 4.7".

Baronov and Timashev got about a half of all amount ($57.5 million). About a year Timashev worked in Quest company. And then went to free floating. His new hobby - the small venture fund called on the first letters of names of founders of ABRT. "We learned much at Insight and would like to work by their principles, i.e. to find in Russia the software companies in the growth phase, to help them money and council, and then to find for them the strategic investor", - he says.

ABRT

Therefore first of all Timashev and Baronov began to look for the companies which business model is similar to Aelita Software. In other words, the software product should be developed in Russia, but to be competitive in the world market. The total volume of ABRT fund - about $10 million (2005). About a half is already enclosed, he tells. In a portfolio of fund generally software companies - Acronis, InvisibleCRM, Amust Software, Veeam Software. The last two were created by Timashev and Baronov. But there is both a search system of new generation Quintura, and social network based on mobile communication.

Yakov Sadchikov, the president of Quintura, got acquainted with Timashev in the summer of 2005. "I sent it the presentation, and at the first meeting we found a common language, - Sadchikov says. - In a month we went to St. Petersburg to Baronov and then hit on hands". "We invest own money therefore we also make decisions quickly", - Timashev says.

The ABRT fund became the first external investor of the project, Sadchikov tells. But less than in a year the help came from the West. In 2006 the visual Quintura search service supported the Mangrove Capital Partners venture fund well-known for successful investments into Skype. Barons and Timashev in total were enclosed in Quintura by $0.5 million, participants of the transaction note. Speak about return so far early. We believe in success, but only in about three years it will become clear what its size, Sadchikov says. "Fortunately, we have understanding investors", - he notes. Timashev considers that for 80% the destiny of the project will be decided in a year.

In the international practice the lower bound of the size of venture fund - $100-150 million, Ilya Balashov, the associate director of department of the alternate investments says "Alliance ROSNO Upravleniye aktivami". To be successful, it is not enough to fund to support 3-4 projects. It is in advance clear that not all projects will be successful. If projects 10-15, then statistics begins to work and successful projects can counterbalance unsuccessful, he notes.