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Main article: Venture capital investments in Russia
Fort Ross Ventures, a management company, focuses on investing in startups in the United States, Israel and Russia. Target companies work in areas such as financial technology, cloud technology, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, cybersecurity and marketplaces, and enterprise automation.
According to information for September 2020, two funds are under the management of Fort Ross Ventures. The total amount of liabilities in funds managed by Fort Ross Ventures is $345 million. The funds invest in startups generating from $7 million in revenue and growing by 100 percent or more a year.
Investors in funds managed by Fort Ross Ventures are both Russian and foreign individuals and corporations. Fort Ross Ventures cooperates with large Russian corporations and helps to develop internal innovations for companies such as Sberbank, Lanit, MTS, Megafon, Kh5 Retail Group, NLMK.
Relations with Sberbank
For 2018, Sberbank provides its entire R&D resource for due diligence and development of investment projects. Sberbank spends about $40 million a year on specialists who work in research laboratories, and FortRoss can use their exclusive expertise. Not a single fund in the world has such competencies, Victor Orlovsky is sure. Top managers of Sberbank are involved in the activities of FortRoss Ventures. The first deputy chairman Lev Khasis is a member of the investment committee of the first fund and communicates weekly with Orlovsky, communication with Gref takes place a little less often.
In addition, Sberbank helps in the replication and distribution of products and services of those startups in which FortRoss invests. For example, thanks to Sberbank, GridGain received 20 more financial institutions outside Russia as clients.
History
2022
Investing in Rookout
The investment fund of Viktor OrlovskyFort Ross Ventures has invested in the Israeli platform Rookout to find bugs in the program code. This became known on August 23, 2022 from the press release of a technology startup. Read more here.
Investing in Deci
On July 13, 2022, Israeli deep learning company Deci announced the completion of a $25 million Series B funding round. Read more here.
Fort Ross Ventures pulled out of Kryon equity
On February 15, 2022, Fort Ross Ventures exited Kryon's equity by selling its stake to Nintex. As noted in the fund, from 2019, when he invested in Kryon, until 2022, "the startup showed growth and entered the Russian market." Read more here.
Investing in SegmentStream
On February 7, 2022, Fort Ross Ventures announced an investment in SegmentStream, a British technology company with Russian-speaking founders. The fund led the seed round by $2.7 million. Read more here.
Investing in online navigator for Fura truck drivers
On January 18, 2022, it became known about the investment of 600 million rubles in Fura. The investment company Fort Ross Ventures invested the most in the startup (the amount was not disclosed), the Flashpoint Venture Debt fund, the founder of the ATI freight exchange Svyatoslav Wilde and others also took part in the transactions. Read more here.
2021
Investing in California-based online life insurance platform Ladder
In November 2021, it became known about investing $100 million in Ladder. The most funds in the startup were invested by the venture capital company Thomvest Ventures and the OMERS Growth Equity fund. The Series B funding round also included the Fort Ross Late Stage Fund. The transaction parameters are not disclosed. Read more here.
First closing of late stage fund
On November 17, 2021, Fort Ross Ventures, focusing on investments in startups in the United States and Israel, announced the first closure of its $100 million Fort Ross Late Stage Fund. In 2020, it announced the launch of a $200 million fund with a priority of investments in rounds of the D + series of leading American, European, Asian technology leaders with the potential for IPO or strategic sales within 2-3 years.
In addition, Fort Ross Ventures is expanding the geography of its presence, adding Europe to its already traditional areas, maintaining its focus on financial and cloud technologies, services for automating business processes of companies, AI/Machine learning, cybersecurity, EdTech, FoodTech, etc.
Immediately after the first closure, Fort Ross Late Stage Fund invested in California-based insurance startup Ladder in a Series D funding round that totaled $100 million.
{{quote 'author = said Victor Orlovsky, founder and general partner of Fort Ross Ventures. |
We are very pleased with the outcome of the Fort Ross Late Stage Fund fundraising. This success confirms the correctness of our chosen strategy and confirms that our experience, expertise and international connections, combining corporations with the best technical and management talents, can be as useful for more mature companies as for startups in the early stages. I am convinced that the combination of proprietary technology and leadership skills of the Ladder team will allow the company to join unicorns such as Standard.ai, EToro and Clearcover in the Fort Ross Ventures portfolio.}}
Investing $10 million in Insurify
On September 2, 2021, Fort Ross Ventures announced TAdviser that it had invested in a American startup licensed agent for various types. The volume of the fund in the insurance Insurify investments company amounted to 10 million from dollars the total investment of round B - $100 million. More. here
Collaboration with ADV LaunchPad
On August 16, 2021, Fort Ross Ventures announced a partnership with ADV LaunchPad.
The partnership of venture capital market players implies that companies in the field of advertising and marketing technologies will be able to receive not only start-up investments in product development within the framework of the ADV Launchpad venture studio, but will also be able to apply for funding from Fort Ross Ventures. Thus, the companies with which Fort Ross Ventures and ADV Launchpad will work will have access to the Fort Ross network of global contacts, projects and funds on the one hand and the ability to test product hypotheses with local and international advertisers and scale the business through partners of the AV group (IPG and Havas) on the other.
At the same time, Fort Ross Ventures and ADV note that the partnership is built on the win-win principle, in which all participants are won. The ADV Launchpad examination is based on the fact that the studio takes ideas at the start, forms teams and brings the company to the first result, sufficient for external investors to consider the project. The Fort Ross Seed Fund, in turn, invests in Seed and Series A stages in companies with a ready-made technological solution, the presence of at least the first revenue and the ambitions of global expansion.
Thus, thanks to the partnership, Fort Ross Ventures is expanding the funnel of promising companies from the Adtech/Martech segments, whose solutions have been verified by one of the major advertising groups in Russia. ADV LaunchPad, for its part, receives additional expertise from one of the global venture capital funds and an additional funnel of companies at the pre-seed stage. And startup teams are gaining opportunities to start working with Fort Ross Ventures portfolio projects and additional expertise to test hypotheses in the global market.
Vadim Dyakov, Director of Innovation of the FAR and CEO of the ADV Launch Pad, who has now joined the FRV team as a venture partner of the Fort Ross Seed Fund, will oversee the partnership direction from the FAR.
{{quote 'author = said Victor Orlovsky, founder and general partner of Fort Ross Ventures. |
We are starting to partner with ADV LaunchPad and believe this partnership will prove fruitful for both parties. The market for marketing technology is growing year on year - BDO and WARC estimate it is worth an estimated $121.5 billion in total as of August 2021, with annual investment in the industry at just under $2 billion. I am sure that the ADV LaunchPad examination will allow us to select and support the best projects in these areas,}}
Investing in the Buyk grocery delivery service
At the end of June 2021, it became known about investing $46 million in the Buyk service. The most invested funds were Fort Ross Ventures ($15 million), Citius ($16 million), this amount also includes funds from unnamed international business angels) and CM Ventures ($15 million). Read more here.
Investing in Explorium's data collection platform
In mid-June 2021, the Israeli data collection platform Explorium completed a series C funding round, in which it raised $75 million. The investment round was led by Insight Partners, and existing investors also invested in Explorium: Fort Ross Ventures, Zeev Ventures, Emerge, F2 Capital, 01 Advisors, Dynamic Loop Capital. Read more here.
Investing $4.6 million in car insurer Clearcover
On April 19, 2021, Fort Ross Ventures announced an investment the American in a company engaged in. insurance cars Clearcover The fund's investment in the company amounted to 4.6 million of dollars the total Round D investment - $200 million. More. here
Investing $10 million in store automation systems developer Standard Cognition
In February 2021, the developer of store automation systems Standard Cognition raised $150 million in investments as part of the Series C round. Investors included the Fort Ross Ventures fund, which on March 15 announced an investment of $10 million. Read more here.
Investing in marketing platform developer Blueshift
On February 24, 2021, Blueshift announced that it had raised $30 million. The Series C funding round was led by the Fort Ross Ventures fund, which invested $10 million. Avatar Growth Capital, Softbank Ventures Asia, Storm Ventures, Conductive Ventures and Nexus Venture Partners also participated in the deal. Read more here.
Investing in the Rescale Cloud Platform
In early February 2021, Rescale raised $50 million in investments as part of the Series C round. Investors included the Victor Orlovsky Fund, which invested $10 million in the startup. Taking into account this transaction, the volume of investments received by Rescale reached $100 million. Read more here.
2020
Investing $10 million in ride park management platform developer Ridecell
In early December 2020, Ridecell announced the closure of the Series C investment round, as a result of which the company raised $45 million in investments. Among those who invested in the developer of the platform for managing transport parks is the Fort Ross Ventures fund, which invested $10 million. Read more here.
Launch of Fort Ross Late Stage Fund to invest in advanced startups
In early November 2002, the management company Fort Ross Ventures announced the launch of the Fort Ross Late Stage Fund, a venture capital fund that will invest in advanced startups. Read more here.
Creation of a third fund for 8 billion rubles
On September 10, 2020, Fort Ross Ventures announced the creation of a third fund. Its size is 8 billion rubles. Of this amount, Sberbank intends to invest up to 2 billion rubles. Read more here.
Investing $10m in Mynd Property Management
On June 29, 2020, it became known that Fort Ross Ventures invested American startup in the field. The fund's investment in real estate Mynd Property Management the company amounted dollars to 10 million of the total Round C investment - $41.5 million. More here
Sale of interest in CoverWallet
On January 17, 2020, venture capital fund Fort Ross Ventures announced the sale of its stake in CoverWallet for $6.5 million. It was bought by Aon, a technology integrator in the field of insurance and health care. Read more here.
Participation in the Series D funding round of startup Roofstock
On January 13, 2020, Sberbank"" TAdviser announced that Fort Ross Ventures had invested in a California startup in the field that real estate Roofstock completed financings a 50 million Series D round. dollars Other well-known venture capital funds, USA including Lightspeed Ventures, Canvas Ventures, Khosla Ventures,, Citi Bain Capital Ventures and others, also participated in the capital of the company. More. here
2019
Investing in Kryon
On December 10, 2019, Sberbank told TAdviser that Fort Ross Ventures has invested in Kryon, a full-cycle robotic process automation (RPA) market company that allows organizations to continuously optimize processes and change their understanding of the workplace of the future. Read more here.
Investing in Instamart
On August 13, 2019, Sberbank announced that the management company Fort Ross Ventures will invest in Instamart, one of the leaders of the Russian food tech market. Read more here.
Investing in warehouse robot developer Fetch Robotics
On July 23, 2019, it became known that Fetch Robotics had attracted about $46 million in investments. Among the investors of the manufacturer of warehouse robots was Sberbank's venture fund SBT Venture Fund II. More details here.
IPO of Tufin portfolio company in New York
The company, Tufin Software Technologies ON cyber security IPO New York a supplier in the field, held an initial public offering of shares () on the stock exchange, reported TAdviser Sberbank on April 15, 2019. According to a statement from representatives (part of the Fort Ross Ventures ecosystem), Sberbank Tufin's IPO was the first major liquidity event of a venture capital fund portfolio company. The venture SBT Venture Fund I L.P. capital fund, run by Fort Ross Ventures, was one of Tufin's early investors. More. here
2018
Investment in Israeli startup ThetaRay
The first investment of the SBT Venture Fund II, one of whose investors is Sberbank, was the Israeli startup ThetaRay. RBC was told about this by the co-owner of the management company of the FortRoss Ventures Victor Orlovsky fund. ThetaRay specializes in detecting financial crimes and early-stage money laundering using artificial intelligence technology.
SBT Venture Fund II, according to Orlovsky, participated in the round of raising funding for ThetaRay, which took place in July 2018. During the round, the company raised $30 million. Among the investors, in addition to SBT Venture Fund II, were Jerusalem Venture Partners, the largest Israeli bank Hapoalim, the crowdfunding platform OurCrowd, General Electric, the investment division Silicon Valley Bank and other companies. After the last round, the total investment in the startup reached $60 million. Orlovsky did not name the share of the fund.
SBT Venture Fund II growth to $120 million Sberbank funds less than 50%
Initially, the size of the SBT Venture Fund II was $75 million. By September 2018, it had grown to $120 million, of which less than half were Sberbank funds, the rest were third-party private investors. Victor Orlovsky said that the fund has "more than ten investors - both legal entities and individuals." The maximum volume is declared at $200 million. By 2022, the fund should end the investment period, and in 2027 - get out of assets and return money to investors.
The fund intends to invest in startups in the markets of the USA, Israel and Russia in the field of fintech, artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as cloud services, cybersecurity and marketplaces. In October, the fund reported that investments in one project will be $5-10 million.
2017
The amount of funds under the management of the company - $200 million
According to November 2017, FortRoss Ventures is an international company (previously called SBT Venture Capital and MoneyTime Ventures) that invests in AI, fintech, IoT, marketplaces, cloud technologies and blockchain projects. The amount of funds under the management of the company is $200 million. It works closely with Sberbank to find, evaluate and promote the fund's portfolio companies in Russia and abroad.
SBT Venture Fund II $75 million launch
In October 2017, FortRoss Ventures announced the launch of SBT Venture Fund II in the amount of $75 million, by the end of the year its size should reach $200 million.
2016
Uber investment
On July 7, 2016, Sberbank's venture fund SBT Venture Fund I announced its investment in the Uber taxi ride-hailing service. Details of the deal were not disclosed.
It is known that the Sberbank fund took part in the investment round G, in which Uber raised about $12.5 billion and received a business valuation of $66 billion.[1]
 | We're excited to invest in Uber. I am confident that this is a promising investment, both in terms of the potential of our cooperation and in terms of investment potential for the fund, "said Victor Orlovsky, Managing Partner of MoneyTime Ventures (managed by SBT Venture Fund I). |  |
Sberbank notes that the deal with Uber "opens up opportunities for a variety of forms of cooperation in the interests of customers."
| | Investments from Sberbank will help us develop and effectively serve even more users and driver partners in our country, "added Dmitry Izmaylov, General Manager of Uber Russia. | |
Sberbank intends not only to invest in Uber, but also to use other opportunities for interaction with this Internet service. The largest credit institution in Russia is actively developing cooperation with companies in the new digital economy and is interested in improving the quality of customer service when they use popular digital services, including on-demand services. Sberbank's digital services should become a guarantor of reliability and convenience when customers interact with other Sberbank products and services, the bank said in a statement.
Investment in Russian GridGain
In February 2016, MoneyTime Ventures, together with Sberbank and funds Almaz Capital and RTP Ventures (one of Leonid Boguslavsky's funds ), invested $15 million in GridGain Systems, an IT company founded by immigrants from Russia .
$40 million invested in 10 companies
According to MoneyTime Ventures, by the beginning of 2016, the fund invested about $40 million in 10 companies. Among the companies in which the fund invested are Identity Mind Global fraud prevention software for online trading and payment services, Etoro investment social network, WalkBase marketing and analytical retail platform.
At this time, MoneyTime Ventures is based in Russia, investing in fintech startups in the USA, Israel, Switzerland, Canada, Great Britain and Finland. The managing partner of the fund is the general partner of the venture capital fund of Sberbank Victor Orlovsky.
Gref convinces Orlovsky to invest his own funds in the fund
After some time, Viktor Orlovsky himself volunteered to manage the fund. Gref agreed, but on condition that Orlovsky invest personal money in the project. "Everyone knows how to manage the money of the bank, and I want you to earn and lose with us, treat this money as your own," recalls Orlovsky Oryol wishes. As a result, about 90% of the fund's funds are state bank money, the rest is money from Orlovsky and Yakov Nakhmanovich, general partner of FortRoss Ventures.
Renaming to FortRoss Ventures
Sberbank made the company independent (renamed MoneyTime, and then FortRoss Ventures), since it is more difficult for corporate funds to get to the best deals and their decision-making speed is much lower, Victor Orlovsky explained.
2013: First Investment: Sequent Software
In July 2013 the AmericanSequent Software , it announced that it had raised $12 million. The funds were invested by the Technology Venture Fund (Sberbank SBT Venture Capital) with Opus Capital and Jado Investments, which had already invested in this project before.
This is the first investment of the SBT Venture Capital fund. Victor Orlovsky justifies the investment in Sequent Software by the senior vice president of Sberbank by the fact that the fund is "very interested in topics related to security and mobile applications." This topic is also relevant for Sberbank, so the fund is working on options and project initiatives for implementation in the bank.
Sberbank has long been interested in online payments. At the end of 2012, he even established control (75% minus 1 ruble) over the Yandex.Money system for $60 million. Yandex.Money is interested in mobile payment protection technologies, says company representative Asya Melkumova, but there is no cooperation with Sequent Software on specific products yet[2].
2012: Sberbank creates $100 million SBT Venture Capital fund
The SBT Venture Capital fund was created by Sberbank in February 2012 with a volume of $100 million.
Notes
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