Like Center

"Like Center" is a business school offering entrepreneurship development courses. The company, which operates in the EdTech market, offers training programs for beginners and current entrepreneurs, as well as for those who plan to open their business. One of the features of training in the center is the introduction of new business tools immediately during the program.

History

2025: Ayaz Shabutdinov pleaded guilty in a fraud case

Entrepreneur Ayaz Shabutdinov - co-founder of Like Center LLC, which has been in jail for more than a year on charges of fraud - pleaded guilty in full at a court hearing. This was announced on May 5, 2025 by representatives of the entrepreneur. Read more here.

2021: Investment from Mikhail Peregudov

The founder of the "Food Party" Mikhail Peregudov invested in Ayaz Shabutdinov's company "Like Center." This became known on May 17, 2021.

At the same time, Peregudov joined the board of directors of the company. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed.

Like Center is a technology education company for entrepreneurs. Like Center programs are designed for both micro and small business segments. The company sells its services through a federal network of partners, its main office is located in Moscow. The board of directors of Like Center, headed by Ayaz Shabutdinov, includes the founder of the investment company A.Partners Aleksei Solovyov, representing the interests of Sergei Solonin.

• 1 XLIFFService: Error in XliffFile2XliffString method.

In 2020, Like Center took 6th place among representatives of online education in the RBC rating, and also entered the top 100 innovative Edtech companies in Russia and SNG.- >

Expertise of professional investors provides great support in expanding our business, - comments Ayaz Shabutdinov. - We highly appreciate the experience of working with Sergey Solonin and his team, and I am sure that Mikhail Peregudov's participation in the development of "Like Center" will be just as fruitful. We expect that the knowledge of the added board members will help us close a major round of investments by the end of 2021. And by the age of 23-24, we plan to lead the company to an IPO.

{{quote 'In addition to strong financial results, the Like Center team manages to create a really high-quality product, primarily in the education segment for small businesses - Mikhail Peregudov explains his decision. - Student results and the strong product metrics I have observed in the last six months will, in my view, lead to further sustainable business growth. }}

2020: Sale of 10.5% of the company to Qiwi co-founder Sergei Solonin

At the end of October 2020, it became known about the sale of 10.5% of Like Center to the co-founder of the Qiwi group, Sergei Solonin. The businessman received a stake in Like Business LLC through one of his funds, the name of which was not disclosed, as well as the value of the transaction.

The director of the accelerator FRIIDmitry Kalaev, in a conversation with Forbes, estimated the entire Like Center company at 0.8-1.2 billion rubles, so Solonin could pay 80-100 million rubles for the share.

The founder of "Like Center" Ayaz Shabutdinov told Forbes that the deal took place in two rounds: the first took place in September 2019 - then Solonin bought 5%. In February 2020, the entrepreneur exercised an option to buy another 5.5%.

Co-founder of Qiwi Sergey Solonin

It is noted that as a result of the joint work of Solonin and Like Center, the following happened:

• formation of a new board of directors headed by the founder of the investment company A.Partners Aleksei Solovyov, he took up the company's strategy, determining the main directions of its development;
• integration of a new basic component into the center's strategy - the company's social impact on society, including the creation of a system for measuring social effects and non-financial reporting with the participation of the Sol Center;
• creation of a fund inside the "Like Center" for investment in graduate projects - the fund has already invested in 19 startups;
• creating an educational IT platform "Toolbox";
• introduction of metrics and reports that mark changes in the company's social and financial performance.^[1]

Notes