Last week, Russian web- and video-conferencing software company Webinar.ru announced the completion of a $7.3 million Series A round of funding led by Intel Capital and the EBRD. The deal also involved Flint Capital, a Moscow-based venture fund operating internationally, and VTB Capital, the venture arm of state-owned bank VTB, which invested in the startup in a previous round in 2011.
A pioneer on the Russian web-conferencing market, Webinar.ru claims to serve several thousand corporate clients and corporate universities, with over one million people participating in webinars on the company’s platform each month.
Following its merger with COMDI in 2012, the company also provides online broadcasting services by using a proprietary platform for video broadcasting. The company thus presents itself as “the unquestionable leader on the Russian web conference market.”
The global market for conferencing applications will reach $5 billion by 2018, with an average annual growth of 8%, according to IDC.
Intel Capital still in the game
The news that such prominent international players as Intel Capital and the EBRD have invested in a Russian startup has come as a relief to those who fear that Western investors could completely withdraw from the Russian startup market due to the current international tensions.
Intel Capital, which stands as one of the most active international venture funds in both Russia and Ukraine, has a clear position on the matter. While “monitoring the current developments in the two countries, we are not involved in politics in any form, and our offices in Russia and Ukraine are fully functional,” Intel Capital Investment Director Maxim Krasnykh told East-West Digital News in June.
Linguistic subtleties at the EBRD
The EBRD’s attitude, meanwhile, looks more ambiguous. In late July, a majority of the bank’s shareholders, including “all EU member states and several non-EU shareholders,” announced that, “for the time being, they will be unable to approve new investment projects in the Russian Federation” – a statement that many understood as a decision to stop investing in Russia.
Unsurprisingly, last month, the EBRD pulled out of a planned joint investment fund with Rusnano, the state-owned nanotech corporation.
Asked by East-West Digital News why, in such circumstances, the bank was still investing in a Russian startup, Richard Wallis of the bank’s press service explained that “the Webinar transaction was signed with the EBRD in early July 2014,” i.e. before the July 23 announcement, which applied only to new projects.
Morever, said Wallis, the July 23 announcement was a “guidance” issued by “a majority of shareholders” on the EBRD’s board, “but not a formal decision” by the board itself or by the bank as such.
“All EBRD projects must be approved by the Board representing the 64 countries and two international institutions (the EU and the EIB), which own the EBRD,” explained Wallis, leaving space for speculation that the EBRD could continue investing in Russia, should its board approve further transactions.
