Disconfirming the widespread view that the Russian e-commerce market has lost its appeal to venture investors, luxury fashion retailer Aizel.ru received a capital injection of €2.5 million earlier this year, the first tranche of an investment of up to €25 million over three years. The deal remained undisclosed until late May, when news of it appeared in the Russian media.
The funds were provided by asset management firm Bonum Capital, which received a 41% share in the company. An earlier investor, Genome Ventures, holds an 18% share, with company founder Aisel Trudel owning the remaining 41%.
The company was founded in 2011 as an offline boutique targeting wealthy women with a clothing and accessories assortment from international luxury brands. This past April Juliana Gordon, a former executive at Fastlane Ventures, Ozon.ru and PayPal Russia, was appointed Aizel’s general manager.
While many online and offline luxury retailers focus essentially on Moscow and St. Petersburg, Aizel has seen the regions drive most of its growth. “Our flagships are the Stavropol and Krasnodar regions [in southern Russia — editor], Chechnya, northern Ossetia and Dagestan [in the Caucasus] as well as Kazan, Ekaterinburg, Ufa, Tyumen, Yakutsk and Vladivotsok,” Gordon said at eDays, an e-commerce conference held by East-West Digital News last week in Moscow.
“We aim to provide fashionable Russian women with access to top brands, a European-stye assortment and quality client service regardless of their geographic location. While enjoying a favorable trend on the Russian e-commerce market, we are working on the key task of attracting a large and loyal customer base,” she added.
Unlike popular online flash-sales services KupiVip and KupiLuxe, Aizel.ru usually does not offer discounts.
Founded in 2013, Bonum Capital initially focused on investing in listed companies. It now has an industry-agnostic strategy, with Aizel.ru being the first e-commerce company in its portfolio. Among Bonum’s main investors is Suleiman Kerimov, a Russian billionaire (31st on the Forbes list) and member of the Russian parliament.
Last year the domestic e-commerce market amounted to approximately $15 billion, if taking into account only physical goods and not including cross-border sales, according to EWDN research.
Sources: Vedomosti, Forbes Russia.
