A group of top Russian and foreign investors is committed to inject $40 million in ivi.ru, Russia’s largest online video platform in terms of revenue. The exact terms of the deal, which is set to be closed by late July, have not been disclosed.
These investors include Russia’s sovereign fund RDIF, Mubadala Investment Company (UAE), Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund IV, Flashpoint VC, RTP Global, and Winter Capita, the RDIF announced.
“This investment will give an impetus to ivi’s development and will allow us to improve our content offering for our audience, in particular, by expanding the production of our own unique content,” ivi founder and CEO Oleg Tumanov said.
Earlier in April, Russian telecom operator MTS considered acquiring ivi, estimating its value at 20 billion rubles (about $309 million at the current exchange rate); however, the parties failed to reach an agreement.
Launched in 2010, ivi now occupies 42% of the legal Russian online video market. The company initially received $30 million from ru-Net (the previous name for RTP Global), Tiger Global Management, Frontier Ventures, and. In 2011, in a second round of funding, it received another $40 million from the same investors and Baring Vostok, the famous US-led PE firm.
In 2015, ivi.ru secured $3.5 million from Buran Venture Capital. The same year, the service expanded its operations to 11 countries of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine.
