In late August Multibutik announced it secured 190 million rubles (approximately $2.9 million at the current exchange rate) from the Far East High-Technology Fund. The news was reported by the Russian business daily RBC, which cited exchanges with company representatives. The term of the deal have not been disclosed.
Also known as Cinemood, this Moscow-based startup has developed mini cinema projectors for children. Its flagship product is a cloud-connected mini cinema projector that can project content onto any surface.
Cinemood offers expertly curated content so that users can pick from movies, cartoons, audio stories, digital books and fairytale adventures, according to the company.
“This wireless and totally portable projector for kids means that spontaneous movie nights outside on the side of the house are completely possible,” Mashable wrote a few years ago, reporting on “the coolest gadgets for Generation Z.”
Founded in 2014, Multibutik iinitially raised $200,000 via StartTrack.ru, a Russian online investor community, and more than $150,000 via Indiegogo. In early 2017 the startup secured a first $2.5 million investment from the IIDF.
In late 2018 Multibutik raised around $4 million from the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian), the Russian-Belarusian Investment Fund (RBF Ventures) and a few Russian business angels.
The latest capital injection will be used for “development in the [Russian] Far-East” and on “Asian markets,” writes RBC. Multibutik will also expand its production capacity and develop a new version of its product.
RBF Ventures Managing Partner Mikhail Fedotov sees in Multibutik “a company with international ambitions.” “It makes good use of capital injections: in 2019 its sales grew seven-fold in the USA and two-fold in Russia,” RBC quoted him as saying.
The Far East High-Technology Fund, which provided the latest funding, was launched in 2017 by three major Russian government-backed institutions — the Far East Development Fund, national fund of funds RVC and nanotech giant Rusnano.
