Upmarket, a service that helps e-merchants trade on marketplace, has agreed a 170 million ruble ($2.2 million) investment plan with OKS Group. The investor may get a 31% stake in the company by mid-2021, reports business daily Kommersant.
From content creation, to marketing strategy, to logistic support, Upmarket helps merchants place goods on three of Russia’s leading B2C marketplaces: Ozon, Wildberries, and Yandex subsidiary Beru. The company has its own warehouse in St. Petersburg. .
According to a study conducted last year by Upgrade, an e-commerce event agency associated with East-West Digital News, 74% of SMB executives and owners are willing to outsource content production to trade on marketplaces.
“Upmarket’s services will undoubtedly remain in-demand in the short term, but this may change as all large marketplaces are developing their own solution to automate content creation,” notes Upgrade General Manager Vlad Shirobokov.
Diversified investments
Founded in 2006, OKS Group touts itself as “a leading media- and technology‑focused investment group that supports businesses in Russia and across the globe.” A shareholder of Dentsu Russia, the group has stakes in a variety of tech companies including:
- Bioniq, a London-based company that is developing a personalized data-driven health system;
- e.Queo, which develops an innovative SaaS HR management tool;
- Medportal, an advertising company that owns and manages three major Russian health portals;
- Mindbox, leading Russian cloud SaaS CRM platform for marketing automation;
- Mycelium, an international cryptocurrency wallet;
- uCoz, the leading online website constructing platform in Russian-speaking markets.
OKS Group also was an early investor in WayRay, one of Russia’s international startup success stories.
The group says its assets under management now top $350 million.
