A pool of individual investors has put 431 million rubles (around $5.6 million at the current exchange rate) in Beri Zaryad, a Moscow-based smartphone charging service.
As reported by Forbes, the investors include Alexander Kabatov, Valery Ivanov, Bogdan Leonov and Alla Merman. The funding has been split as follows: 102 million rubles in capital injection (at a valuation of 1.35 billion rubles or $13.7 million), 247 million invested in new charging stations in Moscow and St. Peterburg, and 82 million to offer an exit to previous investors. Kirill Kulakov, who founded the startup in 2018, remains the majority shareholder with a 50.93% stake.
Fifty percent of the net revenues generated by the investment will be paid to the investors on a monthly basis.
With some 3,000 stations across 29 Russian cities, Beri Zaryad is the leader on this emerging market. Its competitors include Pocket Power, Don Amper, Get Charged, Batt Box and Get Energy.
Beri Zaryad expects to generate 160 million rubles ($2.1 million) in revenues from January to April 2021. Under plans, some 6,000 new stations will be setup in the course of the year. A new equity round of funding could be organized later this year to raise up to 800 million rubles ($10.5 million), Kulakov told Forbes.
Almost simultaneously Lanit Ventures, the corporate fund of a leading Russian IT group, announced an investment in Zaprosto. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but Inc. Russia learned that the deal amounted to $1 million.
Founded in 2019 by Anton Zinovev (CarMoney) and Alexander Zhirnov, Zaprosto allows you to rent a smartphone, transform cash back into debt repayment, and exchange a smartphone for a new model by subscription.
The company claims to have rent some 2,000 devices to date.
