Mobile app developer Iconic Mobile (formerly known as Ipadizer) has raised $1 million from 515 Capital, a London-based investment and consultancy firm. This is the first funding round for the startup – at a pre-money valuation of $2.7 million, as founder and CEO Alexey Pospekhov told East-West Digital News.
Launched in Russia in 2011, Iconic Mobile now defines itself as a Russo-British company, with an office in London for its Europe sales team. The startup’s headquarters will remain in Moscow, however, supervising creative and technical development as well as sales in Russia and the CIS region.
Among Iconic Mobile’s clients are such companies as LG, HP, Jaguar, Lexus, Land Rover and Snob, a major Russian online publication.
The startup’s revenue reached $850,000 last year, after three years of up to 400% growth, said Pospekhov, who hopes to develop his business further in the UK and other European countries with the help of 515 Capital.
Iconic Mobile is the first Russian company in 515 Capital’s portfolio, even though the firm had previously collaborated with Russian companies as a consultant or introducer.
“We see potential for fast growth in certain areas, and will definitely consider further investments in companies with professional entrepreneurial management teams that we can help expand into new markets [like Russia],” 515 Capital representative Olga Minaeva noted in a written exchange with East-West Digital News.
Since its launch in 2012, 515 Capital has invested in two mobile companies in the UK: Grapple Mobile Ltd., a mobile application developer later acquired by Monitise Plc., and Work Angel Technology Ltd., a specialized mobile distributor of corporate discounts.
