In late October Ru-Net, one of the most established Russian tech funds, announced its rebranding to ‘RTP Global.’ The move was presented as “reflecting the success of [its] US-based arm RTP.VC and [its] evolution to a globally focused venture capital firm.”
Ru-Net was founded in 1999 by Russian billionaire Leonid Boguslavsky, a software engineer in Soviet times who later became PWC partner. Among the fund’s high profile investments have been Yandex, the Russian search leader introduced on the NASDAQ in 2011, Ozon, a leading Russian e-commerce company, as well as Delivery Hero in Germany, Ring Central and Datadog in USA.
In 2011, Ru-Net set up its American arm, ‘RTP Ventures,’ initially targeting US Internet, SaaS and cloud computing companies.
Today, the fund presents itself as “a diversified technology investment firm with international presence and deep expertise along industry verticals.” With offices in Moscow and New York, the fund claims to provide start-ups “not just investment, but also active support and the benefits of a broad entrepreneurial know-how.”
The fund has more than 50 companies in its portfolio – essentially in the USA, Western Europe, Russia and India – covering such areas as e-commerce, AI, foodtech, digital healthcare, media technologies, mobility, transportation, fintech, property tech.
Indian focus
On Nov. 15 RTP Global announced that Kirill Kozhevnikov – who previously launched and managed Sistema Asia Fund, a venture vehicle of the Russian Sistema conglomerate – joins as Partner, focusing on India investments.
The firm said it has “plans to invest a significant portion of its new global $200 million fund in early and mid stage opportunities in India.”
“We continue to have faith in Indian entrepreneurs to deliver world-class investment opportunities,” Boguslavsky stated.
The fund has traditionally been active in the Asian venture capital market, with investments in Vietnam and in India since 2011-12.
One the fund’s latest moves in India, this past summer, was an investment in food investment in delivery startup Faaso’s. Sistema Asia Fund, Sequoia Capital India, Lightbox and Evolvence India took part in the $15 million round along with Ru-Net.
