The Untitled, a Russian venture firm established in 2013, has raised €100 million for a new, London-based vehicle (‘The Untitled Ventures’) that will target startups relocating from countries of the former Soviet Union. This is twice as much as the initial target (€50 million) announced by the firm last year.
“Russia and neighboring countries feature world-class programmers and high quality startups,” The Untitled co-founder Igor Lutz said in a recent exchange with East-West Digital News. “Our new fund will take them to new markets, facilitating the creation or development of a Western legal entity, helping them attract Western investors, and supporting their business development.”
Typically, The Untitled Ventures is eyeing entrepreneurs from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, the firm’s press service told EWDN.
In an exchange with Sifted, Oskar Stachowiak, one of Untitled Ventures’ managing partners, provided the example of Belarusian programmers, who are exceptionally talented. “But they all want to leave,” he said, referring to the political turmoil in this country and the massive emigration of IT professionals.
The Untitled will invest from €500,000 to €2 million in startups from such segments as artificial intelligence, computer vision, robotics, agritech, medtech, and data management.
Among the investors in the new fund is Vladimir Vedeneev, the founder of international telecom service provider Global Network Management. “Vedeneev is our anchor LP; in addition to funding, he will provide his deep tech expertise as Head of Technology,” the press service told EWDN.
Growing competition
A growing number of VCs are used to investing in international startups with Eastern European roots. These VC firms include Almaz Capital, Gagarin Capital Partners, LVL1, Runa Capital and Target Global, to name just a few big names with Russian roots, as well as AVentures Capital and TA Ventures, which are based in Ukraine, and Acrobator Ventures, a Western-managed fund.
While these VCs do not focus exclusively on this type of startups, a brand new fund, NRG Ventures (‘New Russian Generation’), targets specifically Russian-speaking startup entrepreneurs operating in foreign juridictions, especially the USA and the EU. As reported this spring, NRG plans to invest $500,000 on average in some 50 companies, from pre-seed to Series A.
Meanwhile Leta Capital is in the process of attracting $100 million for a new fund with a similar target, with plans to launch it later this year.
Additional private and public venture initiatives could be announced soon, targeting the region, East-West Digital News learned from industry insiders.
