The London-headquartered Russian fund TMT Investments has invested $5 million in equity funding in Backblaze, a leading California-based online backup provider. While Backblaze is already profitable, this funding will be used to accelerate hiring for product development, global marketing, and partnerships, the company stated last week.
TMT also invested $325,000 in Pipedrive, an Estonian business software publisher, the Russian online business publication ComNews.ru reported. Angel investors Andy McLoughlin and Christopher Muenchhoff also took part in the $700,000 round, according to TechCrunch.
TMT Investments was founded by high ranking executives from RBC, a leading Russian online and print media group. In December 2010, TMT Investments raised $20 million and listed its shares on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. Since then, London-based TMT Investments has backed several start-ups.
Last year, the fund invested in Berryman Capital Group and its subsidiary Creat Studio, an international developer of online games for social networks, and in Unicell, a leading mobile application service and content provider in Israel.
This year, TMT invested in Wrike.com, an award-winning provider of social project management and collaboration software, in 1-page.com, a startup that has developed a system to create 1-page job proposals, in Hotlist, a mobile software application developer, and in other companies.
Updated Aug. 6, 2012.
