Almaz Capital

Almaz Capital is an international venture fund that invests in software startups and SaaS. Almaz Capital is headquartered in Portola Valley, California, has an office in Berlin and representative offices in CEE countries. Almaz Capital's managing partner is Alexander Galitsky.

Almaz Capital

Type	Private
Industry	Venture capital
Founded	2008
Headquarters	Portola Valley, California, United States
Website	www.almazcapital.com/

History

In 2004, Cisco approached Alexander Galitsky, former scientist and technological entrepreneur who was appointed as president of Russian Tech Tour and offered him financing to establish a venture fund to invest into Russian startup companies. Galitsky selected the bridge fund model and has focused on investing in and connecting Eastern European startups creating promising technologies for global markets with western companies that can benefit from engineering resources in Eastern Europe.[1][2][3]

Galitsky founded Almaz Capital in 2008 together with three partners: Charles Emmitt Ryan, founder of United Financial Group, senior advisor at Deutsche Bank and former CEO of Deutsche Bank Russia; Peter Loukianoff, a Russian American working for Alloy Ventures and Pavel Bogdanov, a partner at Russian Technologies venture fund. Geoffrey Baehr, who used to curate joint projects with Galitsky in the 1990s when he was CNO at Sun Microsystems later joined Almaz Capital as advisor. In 2011, Loukianoff resigned from Almaz Capital and Baehr became fund's fourth general partner.[2][4][5]

Funds

Among its investors, Almaz Capital I attracted $30 million from Cisco and $20 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[2][6][7] Almaz Capital II raised around $200 million from its limited partners.[1][8] Cisco remained Almaz Capital's major investor in fund II with other major investment coming from UFG, EBRD and the International Finance Corporation. In an interview for the Vedomosti newspaper, Galitsky noted that Almaz Capital II attracted money from several family offices.[1][2][3]

Investments

Almaz Capital I was focused on startups from CIS and the United States and the second fund extended its geography to Eastern European countries.[1][2][3][9][3] From 2008 to 2019 Almaz Capital invested over 200 million dollars in over 30 companies.[10][11][2] The fund's key portfolio companies include:

• Acronis (ownership received in 2014 following Acronis acquisition of Almaz portfolio company, nScaled);[12]
• CarPrice (seed round in 2014, follow on round in 2015 syndicated with Baring Vostok Capital Partners and other investors);[13][14]
• GoodData (round syndicated with Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital and Tenaya Capital in 2014);[15]
• GridGain (joint round with Sberbank, MoneyTime Ventures and RTP Ventures);[16]
• Hover (3D modelling platform for property, several rounds since 2012 together with Alsop Louie Partners, Google Ventures, The Home Depot);[17][18]
• Octonion (IoT platform for AI solutions, joint investment with Ginko Ventures in 2016);[19]
• Petcube (joint round with Y Combinator, Cabra.vc and AVentures in 2015);[20]
• Yandex (2009, two years before the company's IPO);[21]

Exits

As of August 2019 the fund had 13 exit transactions:[11]

• Yandex (IPO in 2011 and follow-on offerings in subsequent years);[2][22]
• Qik (acquired by Skype in 2011);[23][24][25]
• Vyatta (acquired by Brocade Communications Systems in 2012);[26][27][28]
• nScaled (acquired by Acronis in 2014);[12]
• Odin (spun out from Parallels and later acquired by Ingram Micro in 2015);[29][30]
• AppScotch (acquired by App Annie in 2016);[31]
• Sensity Systems (LED lighting platform for smart cities, acquired by Verizon Communications in 2016);[32][33][9]
• Plesk (spun out from Parallels and later acquired by Oakley Capital in 2017);[34][35]
• Fasten (acquired by Vezet Group in 2017);[36]
• Parallels (acquired by Corel in 2018);[37][38][39]
• MakeTime (acquired by Xometry in 2018);[40]
• Acumatica (acquired by EQT Partners in 2019);[41]
• Content Analytics (acquired by Syndigo in 2019).[42]

References

1. Elena Krauzova (2014-10-21). "Инвестор Александр Галицкий: от космоса до "Алмаза"" [Investor Alexander Galitsky: from space to Almaz] (in Russian). Firrma. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
2. Elena Tofanyuk (2013-11-26). "Как фонд Александра Галицкого стал лидером венчурного рынка" [How a fund of Alexander Galitsky has become the leader of the venture capital market] (in Russian). Forbes. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
3. Pavel Kantyshev (2017-01-23). ""Нас интересуют команды, которые нацелены на глобальный рынок"" [‘We are interested in teams that target the global market.’] (in Russian). Vedomosti. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
4. Vladislav Novy (2012-09-03). "Александр Галицкий огранил Almaz Capital" [Alexander Galitsky has faceted Almaz Capital] (in Russian). Kommersant. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
5. Roman Dorokhov, Anastasia Golitsyina (2012-06-27). "Основатели Almaz Capital Partners переругались между собой" [The founders of Almaz Capital Partners fell out with each other] (in Russian). Vedomosti. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
6. Ritsuko Ando (2008-07-02). "Cisco to invest in Russian tech startups". Reuters. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
7. "Cisco Systems будет поднимать российские стартапы" [Cisco Systems will boost Russian startups] (in Russian). Rusbase. 2008-07-02. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
8. "Almaz Capital invests in US big data solution provider and launches new $102 million fund". East-West Digital News. 2013-08-09. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
9. Natalya Suvorova (2017-06-05). "Основатель Almaz Capital Александр Галицкий: как инвестировать в интернет вещей и что не так с российскими стартапами" [The founder of Almaz Capital, Alexander Galitsky: how to invest in the Internet of Things and what is wrong with Russian startups.] (in Russian). Inc. Russia. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
10. "Рейтинг венчурных фондов 2016 года" [Rating of venture funds in 2016] (in Russian). Firrma. 2016-12-13. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
11. "Our companies". Almaz Capital. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
12. Svetlana Alekseeva (2014-09-18). "Acronis купил портфельную компанию Almaz Capital" [Acronis bought Almaz Capital, a portfolio company] (in Russian). Firrma. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
13. "Almaz Capital, Fastlane Ventures and e.Venture inject $2 million in CarPrice.ru". East-West Digital News. 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
14. Roman Rozhkov, Vladislav Novy (2015-07-23). "Инвесторы сели в подержанные машины" [Investors got into used cars.] (in Russian). Kommersant. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
15. Sramana Mitra (2018-04-12). "Is GoodData Ready To Go Public?". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
16. "Russian funds invest $15 million in US company GridGain to "revolutionize real-time data access and processing"". East-West Digital News. 2016-02-24. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
17. Robin Wauters (2012-12-26). "Hover raises millions to create 'living 3D maps' — with the help of a former NASA astronaut". The Next Web. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
18. "Hover". Crunchbase. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
19. Ekaterina Zagorskaya (2017-01-24). "Almaz Capital оказался инвестором стартапов Octonion (PIQ) и FinalPrice" [Almaz Capital turned out to be an investor in startups Octonion (PIQ) and FinalPrice] (in Russian). Firrma. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
20. "Petcube привлек $1 млн от AVentures Capital и Almaz Capital" [Petcube raised $1 million from AVentures Capital and Almaz Capital] (in Russian). Delo.ua. 2015-03-17. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
21. Igor Korolev (2011-05-24). ""Яндекс" привлек на бирже $1,3 млрд: кто продал и кто сохранил акции - СХЕМА" [Yandex attracted $1.3 billion: who sold and who kept the shares - SCHEME] (in Russian). CNews. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
22. Anastasia Golitsyna (2012-11-23). "Фонд Almaz Capital Александра Галицкого продал треть своего пакета в "Яндексе"" [The Almaz Capital Fund of Alexander Galitsky sold a third of its stake in Yandex] (in Russian). Vedomosti. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
23. Nadezhda Balovsyak (2011-01-07). "Skype acquires Russian project Qik". East-West Digital News. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
24. "Microsoft запустил сервис Skype Qik, долю в котором выкупил три года назад у Almaz Capital Partners за ~30 млн долларов" [Microsoft launched Skype Qik, a share in which it bought three years ago from Almaz Capital Partners for ~ $ 30 million] (in Russian). Roem. 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
25. "Qik: зеленоградский стартап куплен Skype" [Qik: a startup from Zelenograd bought by Skype] (in Russian). Zelenograd.ru. 2011-02-24. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
26. "Третий успешный выход Almaz. Подробности от Александра Галицкого" [The third successful exit of Almaz. Details from Alexander Galitsky] (in Russian). Firrma. 2012-11-07. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
27. Roman Rozhkov (2012-11-07). "Almaz Capital Partners, российский венчурный фонд, вышел из состава акционеров американской компании Vyatta" [Almaz Capital Partners, a Russian venture fund, withdrew from the shareholders of the American company Vyatta] (in Russian). Kommersant. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
28. "Almaz Capital's Vyatta sold to US industry player". East-West Digital News. 2012-11-10. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
29. Max Smolaks (2015-12-21). "Ingram Micro acquires Odin Service Automation platform from Parallels".
30. Svetlana Alekseeva (2016-02-29). "Ingram Micro купил Odin Service Automation у Parallels за $163,9 млн" [Ingram Micro bought Odin Service Automation from Parallels for $ 163.9 million] (in Russian). Firrma. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
31. Светлана Алексеева (2016-03-14). "Almaz Capital, IMI.VC и Impulse VC вышли из стартапа AppScotch". Firrma. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
32. Alexander Plitman (2016-09-26). "Almaz Capital объявил о своей самой крупной сделке" [Almaz Capital announced its largest deal] (in Russian). CRN. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
33. Ekaterina Zagorskaya (2016-09-12). "Almaz Capital вышел из американской компании Sensity Systems" [Almaz Capital left the American company Sensity Systems] (in Russian). Firrma. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
34. Pavel Kantyshev (2017-05-05). "Parallels продала разработчика софта для хостинга за $27,4 млн" [Parallels sold hosting software developer for $ 27.4 million] (in Russian). Vedomosti. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
35. Angelina Krechetova (2017-05-05). "Oakley Capital купила контроль в платформе Plesk из Новосибирска за $27 млн" [Oakley Capital bought control in the Plesk platform from Novosibirsk for $27 million] (in Russian). Forbes. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
36. Ekaterina Zagorskaya (2017-05-03). "RuTaxi и Fasten объединились и привлекли менее $100 миллионов от UFG Private Equity" [RuTaxi and Fasten merged and attracted less than $ 100 million from UFG Private Equity] (in Russian). Firrma. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
37. Denis Legeso (2009-11-05). "Глава Parallels и фонд Cisco инвестируют в новый SaaS-сервис" [The head of Parallels and the Cisco Foundation are investing in a new SaaS service.] (in Russian). Cnews. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
38. Alexander Malakhov (2009-04-24). "Almaz Capital встал на программное обеспечение" [Almaz Capital embarked on software] (in Russian). Kommersant. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
39. Ingrid Lunden (2018-11-27). "Canada's Corel is acquiring virtualization specialist Parallels in an all-cash deal". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
40. Tia Vialva (2018-07-10). "Xometry acquires MakeTime, raises $25 million in funding round". 3D Printing Industry. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
41. Tony Lystra (2019-06-19). "Acumatica acquired by global private equity firm in bid to take on Oracle, Microsoft and other business software giants". GeekWire. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
42. Megha Shah (2019-04-24). "Syndigo Acquires Content Analytics, Inc". Tech Funnel. Retrieved 2019-08-20.