Winners of the first “Venture Oscar” for Russian investors have been defined

In December 5, 2013 has been held the awarding ceremony of the first Russian award in the sphere of venture industry – Venture Awards Russia 2013. Organizers of the event are media resources RusBase and Firrma with support of the “RVC”, OJSC, the project Venture Kitchen and international network of audit-consulting firms PwC.

At the closed awarding ceremony have gathered managers of venture Funds, large entrepreneurs, and also official persons, top-managers of State Corporations and development institutions – all in all about 120 people.

The cerempny has been opened by Igor Agamirzyan, director general and Chairman of the Board of Directors of RVC: “The fact of the first conduction in Russia of the Venture Awards says abput the market growth. Though I have no feeling of transparency of the market, some roles have already been defined: there are people, whose importance understand everybody. I hope this ceremony will become the tradition”.

Leaders of the awarding ceremony were Marusya Podlesnova (RusBase) and Dmitry Falaleev (Firrma). During the evening have been named winners of the first Russian award in the sphere of venture industry “Venture Awards Russia 2013”. Awards have been given in 9 nominations. The best Russian venture investors have been defined by the Supervisory Committee, which included authoritative representatives of the market. Winners of the first Russian “Venture Oscar” for Russian investors have been defined.















According to the jury owners of the statues “Venture Awards” became:

NEW PLAYER OF THE YEAR – Maxfield Capital.
VENTURE LADY OF THE YEAR – Yelena Alekseeva, SoftLine Venture Parthers.
VENTURE DEAL OF THE YEAR – iTech Capital and Group Consolidation SEO Pult.
VENTURE SYNDICATE – Intel Capital / Runa Capital / Frontier Venture in Eruditor Group.
ACTION OF THE YEAR – IIDF launch. Kirill Varlamov.
GENERAL PARTNER OF THE YEAR – Aleksander Galitsky, Almaz Capital.
CORPORATE FUND OF THE YEAR – Intel Capital.
NON IT VENTURE OF THE YEAR – Bright Capital.
EXIT OF THE YEAR – TMT Investments – Astrid (M&A from Yahoo).

Winner of the category NEW PLAYER OF THE YEAR is the most ambitious venture Fund, which works on the market not longer than one year – Maxfield Capital, established by former head of the IT-cluster in “Skolkovo” Aleksander Turkot. The Fund has already made five deals and the amount of investments comprises about $3M. Also in the nomination have been presented Funds QWave, QIWI Venture иand Flint Management (Flint Capital and Bull Capital).

For being the best VENTURE LADY OF THE YEAR have competed the most active representatives of the venture branch: Svetlana Alekseeva (Softline Venture Partners), Marina Rossinskaya (Maxfield Ventures), Lyubov Simonova (Almaz Capital). The winner in this nomination became Yelena Alekseeva, who heads the corporate fund SoftLine Venture Partners. During Yelena’s work in the Fund there have been invested more than 10 startups.















There have been defined winners of the first “Venture Oscar” for Russian investors. Managing partners of venture Funds have also been awarded. For them has been organized nomination GENERAL PARTNER OF THE YEAR. The Supervisory Committee of the award estimated amount and size of deals, which have been conducted under control of laureates, and availability of successful leaves from portfolio projects. Victory in this nomination became Aleksander Galitsky from Almaz Capital. In 2013 he ended fund-rising of the Almaz Capital II in amount $102M. At the moment the Fund has a head-quarter in USA in Menlo-Park and has already conducted 2 deals.

The winner in nomination VENTURE DEAL OF THE YEAR became iTech Capital. At the end of 2012 the Fund has executed several large deals on shares acquisition in advertising startups, among which the most interesting were investments in amount $10M in the service SEO Pult (searching marketing) and consolidation around this holding of the largest advertising assets on Russian market.

The best syndication of the year 2013 has been recognized investment in amount of $12M in the company Eruditor Group, which develops services for searching the private specialists in Russia, Kazakhstan and Ukraine. In the round took part investment funds Frontier Ventures, Intel Capital and Runa Capital, which have received the award VENTURE SYNDICATE.

In nomination ACTION OF THE YEAR has been selected useful for venture market social or public initiative. The award received Kirill Varlamov for launch of IIDF. Among laureates have been presented: the program of cp-investments Moscow Seed Fund, organization of the Technopark of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology State University, opening of the first in Russia preparing program for venture investors at the early stage from European Business Angel Network, start of the work of the startup-acceleration field API Moscow, bursarial program Generation S.

For the right of being called the best corporate Fund of the year in nomination CORPORATE FUND OF THE YEAR have competed companies Intel Capital, SBT Venture (SberBank) and Microsoft Seed Fund, Softline Venture Partners, LETA Capital and QIWI Venture. However the award “Venture Awards” has been given to Intel Capital. In 2013 the Fund has been noted with the large deal in the holding “Eruditor Group”, supporting the transaction startup, earlier the Fund has been known as investor in e-commerce and development of software.

In the nomination NON IT VENTURE OF THE YEAR have been presented funds, which invest not only in IT-projects. The jury noted scientific and social potential of portfolio projects, and also the size and quality of deals of venture funds, availability of successful stories and leavings. The winner became independent venture company “Bright Capital”, which invests in high-technology projects in the sphere of renewable power generation, resource saving and digital technologies.















There have been defined winners of the first “venture Oscar” for Russian investors. The last ninth nomination has been devoted to successful leavings from portfolio projects – EXIT OF THE YEAR. Receiving of excess profit with successful sale of its portfolio companies is a motion of the whole investment process, gives sense to the whole venture branch. When selecting the winner the jury has estimated one successful deal of the year, based on financial coefficient Return on Investment (ROI) of a deal, which shows a level of profitability or unprofitability of a business, and also from total a mounts of investments and purchase cost. The award “Venture Awards” in this nomination received the Fund TMT Investments, which joints the portfolio project Astrid, having sold its share in May 2013 to the Yahoo Company.

The full list of nominees of the “Venture Awards Russia 2013” and winners’ selecting criteria are presented at the site: http://ventureawards.ru.

In breaks between winners’ announcement and awards receiving, guests of the award have told stories from the venture industry life, and entertainment program has been presented at the stage. The ceremony Venture Awards Russia 2013 has ended with the festive cake devoted to 3rd anniversary of the project RusBase – one of the organizers of the award.