Almaz Capital Explained

Almaz Capital
Type:	Private
Key People:	Managing Partner: Alexander Galitsky, General Partners: Geoffrey Baehr, Pavel Bogdanov, Charles E. Ryan, Aniruddha Nazaré
Industry:	Venture capital
Foundation:	2008
Location:	Portola Valley, California, United States
Homepage:	https://almazcapital.com/

Almaz Capital is a global VC fund headquartered in Portola Valley, California, United States investing in early stage, capital efficient technology companies in high-growth sectors. Almaz Capital focuses on disruptivedeep tech companies in b2b software space, including AI/ML and Blockchain applications, IoTand Edge Computing Enablers, Cybersecurity, etc. Since its foundation the firm's portfolio has included about 50 companies, with more than 300 million US dollars invested in them.^[1]

The fund's investors include European Investment Fund (EIF), Cisco, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.

Almaz Capital is headquartered in Portola Valley, California, has an office in Berlin and representative offices in offices in Kiev (Ukraine), Warsaw (Poland) and other Central and EasternEuropean countries.^[2] Almaz Capital's partners are Alexander Galitsky, Geoffrey Baehr, Pavel Bogdanov, Charles E. Ryan and Aniruddha Nazaré.

History

In 2004, Cisco approached Alexander Galitsky, former scientist and technological entrepreneur who was appointed as president of the first Tech Tour ^[3] in East Europe — a specialized forum in which international investors visited countries with growing venture markets and got to know local startups,^[4] and offered him financing to establish a venture fund to invest into East European 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.^[5]

Alexander Galitsky founded Almaz Capital in 2008 together with three partners: Charles Emmitt Ryan, founder of, senior advisor at Deutsche Bank and former CEO of Deutsche Bank Russia; Peter Loukianoff who was working for Alloy Ventures and Pavel Bogdanov. Geoffrey Baehr,^[6] a former General Partner at US Venture Partners (USVP), 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.^{[7] [8] [9]}

Funds

Almaz Capital Fund I was backed in 2008 with a capital of $72 mln. Among its investors, Almaz Capital I attracted $30 million from Cisco and more $20 million were given by UFG partners. After a year, a third investor appeared in the Fund — Еuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) who invested around $20 mln. The first fund’s activity was focused on the search for interesting projects within the territory of CIS countries to be in demand in the global market.^{[10] [11]}

In 2013, Almaz Capital II was established. It raised around $200 million from its limited partners.^[12] 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.^[13] The second fund excluded Russia’s originated companies from the list of new investments and expanded the geography of its activity to cover not only CIS countries but also some regions of East Europe.

Almaz Fund’s III with a capital of $191 mln final close was in 2021. EBRD still remained the main investor enriched by European International Fund (EIF).^[14] The geographical focus mostly moved to the Eastern European countries, although CIS is still in the scope of interest of the Fund.^[15]

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.^[16] From 2008 to 2022 Almaz Capital invested over 300 million dollars in over 50 companies.^{[17] [18]}

Main co-investors of the fund: Andreessen Horowitz,^[19] Bessemer Ventures,^[20] Founders Fund,^{[21] [22]} Foundry Group,^[23] General Catalyst,^{[21] [24]} GGV Capital,^{[21] [24]} Google Ventures,^[25] Insight Partners, Khosla Ventures,^[26] Tiger Global Management.^{[27] [28]}

The fund's key portfolio companies include:

• 3DLOOK (Mobile based body scanning technology that implements user measurement and shape data to optimize the fit of clothing purchased online);^{[29] [30]}
• Acronis (ownership received in 2014 following Acronis acquisition of Almaz portfolio company, nScaled);^{[31] [32]}
• GoodData (round syndicated with Andreessen Horowitz, Intel Capital and Tenaya Capital in 2014);^{[33] [34]}
• GridGain (joint round with Sberbank, MoneyTime Ventures and RTP Ventures);^{[35] [36] [37]}
• DMarket (An in-game item trading platform and a player-owned economy solution);^{[38] [39]}
• Minut (Manufactures and provides security devices designed to offer home security. Its product Point recognizes things like alarms, windows breaking or unexpected activity and combines sound and sensor data to recognize events);^{[40] [41] [42]}
• Refurbed (Marketplace for refurbished electronics);^{[43] [44]}
• Mobalytics (The company is developing a Gamer Performance Index (GPI) that involves using in-game data available from game APIs and crunching it through machine learning algorithms to analyze and improve player performance);^{[45] [46] [47]}
• Neptune (Metadata store for MLOps, built for research and production teams that run a lot of experiments);^{[48] [49] [50]}
• OneSoil (OneSoil builds mobile and web apps that use satellite imagery for agricultural analytics and provides field insights for farmers and agricultural consultants);^{[51] [52] [53]}
• Virtuozzo (Software company, specializing in virtualization software) ^{[54] [55] [56]}
• Hover (3D modelling platform for property, several rounds since 2012 together with Alsop Louie Partners, Google Ventures, The Home Depot);^{[57] [58]}
• Petcube (joint round with Y Combinator, Cabra.vc and AVentures in 2015);^{[59] [60] [61]}

Exits

As of May 2022 the fund had 18 exit transactions:^[62]

Among the most notable exits of the fund:

• Yandex (IPO in 2011 and follow-on offerings in subsequent years);^[63]
• Qik (acquired by Skype in 2011);^{[64] [65] [66]}
• Xometry (IPO in 2021) ^[67]
• Vyatta (acquired by Brocade Communications Systems in 2012);^{[68] [69] [70]}
• nScaled (acquired by Acronis in 2014);^[71]
• Odin (spun out from Parallels and later acquired by Ingram Micro in 2015);^{[72] [73]}
• Sensity Systems (LED lighting platform for smart cities, acquired by Verizon Communications in 2016);^{[74] [75] [16]}
• Plesk (spun out from Parallels and later acquired by Oakley Capital in 2017);^{[76] [77]}
• Parallels (acquired by Corel in 2018);^{[78] [79] [80]}
• MakeTime (acquired by Xometry in 2018);^[81]
• Acumatica (acquired by EQT AB in 2019);^[82]

Company

General Partners

• Alexander Galitsky is the founder and managing partner. He is a MIET graduate, inventor, scientist, pioneer of Wi-Fi and VPN technologies, founder and head of a number of international technology companies, and serial venture investor.^[83]
• Charles E. Ryan is a co-founder and general partner. An honorary graduate of Harvard College, founder of UFG and president of UFG Asset Management, senior advisor to Deutsche Bank, formerly chief executive officer of its Russian division.^[84]
• Geoffrey Baehr is a general partner. Holds a bachelor's degree in biochemistry and natural sciences from Fordham University, former top manager of several technology companies and CNO at Sun Microsystems, general partner and venture partner at U.S. Venture Partners.^[6]
• Pavel Bogdanov is a co-founder and general partner. He holds a bachelor's degree from MIPT, a PhD from Stanford University and an MBA from INSEAD, is a former investment director at Sistema Telecom, a top manager at KLA-Tencor, and a partner at the Russian Technologies Foundation.^[85]
• Aniruddha Nazaré is a general partner in Berlin. He has more than 25 years of investment and operational experience in enterprise software, telecommunications, semiconductors and medical devices. For the past 15 years, he has worked as an early-stage investor, first at Kleiner Perkins and then at Wellington Partners. He holds a doctorate in biomechanics from the University of Hanover and a master's degree in business administration from Harvard Business School.^[86]

Advisors

Almaz Capital's advisors are Java language author James Gosling, Diffie-Hellman protocol author Whitfield Diffie, Duane Northcutt, and astronaut Ed Lu.^[87]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Инновации без границ . Ксения Прудникова . 2016-12-15 . Comnews . 2019-02-19.
2. Web site: Contacts – Almaz Capital .
3. Web site: Tech Tour .
4. Web site: Как фонд Александра Галицкого стал лидером венчурного рынка . 2022-06-20 . Forbes.ru . 25 November 2013 . ru.
5. Web site: Инвестор Александр Галицкий: от космоса до "Алмаза" . Russian . Investor Alexander Galitsky: from space to Almaz . Elena Krauzova . 2014-10-21 . Firrma . 2019-08-20 . 2019-02-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050540/http://firrma.ru/data/articles/3920/ . dead .
6. Web site: Geoffrey Baehr – Almaz Capital . 2022-06-20 . en-EN.
7. Web site: Как фонд Александра Галицкого стал лидером венчурного рынка . Russian . How a fund of Alexander Galitsky has become the leader of the venture capital market . Elena Tofanyuk . 2013-11-26 . Forbes . 2019-08-20.
8. Web site: Александр Галицкий огранил Almaz Capital . Russian . Alexander Galitsky has faceted Almaz Capital . Vladislav Novy . 2012-09-03 . Kommersant . 2019-08-20.
9. Web site: Основатели Almaz Capital Partners переругались между собой . Russian . The founders of Almaz Capital Partners fell out with each other. Roman Dorokhov, Anastasia Golitsyina . 2012-06-27 . Vedomosti . 2019-08-20.
10. Web site: Cisco to invest in Russian tech startups . Ritsuko Ando . 2008-07-02 . Reuters . 2019-08-20.
11. Web site: Cisco Systems будет поднимать российские стартапы . Russian . Cisco Systems will boost Russian startups . 2008-07-02 . Rusbase . 2019-08-20.
12. Web site: Almaz Capital invests in US big data solution provider and launches new $102 million fund . 2013-08-09 . East-West Digital News . 2019-08-20.
13. Web site: Нас интересуют команды, которые нацелены на глобальный рынок . Russian . ‘We are interested in teams that target the global market.’ . Pavel Kantyshev . 2017-01-23 . Vedomosti . 2019-08-20.
14. Web site: EIF .
15. Web site: Almaz Capital Fund III .
16. Web site: Основатель Almaz Capital Александр Галицкий: как инвестировать в интернет вещей и что не так с российскими стартапами . Russian . The founder of Almaz Capital, Alexander Galitsky: how to invest in the Internet of Things and what is wrong with Russian startups. . Natalya Suvorova . Inc. Russia . 2017-06-05 . 2019-08-20.
17. Web site: Рейтинг венчурных фондов 2016 года . Russian . Rating of venture funds in 2016 . 2016-12-13 . Firrma . 2019-08-20 . 2019-02-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190225024655/http://firrma.ru/data/analytics/9274/ . dead .
18. Web site: Our companies . Almaz Capital . 2019-08-20.
19. Web site: Andreessen Horowitz Leads $15M Round in Cloud Business Intelligence Platform GoodData . 18 August 2011 .
20. Web site: Parallels Raises VC from Bessemer, Russia Partners . 19 February 2010 .
21. Web site: Almaz Capital and Cabra VC lead $11.25 million round to support "world's best personal gaming assistant" . 27 July 2020 .
22. Mobalytics Raises $2.6 Million to Analyze and Improve Competitive Gamer Performance . 16 November 2016 .
23. MakeTime Adds $8 Million from Foundry Group and Follow-On Investors . 3 May 2016 .
24. Web site: Mobalytics secured $11.25M from Almaz Capital, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, and GGV Capital .
25. Web site: GV leads $25M investment in Hover, a computer vision startup that digitizes your home . 29 January 2018 .
26. Web site: Poland-based Nomagic, which makes pick-and-place warehouse robots, raises a $22M Series a led by Khosla Ventures, Almaz Capital, and European Investment Bank (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch) - Times News Network . 27 May 2022 .
27. News: Tiger Global: The technology investor ruffling Silicon Valley feathers . Financial Times . 27 July 2021 .
28. Web site: Tiger Global: 9 Yandex NV transactions (Tiger Global Management / .
29. Web site: 2021-03-19 . 3DLOOK announces $6.5 million Series A Round, led by Almaz Capital . 2022-06-13 . PCIAW® . en-US.
30. Web site: About 3DLOOK .
31. Web site: Helping the world get #CyberFit for 19 years . 2022-06-13 . aa.acronis.com.
32. Web site: nScaled Closes Series A Investment . 2022-06-13 . Acronis.
33. Web site: Is GoodData Ready To Go Public? . Sramana Mitra . 2018-04-12 . Yahoo Finance . 2019-08-20.
34. Web site: GoodData Announces $25M Series E Funding Round Led by Intel Capital . 2022-06-13 . www.gooddata.com . 28 October 2016 . en.
35. Web site: Russian funds invest $15 million in US company GridGain to "revolutionize real-time data access and processing" . 2016-02-24 . East-West Digital News . 2019-08-20.
36. Web site: Investors in GridGain Systems . 2022-06-13 . GridGain Systems . en.
37. Web site: 2013-07-30 . GridGain Secures $10 Million in Series B Funding . 2022-06-13 . GridGain Systems . en.
38. Web site: DMarket – Almaz Capital .
39. Limited . DMarket . DMarket Raises $6.5 Million Round Led by Almaz Capital, and Welcomes Electronic Arts Founder Trip Hawkins as Board Member . 2022-06-13 . www.prnewswire.com . en.
40. Web site: Minut – Almaz Capital .
41. Web site: $14M for the Future of Travel Minut . 2022-06-13 . www.minut.com . en.
42. Web site: Novac . Dragos . Minut closed $14 million in Series B funding led by Almaz Capital. . 2022-06-13 . Nordic 9 . en.
43. Web site: Refurbed – Almaz Capital .
44. Web site: European refurbished electronics marketplace Refurbed raises $54M Series B . 2022-06-13 . TechCrunch . 5 August 2021 . en-US.
45. Web site: Mobalytics – Almaz Capital .
46. Web site: Novac . Dragos . Mobalytics secured $11.25M from Almaz Capital, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, and GGV Capital. . 2022-06-13 . Nordic 9 . en.
47. Web site: Mobalytics Series A Round Announcement .
48. Web site: Neptune.ai – Almaz Capital .
49. Web site: 2022-04-13 . We Raised $8M Series A to Continue Building Experiment Tracking and Model Registry That "Just Works" . 2022-06-13 . neptune.ai . en-US.
50. Web site: Novac . Dragos . Neptune AI secures $8 million in a round led by Almaz Capital. . 2022-06-13 . Nordic 9 . en.
51. Web site: OneSoil – Almaz Capital .
52. Web site: OneSoil Raises $5M in Series A Funding to Take Its Digital Solutions for Farmers Worldwide . 2022-06-13 . blog.onesoil.ai.
53. Web site: OneSoil raises $5 million for its farm monitoring tech . 2022-06-13 . TechCrunch . 21 April 2021 . en-US.
54. Web site: Virtuozzo – Almaz Capital .
55. Web site: Almaz Capital/Cisco Russia Fund I Announces First investments in Apollo and Parallels . 2022-06-13 . newsroom.cisco.com . en.
56. Web site: Virtuozzo . 2022-06-13 . tracxn.com . en.
57. Web site: Hover raises millions to create 'living 3D maps' — with the help of a former NASA astronaut . Robin Wauters . 2012-12-26 . The Next Web . 2019-08-20.
58. Web site: FinSMEs . 2012-12-12 . Hover Raises $3.1M in Seed Funding . 2022-06-13 . FinSMEs . en-US.
59. Web site: Petcube привлек $1 млн от AVentures Capital и Almaz Capital . Russian . Petcube raised $1 million from AVentures Capital and Almaz Capital . 2015-03-17 . Delo.ua . 2019-08-20.
60. Web site: 2017-10-25 . Petcube Raises $10 Million in Series A Funding . 2022-06-13 . Petcube News, Announcements And Updates.
61. Capital . Almaz . 2015-03-17 . Petcube Raises $1.1M Seed Funding to Expand Worldwide Sales Distribution for Its Interactive Pet Camera . 2022-06-13 . GlobeNewswire News Room . en.
62. Web site: Our Companies – Almaz Capital .
63. Web site: Фонд Almaz Capital Александра Галицкого продал треть своего пакета в "Яндексе" . Russian . The Almaz Capital Fund of Alexander Galitsky sold a third of its stake in Yandex . Anastasia Golitsyna . 2012-11-23 . Vedomosti . 2019-08-20.
64. Web site: Skype acquires Russian project Qik . Nadezhda Balovsyak . 2011-01-07 . East-West Digital News . 2019-08-20.
65. Web site: Microsoft запустил сервис Skype Qik, долю в котором выкупил три года назад у Almaz Capital Partners за ~30 млн долларов . Russian . Microsoft launched Skype Qik, a share in which it bought three years ago from Almaz Capital Partners for ~ $ 30 million . 2014-10-14 . Roem . 2019-08-20.
66. Web site: Qik: зеленоградский стартап куплен Skype . Russian . Qik: a startup from Zelenograd bought by Skype . 2011-02-24 . Zelenograd.ru . 2019-08-20.
67. Web site: Xometry makes $252M IPO, stock soars 64% in early trading . 30 June 2021 .
68. Web site: Третий успешный выход Almaz. Подробности от Александра Галицкого . Russian . The third successful exit of Almaz. Details from Alexander Galitsky . 2012-11-07 . Firrma . 2019-08-20 . 2019-02-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050526/http://firrma.ru/data/news/682/ . dead .
69. Web site: Almaz Capital Partners, российский венчурный фонд, вышел из состава акционеров американской компании Vyatta . Russian . Almaz Capital Partners, a Russian venture fund, withdrew from the shareholders of the American company Vyatta . Roman Rozhkov . 2012-11-07 . Kommersant . 2019-08-20.
70. Web site: Almaz Capital's Vyatta sold to US industry player . 2012-11-10 . East-West Digital News . 2019-08-20.
71. Web site: Acronis купил портфельную компанию Almaz Capital . Russian . Acronis bought Almaz Capital, a portfolio company . Svetlana Alekseeva . 2014-09-18 . Firrma . 2019-08-20 . 2019-02-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050504/http://firrma.ru/data/news/3577/ . dead .
72. Web site: Ingram Micro acquires Odin Service Automation platform from Parallels . Max Smolaks . 2015-12-21.
73. Web site: Ingram Micro купил Odin Service Automation у Parallels за $163,9 млн. . Russian . Ingram Micro bought Odin Service Automation from Parallels for $ 163.9 million . Svetlana Alekseeva . 2016-02-29 . Firrma . 2019-08-20 . 2019-02-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050601/http://www.firrma.ru/data/news/7313/?sphrase_id=99949 . dead .
74. Web site: Almaz Capital объявил о своей самой крупной сделке . Russian . Almaz Capital announced its largest deal . Alexander Plitman . 2016-09-26 . CRN . 2019-08-20 . 2019-02-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190215051843/https://www.crn.ru/news/detail.php?ID=113698 . dead .
75. Web site: Almaz Capital вышел из американской компании Sensity Systems . Russian . Almaz Capital left the American company Sensity Systems . Ekaterina Zagorskaya . 2016-09-12 . Firrma . 2019-08-20 . 2019-02-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050515/http://www.firrma.ru/data/news/8705/?sphrase_id=99949 . dead .
76. Web site: Parallels продала разработчика софта для хостинга за $27,4 млн . Russian . Parallels sold hosting software developer for $ 27.4 million . Pavel Kantyshev . 2017-05-05 . Vedomosti . 2019-08-20.
77. Web site: Oakley Capital купила контроль в платформе Plesk из Новосибирска за $27 млн . Russian . Oakley Capital bought control in the Plesk platform from Novosibirsk for $27 million . Angelina Krechetova . 2017-05-05 . Forbes . 2019-08-20.
78. Web site: Глава Parallels и фонд Cisco инвестируют в новый SaaS-сервис . Russian . The head of Parallels and the Cisco Foundation are investing in a new SaaS service. . Denis Legeso . 2009-11-05 . Cnews . 2019-08-20.
79. Web site: Almaz Capital встал на программное обеспечение . Russian . Almaz Capital embarked on software . Alexander Malakhov . 2009-04-24 . Kommersant . 2019-08-20.
80. Web site: Canada's Corel is acquiring virtualization specialist Parallels in an all-cash deal . Ingrid Lunden . 2018-11-27 . TechCrunch . 2019-08-20.
81. Web site: Xometry acquires MakeTime, raises $25 million in funding round . Tia Vialva . 2018-07-10 . 3D Printing Industry . 2019-08-20.
82. Web site: Acumatica acquired by global private equity firm in bid to take on Oracle, Microsoft and other business software giants . Tony Lystra . 2019-06-19 . GeekWire . 2019-08-20.
83. Web site: Alexander Galitsky – Almaz Capital . 2022-06-20 . en-EN.
84. Web site: Charles E. Ryan – Almaz Capital . 2022-06-20 . en-EN.
85. Web site: Pavel Bogdanov – Almaz Capital . 2022-06-20 . en-EN.
86. Web site: Aniruddha Nazaré – Almaz Capital . 2022-06-20 . en-EN.
87. Web site: Advisory – Almaz Capital . 2022-06-20 . en-EN.