Rodion Shishkov Explained

Rodion Shishkov
Alt:Rodion Shishkov is a Russian tech entrepreneur, the founder of Samokat and Buyk dark store rapid delivery services.
Birth Date:9 July 1980
Birth Place:Leningrad, USSR
Education:Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance (2002)
Occupation:entrepreneur
Years Active:since 1999
Known For:Samokat and Buyk rapid delivery apps

Rodion Shishkov (born July 9, 1980, in Leningrad, USSR) is a Russian tech entrepreneur, the founder of Samokat and Buyk dark store rapid delivery services. His company TRA Robotics designs and builds highly automated microfactories, including the production facilities for the British unmanned commercial electric vehicle manufacturer Arrival. He's also a former Yota and Russian Post executive responsible for developing and delivering new digital services.

Background

Rodion Shishkov was born in Leningrad on July 9, 1980. He holds a degree in Marketing from Saint Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance (2002). He started his career at 19 and worked in several fields, such as retail, real estate development, telecommunications, and IT.[1] [2]

Yota

Rodion Shishkov held executive positions in Yota from 2008 to 2013. He was the head of the company's R&D center Yota Lab. He managed the creation of the music streaming service Yota Music[3] [4] and movie streaming platform Yota Play which was later rebranded to Okko and became Russia's second largest video streaming service by 2019.[5] [6] [7] [8] Shishkov resigned from Yota as the company's vice president of innovations.

Russian Post

From 2013 to 2017, Rodion Shishkov was the deputy CEO of the Russian Post, responsible for digital services, new products, and integrations with public services.[9] He set the basis for the company's information technology and digitalization team (Pochta Tech)[10] and started the digital transformation of the Russian Post.[11] Under his management, the company launched its own payment gateway, API for delivery services automation,[12] [13] online subscription to newspapers and magazines,[14] a digital official mail service with acknowledgment of receipt,[15] and a web portal focused on all the new digital services provided by the Russian Post.[16]

Entrepreneurship

TRA Robotics

Rodion Shishkov is the founder of TRA Robotics. The company designs and builds automated microfactories allowing for flexible, software-driven manufacturing with capital expenditures a dozen times less than traditional factories.[17] [18] TRA Robotics became a part of autonomous electric vans designer and manufacturer Arrival[19] and built its facility in Banbury, Oxfordshire, considered one of the UK's most technologically advanced factories[20] [21] [22]

Samokat

In 2017, Rodion Shishkov and Slava Bocharov founded Smart.Space, a company and app focused on improving service convenience in business centers and residential complexes. Among other services, it provided a rapid delivery of grocery and consumer goods under the name Magazinchik (Russian: a small shop). In January 2018, it was split into a separate company Samokat, which became the first dark store delivery service (according to Inc. magazine) and was the fastest-growing food technology company in Russia.

Samokat's complex technological background included demand forecasting and delivery control systems.[23] It became the world's second app (after Getir) to offer a 15-minute delivery.[24] By 2021, Samokat made up to 900,000 deliveries monthly.[25] In April 2020, a controlling share in Samokat was acquired by Sberbank and the Mail.ru Group.[26]

Buyk

Following the success of Samokat in Russia, Shishkov and Bocharov launched a US-based dark store delivery company Buyk,[27] which used some elements of Samokat's technological backend.[28] Buyk began operations in New York City in September 2021 and in Chicago in December. By the end of 2022, the company planned to expand to Boston, Houston, and Miami. The growth was supported by investments from Fort Ross Ventures and Lev Leviev's LVL1 venture fund.[29]

By the time Russia launched the full-scale invasion into Ukraine, Buyk was between the funding rounds and fully dependent on bridge financing from its founders. The sanctions against Sberbank (also the investor of Fort Ross Ventures) hampered their ability to continue funding Buyk.[30] On March 17, 2022, the company filed for bankruptcy.[31]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Russian Post found a deputy CEO from Yota . Andrey Fedoseev . October 3, 2013 . Comnews . October 11, 2022.
  2. Web site: Maksim Parshin resigns as deputy CEO of Russian Post . Arseny Vladimirsky . October 4, 2013 . Digital Russia . October 11, 2022.
  3. Web site: Yota turned off the Music . Igor Korolev . July 2, 2012 . CNews . October 11, 2022.
  4. Web site: Rodion Borisovich Shishkov . Labyrinth Database . October 11, 2022.
  5. Web site: Sberbank will get control over Rambler Group . Maria Istomina . July 29, 2020 . Vedomosti . October 11, 2022.
  6. Web site: Rodion Shishkov . Pravila Zhizni (ex-Esquire) . October 11, 2022.
  7. Web site: Appointments and resignations: September 28 — October 4, 2013 . October 4, 2013 . Executive.ru . October 11, 2022.
  8. Web site: Russian audience gets more interested in Smart TV . Ksenia Boletskaya . September 5, 2014 . Vedomosti . October 11, 2022.
  9. Web site: Rodion Shishkov and ex-Tele2 top managers left Russian Post . January 13, 2017 . Roem . August 17, 2022.
  10. Web site: A tour to Pochtatech office in Saint Petersburg . Natalia Zhutova . September 3, 2020 . Habr . October 11, 2022.
  11. Web site: Russian Post's Digital Renaissance . Alexey Yesaulenko . April 15, 2016 . OSP . October 11, 2022.
  12. Web site: Russian Post to launch its own online payments gateway by Summer 2017 . October 12, 2022 . The Village . August 17, 2022.
  13. Web site: Russian Post launched an API for automated . December 26, 2016 . VC.ru . October 11, 2022.
  14. Web site: Russian Post tests the online subscription service . December 15, 2015 . Retail Loyalty . September 16, 2022.
  15. Web site: Russian Post introduced a new mail service for communication between state institutions, businesses, and citizens . Oleg Salmanov . October 20, 2014 . Vedomosti . October 11, 2022.
  16. Web site: Russian Post launched a new services-centered website . September 17, 2022 . Retail Loyalty . October 11, 2022.
  17. Web site: An E.V. Start-Up Backed by UPS Does Away With the Assembly Line . Neal E. Boudette . April 21, 2022 . The New York Times . October 11, 2022.
  18. Web site: How Rodion Shishkov created "Samokat" rapid delivery service, acquired by Sberbank and Mail.Ru Group . Ksenia Goschitskaya . April 17, 2020 . Sobaka.ru . October 11, 2022.
  19. Web site: Concepts for TRA Robotics . Denis Ilyin . July 17, 2019 . Breadhead Stories . October 11, 2022.
  20. Web site: UK-based TRA Robotics became an industrial partner of ITMO University . Daria Sofina . December 27, 2017 . ITMO.News . October 11, 2022.
  21. Web site: Flexible production provider TRA Robotics looks for the startups at GoTech . August 23, 2020 . GoTech Innovation . October 11, 2022.
  22. Web site: How Arrival is shaking up factory production . Julian Rendell . April 11, 2022 . Autocar . October 11, 2022.
  23. Web site: Samokat: a USD 700 million business on rapid delivery that has beaten Yandex . Ksenia Demidkina . February 25, 2020 . Forbes . October 11, 2022.
  24. Web site: Vyacheslav Bocharov and Rodion Shishkov . Ekaterina Yinkova . Business Propaganda . October 11, 2022.
  25. Web site: The companies that work "like everyone else" will be gone. Samokat founder Rodion Shishkov on the future of Food tech and retail trends . March 1, 2022 . October 11, 2022.
  26. Web site: The story behind Samokat: the fast delivery service acquired by Sberbank and Mail.Ru Group . Ksenia Morozova . April 17, 2020 . Sobaka.ru . October 11, 2022.
  27. Web site: An instant grocery app founder showed us the pitch deck he used to raise $46 million and explains why VCs are throwing wild amounts of cash at the sector . Callum Burroughs . August 16, 2021 . Business Insider . October 11, 2022.
  28. Web site: Samokat, the Russian rapid delivery service, will launch in the US . Valeria Zhitkova . June 2, 2021 . The Bell . October 11, 2022.
  29. Web site: How two Russian-founded startups in the US became collateral victims of Putin’s war on Ukraine . March 14, 2022 . bne Intellinews . October 11, 2022.
  30. Web site: How Russia sanctions helped kill 15-minute delivery in New York . Soo Youn . June 2, 2022 . The Washington Post . October 11, 2022.
  31. Web site: Instant Grocery Delivery App Buyk Files for Bankruptcy After Russian Sanctions . Jeremy Hill, Jackie Davalos . March 17, 2022 . Bloomberg . October 11, 2022.