Heverest.ru expands its list of investors
Heverest.ru, an online Russian retailer for sport amenities, leisure and travel goods has attracted further external investment of $1.3 million. The international consortium of investors Rollingahead Ltd and eVenture Capital Partners acted as the company’s investment partners. Including the initial seed financing, the overall investment generated by the company now amounts to around $2,2 million.
The company intends to use the additional funding to finance the expanded online product offering, as well as enhance the customer service quality through development of the current CRM system. A proportion of the attracted funds will be allocated to subsidize the launch of a new marketing campaign, which aims to increase brand awareness of Heverest.ru among current and potential clients.
Heverest.ru is a start-up business launched by Fast Lane Ventures, a company focused on the development, launch and promotion of innovative internet businesses, on 1st June 2011. Since then, Heverest.ru has fast become the second largest initiative funded by Fast Lane Ventures’ operating in the area of e-commerce . At present the online store offers users all the major international sport and leisure brands including: The North Face, Salomon, Nike, Columbia, Adidas, Reebok, Marmot, DaKine, Puma, Speedo, Deuter, Salewa, Fashy, Intex, Keen, Hi-Tec, Rider and others, with the product range being renewed on a regular basis and deliveries are transferred to all regions of Russia. Purchases on the site can be paid with credit cards, money transfer at Sberbank or through a post service, web-money, bonus points or by cash.
Heverest.ru differs from other e-commerce portals as it features a combination of the online retail store and an online community, which aims to join together individuals leading the same active life. Users can make use of the interactive tools for expert counseling and attended specialist offline events. Other content on the website includes newsfeeds, articles, recommendations from seasoned travelers, feedback from amateurs and professionals, interviews with stars with active lifestyle interests, outdoor experience stories, test-drives and testing of products available in the e-shop, making the most of the user experience.
According to Russian analytical agency Rumetrika.ru, the turnover for the Russian sport goods market in 2010 was $6 billion. Fast Lane Ventures estimates, that this Russian market has the potential to grow up to $12 billion by 2015. In addition, Data Insight predicts that the global market of sport and leisure goods will swing from $175 billion in 2010 to $240 billion in 2015. Therefore, Russia’s share will increase from 3.5 to 5 percent.
Vladimir Kim, CEO of Heverest.ru, commented:
“The market for online retailers specializing in sport and leisure goods in Russia has been advancing dramatically over the last few years, but competition here has remained relatively low.
Currently the Russian internet market does not have a platform offering a different user experience covering all kinds of sports at the same time, which is something Heverest.ru can take advantage of. Our overall mission is to develop and promote active sports and a healthy lifestyle, as well as build an online community of people with the same active lifestyle, while also becoming Russia’s number one internet hypermarket for sport and leisure goods.”
Marina Treshchova, CEO of Fast Lane Ventures, commented:
”Fast Lane Ventures is thrilled to be behind and encourage Heverest.ru, as it has very high business growth potential. We are currently witnessing an increasing amount of effort being made by the Russian Government to popularize sport in this country, with Russia hosting a number of world-scale sporting events in the next few years.”