Sapato.ru, Russia-based online shoe retailer, has raised more than $12 mln
Moscow, June, 9, 2011 Sapato.ru, Russia-based leading online shoe retailer, announced today that it has raised $12 mln. Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, led investment round with participation of existing investors – Direct Group, eVenture Capital Partners and Kinnevik. This brings total funding of Sapato.ru since inception to $20 mln.
The investments will be used for expanding the assortment range and for strengthening the CRM platform that will help to improve customer service. Part of investment raised is planned to be spent on marketing: brand awareness increase as well as positive image creation.
Sapato.ru is the first startup of Fast Lane Ventures, a Russian company set up by Western investors to launch, accelerate and promote innovative internet projects. Sapato.ru was launched in June 2010; and by May 2011 its turnover grew 50 times to reach more than $2.8 mln. More than 75 000 orders were sent. Currently the e-shop has more than 5700 models (shoes and accessories) from 200+ well-known brands for women, men and children. Number of active customers has reached more than 100 000.
Matthieu Lannegrand, CEO of Sapato.ru, said: “Russian e-commerce shoe market is very young but very promising. Most people today do not feel like wasting time on long rambling through the shops. And e-shops save time and give huge choice and it is especially vital for regions that usually lack good assortment. Sapato.ru is ready to offer everybody all over Russia vast collection of high-quality shoes”.
According to Marina Treshchova, CEO of Fast Lane Ventures, “In web business, time is of the essence. We can launch one new venture a month. But it is not a final target. We strive for more: to make the leading players in their segments and know how to reach this purpose. With such partners as Intel Capital we can do it much faster”.
“The Russian ecommerce segment is one of the fastest growing in the world and online footwear retailing is a proven business model”, saidMarcin Hejka, Intel Capital Managing Director for Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia, “Success requires superb execution and we were impressed by what the Sapato.ru team achieved in a very short period of time. We are pleased to join other investors in providing additional resources for Sapato.ru to further scale their business”.
Companies’ info
Fast Lane Ventures is a venture company of new-type, set up to develop, launch and promote innovative internet projects with a view to ultimately sell them to strategic investors. Currently, we are the sole Russian venture company that invests own funds into implementation of perspective ideas and organize the whole process of its launching at the same time.
For more details about the company, visit http://fastlaneventures.ru/ru/index.html or contact Lada Shcherbakova, PR director, at +7,495 2213351 2213351 or lada@fastlanevuntures.ru
Intel Capital, Intel’s global investment organization, makes equity investments in innovative technology start-ups and companies worldwide. Intel Capital invests in a broad range of companies offering hardware, software, and services targeting enterprise, home, mobility, health, consumer Internet, semiconductor manufacturing and cleantech. Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$10 billion in over 1,140 companies in 49 countries. In that timeframe, 191 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 268 were acquired or participated in a merger. In 2010, Intel Capital invested US$327 million in 119 investments with approximately 44 percent of funds invested outside the United States and Canada. For more information on Intel Capital and its differentiated advantages, visit www.intelcapital.com.
Direct Group is a leader in Market Expansion Services in Russia and specializes in investing and partnering with companies seeking to establish themselves in the rapidly developing Russian market. Its mission includes identifying business opportunities, creating new, efficient, fully-operating businesses and providing ongoing support up to the maturity.
eVenture Capital Partners – is an Internet focused early stage venture capital firm investing out of geographically dedicated Funds in North America, Western Europe, Russia, Brazil and China. Backing Internet entrepreneurs, eVenture Capital Partners frequently is the first institutional investor in companies creating highly scalable services and significant value propositions for their users. All Funds are managed by one team, which has over the past 15 years invested in early pioneers such as shopping.com, delicious, goToMyPC and eGroups as well as today’s market leaders such as Groupon, Darberry, Angie’s List, Sonos, BlueKai, Eucalyptus or Yume Networks.
The fund is backed by its anchor investor Otto Group, one of the world’s largest eCommerce retailers. While acting completely independent of the Otto Group, Otto’s diverse network of retail, financial services, wholesale and service offerings make them a strong potential partner for companies of еVenture’s portfolio. For more information on eVenture Capital Partners, visit www.evcpartners.com.
Kinnevik was founded in 1936 and thus embodies more than seventy years of entrepreneurship under the same group of principal owners. Kinnevik’s objective is to increase shareholder value, primarily through net asset value growth. The company’s holdings of growth companies are focused around seven comprehensive business sectors; Paper & Packaging, Telecom & Services, Media, Online, Microfinancing Agriculture and Renewable energy. Kinnevik has a long history of investing in emerging markets which has resulted in a considerable exposure to consumer sectors in these markets. Kinnevik plays an active role on the Boards of its holdings.