Led · Series B · Dec 2021

Rubbles is a Russian developer of AI-powered solutions for technology and business processes. The company builds AI-powered products aimed at improving technology and business processes. The Series B funds will be used to accelerate growth in Russia and to launch Rubbles’s products in international markets. The investment will also allow Rubbles to expand its product line in the company’s existing sectors and to grow into other industries. Rubbles raised USD 6 million in a Series B round led by Elbrus Capital with participation from Series A investor FinSight Ventures. DLA Piper advised Rubbles on the transaction and Hogan Lovells advised investor Elbrus Capital.

Led · Series C · Sep 2021

TransferGo is a U.K.-based fintech that operates a consumer platform for global remittances, emphasizing fast, consumer-centric transfers. Its product promises around 90% instant settlements and 24/7 instant capability, and the company highlights user-facing features such as strong Trusted Reviews. Management says the business has been profitable over the past year, with limited burn mainly from marketing, and still holds proceeds from its prior funding. TransferGo plans to use new capital to accelerate expansion across the Asia‑Pacific region and win customers from incumbents. The company faces competition from large players like Western Union as well as newer challengers such as Remitly and Wise. TransferGo has addressed regulatory issues after receiving a €310,000 fine from the Bank of Lithuania for AML failings and reports it closed procedural gaps and received positive feedback following mediation. TransferGo is a UK-based money transfer fintech founded in 2012 that connects more than 3.5 million customers across 160 markets. The company focuses on remittances and cross-border payment options for migrants and international senders. TransferGo recently completed a €6 million secondary share sale to bring in Nordic and Baltic investors and to support its expansion. The firm plans to scale its workforce, open new offices, launch new send and receive markets, and build additional pay-out options. TransferGo announced a $50 million Series C in September of the prior year and cites the World Bank estimate that the global remittance market is worth over $500 billion. CEO Daumantas Dvilinskas said the transaction both returned capital to stakeholders and strengthened the company’s position for further expansion and payment innovation. TransferGo is a cross-border remittance service that connects 3.5 million customers across 160 markets. It has processed over 13.5 million international and local transactions, representing roughly USD 6 billion in aggregated volume. The company has demonstrated consistent 80% year‑over‑year growth since launch. Since launching in 2012, TransferGo has grown to a workforce of over 200 people. The new funding is intended to expand the customer base across Europe and further develop the product offering to support ambitious growth targets. VEF describes TransferGo as one of its early investments and its third-largest holding, reflecting continued investor support. TransferGo began in 2012 as a money-transfer service and has since shifted its focus to real-time cross-border payments and remittances. The platform serves consumers, SMEs and enterprise clients and now has over 2.5 million customers. The company offers instant payments and has expanded its geographic reach, announcing launches in 11 new markets including Japan, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Ghana. TransferGo recently partnered with Visa to enable global pay-out to cards. Management (CEO and co-founder Daumantas Dvilinskas) is pursuing further international expansion. Financially, the company has completed multiple financings this year to support growth and market entry. TransferGo is a London-based international money transfer service founded in 2012 that focuses on fast remittances, primarily serving migrants who send money home. It positions itself as one of the fastest services, offering cross-network transfers and claiming to guarantee pan‑European deliveries within 30 minutes. The product features multiple pricing tiers (free/low-cost for slower transfers and paid options for guaranteed arrival times) and a white‑label "Remittances as a Service" API for MSBs, banks and marketplaces. TransferGo says it has surpassed two million customers and facilitated more than seven million transactions. The service can send money to over 65 destination countries and from 33 origin countries, and the company has launched in 11 new markets including Japan, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Ghana. TransferGo reported 30% growth over the COVID‑19 lockdown period and a significant uptick in daily remittances, with fast growth in markets such as India, Turkey, Ukraine and Nigeria.

Participated · Series B · Aug 2021

Aviasales is a travel metasearch platform led by CEO Max Kraynov and based in Moscow, Russia. It attracts a monthly audience exceeding 15 million users and reported an estimated gross merchandise sales volume in 2021 of more than $1.6 billion. The company operates Travelpayouts, a global travel affiliate marketing platform with over 300,000 affiliate partners and more than 90 travel advertisers, including Booking.com, BlaBlaCar, GetYourGuide, Viator, and Agoda. Aviasales intends to use the new funding to launch new products and accelerate growth across international and domestic markets. It also plans to further develop its corporate travel service and expand Travelpayouts. The article frames these moves as part of a growth and product-expansion strategy supported by the raise. Aviasales is a travel metasearch service that lets users compare flight and hotel offers across many sources; it operates in Russia under Aviasales and internationally as JetRadar. The company also runs the Hotellook hotel price comparison product and the Travelpayouts affiliate network. Aviasales' travel metasearch gets more than 4 million monthly unique visitors and handles over 500,000 ticket search queries per day; it compares prices across more than 100 ticket agencies and more than 60 airline carriers. JetRadar claims more than one billion fliers use the service annually, with key markets including the U.K., Germany and Australia. In Russia the company competes with and reportedly outperforms services such as Skyscanner, Kayak and Momondo. Reported growth exceeds 100% a year.

Led · Equity · Oct 2016

Busfor operates an online marketplace for finding and purchasing bus tickets, aggregating timetables and ticketing from carriers and bus stations and selling tickets on commission. The company says it partners with 5,000 bus companies and serves about 2 million customers per month. Founded in 2012 by Ilya Ekushevskiy and Artem Altukhov, Busfor blends marketplace and distribution models to give carriers wider market access. It currently operates in Russia, Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Thailand. Busfor plans to expand further across Eastern Europe and Asia and aims to capture 20% of the Russian bus ticket market by 2019. The company has raised investment to accelerate growth in domestic markets and enter new markets.