Participated · Seed · Feb 2021

Careerist is an ed-fintech marketplace connecting motivated learners, teachers, and employers to finance and train underserved U.S. jobseekers for technology careers. The platform runs software- and freelance-instructor-led training, provides career coaching, job placement assistance, and ongoing mentorship, and automates students' job searches. In 2023 Careerist launched an initiative to underwrite loans for applicants with credit scores below 620 and plans to provide up to $12M in installments that year. Its loan product targets applicants with an SSN and credit scores under 620, offers up to 24-month repayment terms, an average APR of 18%, and requires a $499 down payment for low-credit students. The company was founded in 2019, participated in Y Combinator's Spring 2021 cohort, and has grown to a team of over 100 employees. Careerist recently raised $8 million in a Series A. Careerist operates a career-development platform that trains people without tech or coding backgrounds for roles such as software testing and then applies its students for jobs in the U.S. tech industry. Students pay an initial application fee and sign an Income Share Agreement to pay full tuition only if they land a job. The platform also helps graduates grow into more advanced roles after placement. Careerist graduates have secured jobs at major companies including Google, Apple, Amazon, Slack, Salesforce, Samsung, Verizon, AT&T, Snap, and Facebook. The company was founded in March 2019 by CEO Ivan Tsybaev and is Sunnivale, Calif.-based. Recent fundraising and product plans are positioned to support continued growth and scaling of its offering.

Participated · Equity · Jan 2021

Fantasy Invest gamifies the stock market using fantasy-sports mechanics: players assemble virtual stock portfolios and enter hourly, daily, or weekly contests based on real-time market data. Victories raise user ratings on a Fantasy Leaderboard and award Fantasy Coins that can be redeemed for prizes. The app launched in April 2020 and by the end of 2020 had 80,000 unique players from 51 countries who played 520,000 unique games. CEO Michael Gavrilov cites prior success building a multi-million fintech software company and frames the product as a winning combination of fantasy sports and investing. The company set a goal of reaching 1 million players in 2021 and investors note high engagement in the U.S. with broader global potential. User acquisition and engagement through gamification are central to the company’s growth plans. Fantasy Invest develops a mobile game that lets users follow real market data, choose stocks without buying them, and earn prizes for correct picks. The app positions itself to teach a new generation to overcome fear of the stock market and to demonstrate market dynamics in a game format. The product has more than 2,000 registrations and a growing player base, with the majority of users reported to be American. The team, led by founder Mikhail Gavrilov, rapidly ran user interviews, published and tested hypotheses on a real audience. The company says it ultimately plans to build a full broker product targeting Generation Z. Recently it received a €50,000 investment structured as a convertible loan from an angel network.

Led · Equity · Aug 2018

InSize builds industrial 3D scanners that measure the dimensions and mass of goods of any shape for e‑commerce, logistics companies, and large retailers. Its solutions are already used by online stores, logistics providers and major retailers. The company earned 20 million rubles last year and reinvested all revenue into production and development of new scanner models. InSize is developing a cloud service that will recommend packaging to speed packing and reduce transport costs. The team plans to use new funding to scale existing technologies, bring new solutions to market, and strengthen sales and R&D. Over the next year the company will concentrate on the Russian market, with later plans to expand to the UK, Germany and the US after successful domestic scaling.

Participated · Seed · Oct 2017

TalkBank is building an AI-driven digital bank that operates inside messenger platforms, offering intelligent and actionable insights into users' financial habits and natural-language command understanding. The platform provides advanced analytics to help build brand customer loyalty and is scalable across languages and messenger platforms. The company is co-founded by Vladimir Kozhevnikov, Mikhail Popov, and Alexander Popov and is based in Moscow, Russia. TalkBank raised $1m in seed funding at a reported $6.1m valuation. The startup will use the funds to attract new clients, develop technological platforms for banks and partners, and to launch pilots with banks abroad. TalkBank builds a conversational banking chatbot that lets customers check balances, receive personalized advice, and get targeted credit-card offers inside messaging platforms. The founders—Mikhail Popov, Alexander Popov, and Vladimir Kozhevnikov—launched the service in October 2016 and bring more than six years of fintech experience, including founding EasyFinance. The product uses Natural Language Understanding, AI, and Big Data to interact with users and tailor financial decisions. The team positions the service as an alternative to mobile banking apps, branches, and call centers by automating operations and client communication. As of the article, TalkBank reports about 1,000 active cardholders. They have raised a pre-seed round with the Internet Initiatives Development Fund and are continuing to build out the service.

Led · Equity · Jul 2017

Playkey is a Moscow-based game streaming service that lets users stream Steam, Origin and Blizzard PC games over a 10Mbps internet connection without a high-end gaming PC. Users can also register their existing game keys to use their own libraries rather than buying new keys. The company works with partners including Ubisoft, Bethesda, Capcom, Sega, Codemasters and Plug In Digital to support multiplayer elements and cloud saves and ease running game sessions on its service. Playkey reported profits increased 300% year-over-year and currently reports roughly 1M monthly attendees and 400k users. It has just closed an additional $2.8M funding round from Russia's Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF) to support growth. Playkey plans to use the new resources to expand services and deploy servers in the United States, Western Europe and Asia.