RocketData, a Russian-Belarusian Fund portfolio company, attracts a strategic investor
The Russian-Belarusian Venture Investment Fund reached agreements with the founders of the Belarusian startup RocketData to sell its stake in the company to the 2GIS geoservice.
2GIS signed binding documents on investments in development and on the acquisition of a 47% stake in the Belarusian company RocketData. According to these agreements, the Russian-Belarusian Fund will sell part of its stake, amounting to 8.62%, to 2GIS. After receiving the necessary regulatory approvals, 2GIS could become the owner of a majority stake in RocketData. Accordingly, it will acquire the Fund's remaining 8.97% stake.
2GIS will finance development of the RocketData service: the investments will be aimed at accelerating RocketData's technological progress and launching additional geomarketing services.
Vera Garmash, General Director of 2GIS:
“We have been cooperating with RocketData since 2019. Now 2GIS customers demand the service's capabilities in 15 large Russian cities. By the end of the year, the option will be available to businesses in most cities of Russia and Kazakhstan. The service helps transform a 2GIS personal account into a convenient tool for managing company data and reputation on popular websites.”
Anatoly Braverman, First Deputy General Director of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF, RVC's managing company):
“Thanks to the joint effort of the fund's teams and RocketData, the project has performed very well and has become attractive for a strategic investor and partner, with whom RocketData will get new opportunities and an impetus for further development and scaling up. In the near future, the Russian-Belarusian Fund is planning several more investments in Belarusian and Russian IT companies.”
The RocketData platform was launched in January 2018. At the end of the same year, the Russian-Belarusian Venture Investment Fund invested roughly 25 million rubles in the project. During 2020, the fund provided a convertible loan to RocketData, which subsequently increased its equity stake in the project.
Daria Danilova, RocketData's co-founder and director:
“We are grateful to RBF Ventures for investing in us in 2018 and supporting us with investments in 2020. This allowed the company to continuously strengthen its market position and enter into a deal with 2GIS with excellent business metrics and the very strong product. We hope that working with the fund will help even more Belarusian startups create world-class products and achieve success.”
RocketData is the leading Presence management service in the CIS. The ability to interact with users of various platforms through a single interface is popular chiefly among offline businesses operating in the B2C segment. Investments and integration with 2GIS and the Sber ecosystem will allow RocketData to attract new customers, accelerate growth, and enter new national markets. Operational management of the company remains with the current project team.