Fort Ross Ventures, a Redwood City, CA-based venture capital firm connecting U.S. technology startups to the Russian market, has just opened operations in the U.S., with a new $200m fund.
The new fund will focus on fintech, AI and Machine Learning, Cloud, Security, Marketplaces, and general enterprise technologies and will provide a cultural and business development bridge for startups by facilitating market entry through partnerships with some of Russia’s biggest companies.
The firm works with its portfolio companies on market fit and global best practices, as well as fast-tracking business development and revenue-generation through introductions to potential corporate customers in Russia.
Through an initial $100m fund, Fort Ross has funded and supported the growth of GridGain, Moven, eToro, Tufin, NetGuardians, Mobeewave, and IdentityMindGlobal.
In conjunction with the fund announcement, that Anurag Chandra has joined Managing Partner Victor Orlovski (former Chief Technology Officer and Chief Digital Officer of Sberbank). Anurag has invested in early-to-late-stage technology companies at Lighthouse Capital Partners, NXT Ventures, and The Galleon Crossover Fund. Some of his exits include Responsys (IPO), Sonoa Systems, later renamed Apigee (IPO, then $625 million sale to Google), ThreatMetrix ($817 million sale to Relx), Ironport ($830 million sale to Cisco).
He was also part of the executive team at two enterprise technology startups sold to public companies: netDialog to Kana Communications and Intraspect Software to Vignette Corporation.
Fort Ross will be announcing the first two investments from the new $200 million fund in the coming weeks.
FinSMEs
25/04/2018