Marchmont News 6 April 2012
Fast Lane Ventures, a leading Russian developer of internet companies, has agreed to sell its stake in Shopping Live business to German based Group – Home Shopping Europe.
The sale, for an undisclosed price, represents the second successful exit for Fast Lane Ventures who sold Sapato.ru, Russia’s principal online shoe and accessories retailer, to Russian online store OZON Group in February, 2012.
Shopping Live is a Russian online teleshopping company providing a convenient and accessible shopping solution. The website broadcasts short and entertaining live videos to showcase the products for purchase. Shopping Live was launched a year ago and has recently won first prize at the Russian “Big Digit” TV awards in the category “Best Russian Teleshopping Channel”.
“The key audience of Shopping Live is dedicated to television, and its “live shopping” format appeals more to television viewers rather than internet users. Therefore, the company needed an experienced partner with strong expertise in television to continue to develop the business further and take it to the next level. We are glad that such partner has appeared and I am sure Shopping Live will continue to be successful under the control of a strong partner like Home Shopping Europe. Shopping Live was a very profitable project, as we had invested relatively small seed money and received a very good return on the investment,” – said Marina Treshchova, CEO, Fast Lane Ventures.