East-West Digital News 31 October 2012
Months after leaving their managerial positions, former Mail.ru Group executives are staging another business reunion. Mikhail Vinchel, one of the early investors in Mail.ru and now an LP and advisory board member of Buran Venture Capital, has invested $75 million in In Mobile Investment (IMI.VC) – which is owned by Igor Matsanyuk, once a prominent figure in Mail.ru’s game division. Meanwhile Grigory Finger, another Mail.ru Group co-founder, has become chairman of the IMI.VC board.
Spotlighting the closing of the deal, Vinchel told the Russian business daily Vedomosti, “We invest in people we like who engage in projects we like.” With its Farminers incubator, game developer Game Insight (which had $50 million in sales last year) and other investment success stories, IMI.VC is one of the most robust players in Russia’s mobile and Internet markets, the investor believes.
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