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bne Tech
June 7, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 21
US fund General Atlantic buys Czech Kiwi.com
bne IntelliNews
The complicated negotiations are over and New York based investment fund General Atlantic has bought into Brno-based startup Kiwi.com, formerly known as Skypicker, General Atlantic said in a statement on June 3.
The terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but according to the Czech edition of Forbes, General Atlantic bought a majority stake of nearly 51% in the highly successful Czech startup.
According to several sources, the stake of nearly 51% was valued at CZK3bn (€116.5mn), which makes Kiwi.com worth more than CZK5bn. In 2018, the company’s revenue was CZK31bn.
Kiwi’s co-founder and director Oliver Dlouhy
The Brno-based startup Kiwi.com sold a 51% stake to New York’s fund General Atlantic for a reported €116mn.
remains in his position. “I and a fellow co-founder Jozef Kepesi gave away only a small portion of our shares, we are staying in the company as important stakeholders and our executive role remains unchanged,” Dlouhy said in an interview with Hospodarske Noviny.
“In just six years, Oliver and the Kiwi.com team have profitably built one of the most disruptive and transformative technology platforms in the large and fragmented online travel industry and we look forward to supporting Oliver’s vision of creating a seamless and comprehensive travel experience for value conscious consumers world- wide,” said managing director at General Atlantic Tanzeen Syed.
Russia's RDIF and China Investment Corporation to invest $1bn in tech
Russian Direct Investment Fund and (RDIF) and China Investment Corporation (CIC) will launch
a Russia-China science and tech innovation fund worth $1bn on parity basis, Vedomosti daily said on June 5 citing unnamed federal officials close to negotiations on setting up the fund.
RDIF is Russia's sovereign fund with $10bn
of own funds and $40bn of co-investments, actively cooperating with Asian and Middle East investment institutions. Most recently RDIF announced raising $2bn for AI development in Russia and setting up €900mn Russo-Turkish investment fund.
The new Russia-China fund will invest in AI, innovative materials, space technologies in both countries, RDIF representatives confirmed to Vedomosti. In 2012 RDIF and CIC already set up Russia-China Investment Fund (RCIF or RKIF).
Analysts surveyed by the daily remind that Chi- nese investors are present on Russian tech mar- ket, with such deals as Wangsu Science & Tech- nology buying a controlling stake in CDNvideo in 2017 and Huawei acquiring technology of Russian Vokord. Potential access to Chinese market would significantly increase the potential and valuation of tech start-ups in Russia, they note.