Rambler, the once prominent but now second tier Russian search engine, has announced on company blog on Thursday the establishment of a new venture fund named Rambler-Fund. The fund has been set up in partnership with media firm Afisha.
The investment fund will offer not just financing but so-called smart money, a blend of expertise coming from Rambler’s managers and technical and marketing resources from both Afisha and Rambler. Rambler-Fund will target early stage startups or even concept stage proposals in tech or media spheres that could be further developed into projects for integration with current Rambler or Afisha services.
The fund is intended to provide $100,000 in financing for projects for up to a six month period. Just one day after its announcement, the fund has already received 27 proposals for new projects, commented Rambler Deputry Director for Products Pavel Rogozhin on the company’s blog.
Rambler was merged with Afisha by their common shareholder Prof-Media, a management company for a number of media assets belonging to Russian tycoon Vladimir Potanin, in July last year. The consolidated company operates such web properties as the search engine Rambler.ru, city guide Afisha.ru, online newspaper Lenta.ru, online electronics and retail goods search engine Price.ru, and others. It also publishes the print version of Afisha magazine with a a large supplement portfolio.
Source: Lenta.ru
