Quintura blog

Acquisition of ICQ to Make Naspers as Big as Skype?

Yakov — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:55:26 +0000

Adding ICQ to online instant messaging (IM) platforms and VoIP services already owned by Naspers will complement its global footprint and make Naspers one of the largest global communications companies with over 500 million users. Naspers will become as big as Skype that reported 521 million user accounts at the end of September 2009. That is why Naspers shall be interested in acquiring ICQ that AOL is reportedly planning to sell for about $300 million. Founded in 1996, ICQ was acquired by AOL for $287 million in 1998.

ICQ has over 42 million active users wordwide and is available in 16 languages.

Naspers/MIH Group has over 450 million instant messaging users in its fully- and partially-owned portfolio companies around the world including:

- 410 million registered users of QQ (35%-owned by Naspers) in China in March 2009;

- 15 million registered users of Gadu-Gadu (acquired and 100%-owned by Naspers from 2007) in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and the Ukraine;

- 10 million registered users of Agent@Mail.ru (43%-owned by Naspers) in Russia;

- 10 million registered users of mobile IM service MXit (30%-owned by Naspers) in South Africa and Indonesia;

- 10 million registered users of Netherlands-based mobile IM service Nimbuzz (38%-owned by Naspers); and

- several million users of mobile messaging services of ACL Wireless (30%-owned by Naspers) in India and South-East Asia.

Finam Ups Stake in Badoo to 20%

Yakov — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:13:29 +0000

Russian financial group Finam has invested an undisclosed amount to exercise its option and increase its stake from 10% to 20% in global social networking site Badoo. In January 2008, Finam said it would make a $30 million investment in the site.

Founded in 2006, Badoo has over 48 million users worldwide. The users come mostly from Western Europe and Latin America. Badoo reached operating profitability in Q3 2009. The site generates most of its revenues from micro-payments for premium services, reported Vedomosti. Badoo was launched in London by Russian software developer Alexey Andreev, founder of most popular Russian online dating platform Mamba, the newspaper said. In 2005, Finam acquired a 68.5% majority stake in Mamba from the founder.

Finam made an investment in Badoo out of its fund Finam – Information Technologies.

Quintura Kids Named Top 5 Search Engine for Kids

Yakov — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:43:54 +0000

Our visual search engine for children Quintura Kids has been named among the Top 5 Search Engines for Kids by Pandia Search Engine News. The list of top 5 search engines for kids includes Ask Kids, Boolify, Quintura Kids, StudySearch and KidRex.

Per and Susanne Koch, editors of Pandia, said about Quintura Kids:

“..If these are not what you were looking for, a search cloud hovers above: Your search term is highlighted in the middle of related terms. As you point your mouse to the terms in the cloud, Quintura modifies your query and the search results. Even though this might not be as intuitive as Boolify, it is easy to understand how Quintura Kids works.”

The Quintura search cloud helps to determine user intent and gives search directions. In addition to Quintura Kids, Quintura offers hosted site search service for online publishers, Quintura Site Search.

Morgenthaler Ventures Leads $10 Million Series B Investment in Evernote

Yakov — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:58:49 +0000

One of the deans of venture capital, Morgenthaler Ventures has led a $10 million Series B round for electronic note application service Evernote, the company announced. Previous investors Troika Dialog and DOCOMO Capital, which invested a total of $6.5 million in Series A, also participated in the round. The investment will be used to expand the service into more platforms and localize it into multiple languages.

Founded in 2006, Evernote has 2 million users. The service, which is available in English and Russian, works online and on mobile devices BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Palm Pre as well as on Windows and Mac computers.

Evernote utilizes a “freemium” business model. The basic service is free but offers a limited amount of online storage space. For a small monthly fee, users get more storage, increased security and can share notes.

Quintura Named Best Search Engine For English Language Learners

Yakov — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:41:03 +0000

Our visual search engine Quintura has been named among the Best Search Engines for ESL/EFL Learners - 2009 by Websites of the Day blog. The list of the best search engines for English language learners includes EyePlorer, Study Search, Carrot², Quintura, Boolify, Viewzi, Mel Zoo, and Middlespot.

Larry Ferlazzo, editor of Websites of the Day, said about Quintura:

“It provides search results in a visual “cloud.” I’d characterize it as similar to the present version of Kartoo, the well-known search engine, but much less confusing”

The Quintura search cloud helps to determine user intent and gives search directions. In addition to being a search destination, Quintura offers hosted site search service, Quintura Site Search and safe, visual-based search engine for children, Quintura for Kids.

DST Exits Investment In KinoPoisk.ru To AlloCine

Yakov — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:50:28 +0000

Leading European provider of cinema information and e-commerce services AlloCine has acquired a stake in the most-visited Russian cinema information site and search engine, KinoPoisk.ru. The 40% stake was purchased from internet investor DST (Digital Sky Technologies), reported newspaper Kommersant. According to expert valuations, the deal could be worth ca. $2 million. KinoPoisk.ru founders Vitaly Tatsiy and Dmitri Sukhanov hold the remaining 60% stake in the company, the newspaper said.

Founded in 2003, KinoPoisk.ru has over 12 million monthly visitors. The name of the site is translated as “Cinema Search”. The site reported revenues of ca. $0.6 million and net loss of ca. $0.2 million in 2008.

Founded in 1993 in France, AlloCine is based in Paris and managed by Claude Escatine and Gregorie Lassalle. It has presence in the UK, Germany, Spain and Canada. In 2000, AlloCine was acquired by Canal+ (Vivendi Universal). In September 2003, the management and CITA Gestion bought-out the site from Vivendi. In May 2005, New York-based investment fund Tiger Global Management acquired a majority stake in AlloCine.

ProfMedia To Purchase Remaining Shares In Rambler Media

Yakov — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:55:54 +0000

Russian media and entertainment group ProfMedia has launched a reverse accelerated bookbuild to purchase shares in leading Russian online portal and search engine company Rambler Media. The company is listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange. Following the completion of the bookbuild, ProfMedia may consider de-listing Rambler from AIM, the company said.

The Rambler’s share price increased 8% to $5.10 today. The Rambler’s market capitalization is about $80 million.

In December 2006, ProfMedia acquired a 54.5% majority stake in Rambler for ca. $250 million. Now it could purchase the remaining 45.5% stake for less than $40 million.

Update: As a result of the reverse accelerated bookbuild, ProfMedia has increased its stake in Rambler Media to 75.0% by purchasing more than 3 million shares in Rambler at a price of $6.00 per share for a total value of $18.9 million. In addition, ING Bank purchased a 13.03% stake in Rambler Media and entered into a total return swap transaction with ProfMedia. ING was acting as broker and adviser to ProfMedia for the purchase of Rambler’s shares.

Almaz Capital Invests In Acumatica

Yakov — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:07:15 +0000

Moscow and Silicon Valley-based venture capital fund, Almaz Capital Russia Fund I has made an investment in Acumatica, a web-based accounting, ERP and CRM software vendor, the company announced on its web-site. According to business newspaper Vedomosti, Almaz Capital invested several million dollars in exchange for about 20% stake in Acumatica.

Acumatica, which launched its brand and web-site in October 2008, is incorporated in the US and has software development operations in Russia. The Acumatica technology was initially developed as a project of virtualization and automation software vendor Parallels. Serguei Beloussov, venture partner at Almaz Capital and CEO of Parallels, owns a stake in Acumatica, he told to the newspaper.

Almaz Capital Russia Fund I was formed in July 2008, when it completed an initial closing with a $30 million anchor investment from Cisco.

Quintura Site Search Celebrates First Anniversary

Yakov — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:34:44 +0000

Quintura Site Search has turned one year old when Google celebrated the third anniversary of its Custom Search Engine by releasing some new features last week.

Unlike Google, Quintura Site Search offers a search cloud (map) of related concepts and keywords from the site. The Quintura search cloud helps to determine user intent and gives search directions. Quintura also offers search analytics and related links widget. The site search can be monetized with either own search banner ads or search ads from contextual advertising providers.

Over 4,000 web publishers have registered to use Quintura Site Search since its launch.

eHouse Bought Back SocNet Damochka.ru to Launch Online Shopping Club

Yakov — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:28:24 +0000

Russian ecommerce group eHouse Holding, which sold 51% stake in Paintium, a company operating online dating and social networking site Damochka.ru and banner exchange network BannerBank for $3.3 million to Rambler Media in July 2006, has bought the online properties back from Rambler for about $0.2 million, reported CNews.

Founded in 2001, Damochka.ru had 1.7 million registered users and 0.7 million active members in July 2006. Due to management changes and own competing projects, Rambler never integrated the site into its product portfolio and decided to sell it back to the original owners.

According to eHouse CEO Vladislav Ulendeev, in the near future Damochka.ru, which has about 0.3 million monthly users, will be relaunched as online shopping club.

eHouse recently sold majority in its online shops Bolero.ru and 003.ru to X5 Retail Group