TA Venture's portfolio company, SumUp, has expanded its coverage footprint by rolling into an eleventh European market: Russia. SumUp is now operational in the U.K., Germany, Ireland, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Portugal, Belgium and now Russia, giving it a larger international geographical footprint than other European mobile point-of-sales rivals. SumUp is the service for small businesses and sole traders to accept credit and debit card payments. Using a free, supremely portable card reader and an app available for iPhone, iPad and Android, artisans, taxi drivers, cafes, restaurants, shops and many other merchants are now able to accept credit and debit card payments with their smartphone or tablet - anytime, anywhere.SumUp is Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) and PCI-DSS certified, ensuring that payments are processed in accordance with the highest security standards.

More details: https://sumup.com/sumup-launches-in-russia-and-partners-with-svyaznoy-group-one-of-russias-largest-smartphone-retailers-and-card-issuing-banks/?lang=en_IE

 

Participants of “IDCEE 2013. Internet Technologies and Innovations” conference can save up to 50% of the ticket price to one of the biggest IT conferences in Europe by buying it through April 10th.

In three years the IDCEE Conference has managed to become one of the TOP-5 European Conferences on Internet technologies and entrepreneurship. This year the Conference will take place on October 10-11th at the same venue – Exhibition Hall “ACCO International” (Kiev, Pushkin Park).

Four year in a row, IDCEE will bring the leading headliners of the global IT-industry to the capital of Ukraine: global VC funds, business angels, IT experts, successful IT-businessmen, as well as startups. Talented entrepreneurs of the CEE region will have an opportunity to receive a due expert opinion on their projects firsthand, as well as to attract financial resources for realization thereof.

In 2013 IDCEE is expected to welcome more than 2,500 participants, among which will be more than 300 investors (with $30 bln under management) and 150 startups. Preliminary confirmations of their participation have already been received by such trend setters as Adeo Ressi (Founder Institute) and Alan Patricof (Greycroft Partners), and global VC funds like Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital, eVentures, Almaz Capital Partners, Mangrove Capital Partners, Runa Capital, Accel Partners and others.

A special token of IDCEE 2013 will be a Tech Stage that is called upon to gather CTOs of successful Internet companies and other tech experts. A Brazil Panel will also take place. It will gather representatives of the leading companies on a fast developing IT market of Brazil.

The Best IDCEE startups will be awarded in 5 categories. The total cash prize fund amounts to €30,000.

Early bird tickets can be purchased on the IDCEE website (http://idcee.org) since January 25th.

The price for Participants, Investors and Geeks is €149 (through April 10th), for Startups €199 (through April 10th). When buying 5 tickets in one category, attendees will pay only for the 4 of them and will get one ticket free.

“A new “Geek” category was designated for those who are just starting their business and those ones who, unfortunately, have failed but still are full of ambitions to start their business from scratch once again, - says Viktoriya Tigipko, Director of TA Venture fund and organizer of the IDCEE Conference. - To get a “Geek” ticket you should register on our web-site and undergo a selection process”.

 

TA Venture has invested in an innovative platform TranscribeMe that processes and transcribes audio information into text. Among investors and angels taking part in this investment round are TEC Ventures, Tech Coast Angels, Sierra Angels, TA Ventures, ICE Angels and Maverick Angels. The total funding amounts to $900k. 

“We are very excited about our investment into TranscribeMe. The service that enables conversion of sounds into words will especially be on demand for medical professionals, corporate clients, writers, academics, journalists and all those who need to convert the voice data into text fast and accurately. We are especially happy to be an investor in the company since it is headed by a former Kyivite, Alexei Dunayev, who is also one of the co-founders of the company. We hope that our investment will help the company to enter the Ukrainian- and Russian-speaking markets, and that TranscribeMe will become a leading global provider of sound transcription services both for B2C and B2B clients”, says Viktoriya Tigipko, Managing Director of TA Venture.

TranscribeMe was launched in 2011. The company is based in San Francisco.  The service enables you to quickly search for audio and video content and share it by converting voice into text.  The company delivers the best-in-class audio conversion tool using a hybrid model that combines speech recognition algorithms with the power of crowd-sourced transcribers working from all over the world. “Our team has developed a tailored service for customers ranging from market research to medical practitioners. We achieve a new level of efficiency due to our voice recognition and micro-tasking technology.  Currently, we are working on a strategy to enter the Russian-speaking market, as well as Ukraine. It may happen in early 2013,” says CEO TranscribeMe Alexei Dunayev. 

Any person possessing voice information can leave a request on the company’s website to convert audio or video data into a PDF file, and transcription will be performed confidentially and accurately in no time.  Customers from Ukraine and Russia can already register using this link http://unbouncepages.com/transcribeme-ru-ua/ 

TranscribeMe is useful for medical professionals, corporate clients, organizers of conferences, writers, journalists, academics and podcasters.  The service delivers over 500% increased efficiency for customers in the medical, market research and education industries.

Moreover, conversion of audio- and video information to the text format allows maximizing the value of content.  The text format is easier to share, analyze and search.

According to company’s spokesperson, this investment round will allow TranscribeMe to engage new audience faster and make the service more affordable for the majority of customers.

The raised funding will be used for maintaining the rapid growth of the hybrid platform.  It is worth mentioning that this investment round was oversubscribed. As a result, the total amount invested in the service has reached $1,5 million. Alexei Dunayev accounts this for the wide audience coverage and care of the customers’ needs. TranscribeMe’s efficiency also comes from the new feature in the process of workforce management – the ability to micro-task the transcription of audio and video content. By building its own platform for managing crowd workers rather than using a traditional marketplace model, TranscribeMe is able to deliver a secure service, as well as control, train and up-skill its crowd of thousands of workers. One of industry leading publications (GigaOm) has noted that a key limitation in the crowd labor marketplace has been platform weakness. As a Microsoft BizSpark One partner, TranscribeMe leverages a stable and secure Windows Azure platform, with the help of which it achieves its main competitive advantage – complex processing audio information.

Earlier, TA Venture invested in  online air tickets booking service Bravoavia, translation search engine Linguee, publisher of social networking games and applications Pixonic, social shopping platform Fantasy Shopper, personalized online shopping platform for brides Tailored, e-commerce company for the delivery of organic products Mile High Organics, the first social marketplace for hostels, beds & buches WeHostels, URBANARA, an online brand, selling handpicked, high quality home textiles and homewares from around the world and AdoreMe is a personalized online lingerie club, which offers designer lingerie at affordable prices.

 

Last week TA Venture portfolio company Wehostels won the "Most Innovative Travel Startup of the Year" Award at the PhocusWright Conference's Travel Innovation Summit!

 

The award judges were 12 top travel executives including CEOs and VPs from Expedia, Priceline, Sabre, Google, Viator, etc. Because of that, this award is a great validation from the industry. In fact, previous winners went out to create great things, like Tripit (later acquired for $120M), Gogobot (later raised $22M), EveryTrail (later acquired by TripAdvisor), Hipmunk (later raised $20M) and GroundLink (later raised $20M). 

Travel Innovation Summit 2012 - Startup Category Winner: WeHostels from WeHostels.

 

Since Wehostels decided to "go mobile or go home", killing their website and launching a mobile app 3 months ago, things were really taking off. Wehostels were featured by Apple as "New and Noteworthy" and received 5 stars by users in the app store and we were praised by the press including NBC News, WAToday and TechCrunch. Users are using and loving the product and the community is growing a lot; more than 70,000 mobile users and that number is growing fast every day. 

                                              

Victoria Tigipko, Director of TA Venture, expressed such opinion during the seminar  called "Legal regulation in the Internet sphere and innovative business", which took place in Kiev on April 24. The seminar was organized by TA Venture VC fund and international law firm Salans. "The Russian experience in the legislative regulation of the Internet is useful for Ukraine, and such events as this seminar organized by  TA Venture and Salans should become a tradition in our country. Domestic internet business is being actively developed and requires new approaches and adapted legal framework", said Victoria Tigipko.

 

One of the main topics of the seminar was the taxation of the implementation of the international Internet projects in Ukraine. Victor Naumov, Managing Partner of the St. Petersburg’s office of Salans, and one of the leading attorney in the field of intellectual property and information technologies, advises companies that implement such projects to take into consideration issues related to the definition of the corporate legal entity, choice of jurisdiction, protection of private data of users and protection of the rights of consumers of the future service. "Of high importance is the protection of the intellectual property of project developers and policy development to block illegal content, which can be downloaded by users from the Internet," emphasized Victor Naumov.

The event attracted more than 100 participants: lawyers, IT entrepreneurs, business and legal journalists, who listened to keynotes about legal aspects of establishing and maintaining an online business, latest trends in the development of legislation in the field of Internet business, in particular, based on the example of Russia.

"The idea of organizing such an event came to us during the IDCEE-2011, as we understood that the legal aspect of Internet entrepreneurship requires special attention. One thing is clear: Ukraine needs new legislation in the field of IT and Russia's experience may be helpful considering all the mistakes and amendments that were made. We have an opportunity to make conclusions ourselves as to what we should do and what we should not do", said Victoria Tigipko, Director of TA Venture.

In turn, Natalia Selyakova, Partner at the Salans Kiev office, said that the legal community is aware of the importance of business development in the Internet space, as well ass the importance of high quality legal assistance in such business development. "International expertise of Salans and our Russian experience in particular is a reliable support for innovative business development in Ukraine", said Natalia Selyakova.

TA Venture along with Salans law firm will host a workshop for IT-entrepreneurs and investors on Tuesday, April 24th. The main topic of the seminar is Legal regulations in online projects and innovative business. During the event our speakers will analyze current issues of online business, taxation, intellectual property protection in Ukraine and other countries.The main speaker is Victor Naumov, who is one of the leading lawyers in the field of intellectual property and information technology according to Legal500 and Chambers ratings.

 

TA Venture, together with a group of international angel investors, has invested in InBed.me, a social booking site for travelers, completing $1.2 million dollars round. The investment raised will be used to grow the business in targeted geographical regions.

InBed.me allows travelers to connect with each other while booking their Hostels or Bed & Couches for their next trip, from the web or mobile. The company is targeting the budget travel market, specifically students and young people who use hostels as their main accommodation while travelling. Users can see who will stay in each place before they book, check out their profiles and even connect with them before their trip begins, making the travel experience more social, starting from the booking stage. As a result, users can get to know each other online, share their recommendations and travelling plans before they arrive.

Since its launch November 2011, the company has built an inventory of +2,000 hostels and the number of users is growing at a fast pace. As part of its expansion, the company established a partnership with Hostelworld.com, who is the global market leader in booking hostels online. The partnership will make it possible to integrate the Hostelworld’s inventory into InBed.me system, which will allow users to book beds in some 25,000 hostels around the world. The monetization model is through booking commissions.

At present, the company is focusing on South America because it’s a popular destination among students and young travelers and because its sees a great opportunity to grow the business during the Football World Cup in Brazil in 2014. After that, the company is planning to expand into Europe.

“InBed.me is the first social market place for hostels and Bed & Couches. The company is making online travel planning more social, by allowing users to know in advance who will be visiting the same destination at the same time so that they could coordinate their travels. As a result, users get more personalized social experience during their travels. We are very exited about our investment in InBed.me and are confident that the company will become the global leader in social bookings for hostels and Bed & Couches”, said ViktoriyaTigipko, Managing Director of TA Venture.

“The idea for InBed.me came after we, the founders, traveled as backpackers in Europe. We discovered that the best part of the travel experience was connecting with other people, so we thought that we could use the social technologies in the web to facilitate these connections” said Diego Saez-Gil, Co-founder and CEO of inBed.me. He added “We are very happy to have partnered with amazing investors like TA Venture that believe in our vision, and that will be a strategic partner in our expansion in Europe and Eastern Europe in particular”.

 

TA Venture, together with a group of international investors Fabrice Grinda, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of OLX and Jose Marin, Founding Partner and Managing Director of IG Expansion have invested in Mile High Organics, which is a US e-commerce company that delivers the highest quality organic produce and GMO-free groceries to homes and offices. The investment raised will be used to expand product line, to intensify sales and direct marketing efforts, as well as to undertake geographic expansion.

Since it launch in June 2010 in Colorado, USA, the Company has achieved a multi-million dollar run-rate and provides 7day/week organic food delivery to over 200 Colorado zip codes. With this investment, the Company is projecting to achieve a 400% increases in sales by the end of 2012 and to expand its operations to other states.

Mile High Organics uses a direct marketing, membership-based model with recurring fully customizable orders that are based on seasonal variety and taste preferences of its customers. The Company provides unique recipe cards with each produce bin that allow customers to prepare delicious, healthy meals that are free from any harmful ingredients and are packed full of nutrition for lifelong health and wellness.

“Mile High Organics is an innovative player serving the largest consumer market in the United States, focusing on local organic food products and minimization of environmental impact. The Company is developing a truly disruptive e-grocery model to compete for the burgeoning natural and organic grocery market. It allows its customers to incorporate fresh, organic food into their diet for their best health and best life. Just over one year, the Company achieved thousands of delighted members and recurring orders. We are very excited about our investment in Mile High Organics and are confident that the Company is uniquely positioned and capable of becoming a leading player in the US organic grocery delivery market and expanding its business to other countries”, said Viktoriya Tigipko, Director of TA Venture.

"We have a dramatic vision for disrupting the global food system with our unique e-grocery approach. We think that strong and emerging markets exist within Europe, which distinctly includes the rapidly developing east. We are proud to have global partners in our quest and we believe they will help lead to our ultimate success", said Michael Joseph, Co-founder and CEO

TA Venture, together with a group of international investors, have invested in Tailored, a personalized online shopping platform for brides.

Tailored solves the problem of wedding organization and planning by recommending products and services to brides at every step of bride’s’ planning process, from their engagement through their honeymoon. Brides can browse and shop for thousands of wedding products, create lists of their favorite finds, and share them with their friends and family for instant feedback. Users can also follow brides with similar tastes. Every product on Tailored can be purchased within two clicks.

Since its launch in August 2011, over 130,000 brides have already discovered their bridal style with Tailored and have bought the necessary products and services. With over 160 affiliate partners, Tailored will offer the largest wedding catalog online, featuring the leading national retailers in the USA.

"Tailored is the first site to bring a personalized experience to wedding shopping and planning online. The company has developed a unique resource for brides to discover and purchase items and services that inspire them. Besides being an inspiration discovery point for brides, Tailored is also a new customer acquisition channel for retailers. We are very excited about our investment in Tailored and are confident that the Company will become the world’s leading personalized online shopping platform for brides, helping brides have a wedding of their dream," said Viktoriya Tigipko, Managing Director of TA  Ventures.

"We couldn’t be more excited to share Tailored with the wedding community! We are passionate about creating a community where brides can not only discover new brands and up-and-coming designers, but also get personalized recommendations on products and services based on their taste, budget, and wedding planning needs," said Sara Morgan, Founder of Tailored.

TA Venture, together with Accel Partners, NEA and a group of international angel investors, have invested in Fantasy Shopper, social shopping platform. The investment raised will be used to grow and internationalize the company’s business.

Launching first in the UK with over 100,000 virtual items from 40 retailers in clothes, accessories and sports goods, the Company intends to go global quickly by taking users from shopping in London to other major world destinations. Since a very short time after its launch in October 2011, Fantasy Shopper received several prestigious awards and was announced the winner of the fifth annual Amazon Web Services (AWS) Start-up Challenge.

“Social shopping is a future of ecommerce since it allows brands to interact directly with consumers through their social graphs and allows brands to reward their customers for buying and sharing offers with friends across social media sites. Fantasy Shopper has developed an innovative social shopping platform which integrates online and offline fashion retail in a unique and entertaining environment. We are very excited about our investment in Fantasy Shopper and are confident that the Company will become the world’s number one social shopping platform, turning shopping into a fun social game”, said Viktoriya Tigipko, Director of TA Venture.

The company’s co-founders have vast and successful experience in commercial digital marketing and in large scale software engineering. They have built a highly scalable technology infrastructure for a new social shopping game where players discover and share the latest fashion from real-world online retailers. On Fantasy Shopper, users spend Fantasy Money to buy virtual clothing, create outfits and stock out their virtual dream wardrobe. Users can unlock discount codes and win real world shopping vouchers to spend in their favorite shops. Fantasy Shopper is 100% free to play and provides users with access to lots of real prizes everyday.

Pixonic, a Russian social game publisher, has raised USD 5 million in a round of funding with a valuation of USD 10 million. Investors include TA Ventures, Kite Ventures (Russia) and Ventech (France).

Founded in 2009, Moscow based Pixonic is a social game publisher with a large catalogue of games already to their credit. Games include a large variety of themes ranging from Fashion Design to War Games. To date, the company has raised over $6 million in 3 rounds of financing.

Pixonic was founded by Elena Masolova whose name is most notable for bringing Groupon to Russia. Company management contains some of the finest gaming and Internet professionals in the country. The company is currently trying to reach a world wide market with their games and is actively seeking representatives outside of Russia to promote their catalog.

“Ukraine is the most promising market of high technologies and innovations in Central and Eastern Europe, which is on par with Russian in terms of R&D and innovations, and exceeds it in terms of the growth opportunities”, — Victoria Tigipko, the Co-Founder and Managing Director of the VC fund TA Venture stated during the Ukrainian Investment Summit — Adam Smith Conference in London.

 

According to Victoria Tigipko, electronic commerce is one of the most dynamic segments if the IT-field at the time, with the pace of annual growth being 80% against 35% in Russia and 19% in the world.  Furthermore, as early as 2010 the internet-commerce market volume exceeded $1 bln. “Moreover, the percentage of the electronic commerce in retail sales is only 0.8% versus 1,6% in Russia and 4% in the US, what indicates huge potential for growth”, — Viktoriia Tigipko said.

She noted, that Ukraine is already in the Gartner’s List of Top 30 outsourcing locations in the world and is one of the six most attractive countries in CEE for IT outsourcing.  In 2010 alone outsourcing revenues in Ukraine amounted to $1 bln from 1000 IT-companies, where about 200 000 programmers work.

“In addition, Ukraine is the most dynamic internet-market in the CEE region in terms of the number of internet users, with 15% y-o-y growth in 2010 vs. 14% in Russia and 7% in Poland. As the result, in 2010, total number of Internet users has reached 13.9 mln. in Ukraine”, — Victoria Tigipko emphasized.

The Co-Founder of the VC fund TA Venture added that the high pace of development of venture and private investments promotes the growth of Ukrainian IT-segment. “That way in order to diversify their portfolios, local and foreign VC funds establish partnerships for co-investing in VC deals in Ukraine.  Whereby, the most attractive spheres for them are: social shopping and social games, on-line travel and on-line financial services,  as well as on-line advertising and mobile applications, which are polular among the national internet users”, — she said.

In addition, Ukraine obtains huge scientific resource, great amount of talented experts in various fields, especially in Physics and Math.  At present, about 400 Ukrainian higher education institutions qualify IT-professionals with more than 30 000 graduates, thereby Ukraine is 4^th among the top-10 countries with the most certified IT professionals.

“Should we consider the intention of Ukrainian government to introduce legislation, which will promote the development of innovative venture ecosystem and particularly the support of the IT-field, Ukrainian venture industry has all the chances of becoming a major actor in the global venture market.  Ukraine is capable of creating IT-start-ups with global potential, partnerships with the world and Russian venture funds, as well as acting as an investor together with them”, — Viktoriia Tigipko summarized.