Sapato Online Shoe Store Raises $ 12Million in Investment
Sapato store, a leading player in the Russian online shoe sales market, announced a $ 12 million investment. Most of the amount was received from the IntelCapital investment fund, with the participation of existing investors - DirectGroup, eVentureCapitalPartners and Kinnevik. As a result of a new round of investments, the total investment in the company amounted to $ 20 million.
The funds received from IntelCapital will be used to expand the store's assortment, as well as to develop customer service and improve the quality of customer service through the development of the existing CRM system. Part of the money is planned to be spent on a new marketing campaign in order to increase Sapato brand awareness and its positive perception among existing and potential buyers.
Sapato.ru - the first project of Fast Lane Ventures, focused on the creation and development of innovative Internet projects - was launched in June 2010. By May 2011, its turnover increased 50 times and reached $ 2,8 million. Currently, more than 75 thousand orders have been sent; the collection of the store has more than 5700 models (shoes and accessories) from 200 world brands. The number of regular customers is more than 100 thousand.
Commenting on the company's rapid growth, Matthier Lannengrand, CEOSapato, said: “The online shoe shopping market in Russia is still very young, but very promising. It is gaining popularity at a rapid pace. "
Marina Treschova, CEO of FastLaneVentures, noted that the speed factor plays a key role in the Internet business: “We are able to create at least one new company per month. But this is not an end in itself. We want more: to make our projects the leaders of their segments, and we know how to achieve this. "
“The Russian e-commerce segment is one of the fastest growing in the world, and online shoe retail is a well-established business model,” said MarcinHejka, Managing Director of IntelCapital in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Russia. - However, success in this matter requires high skill. We are very pleased with the results that the Sapato.ru team achieved in a very short time. “We are pleased to join other investors and provide Sapato.ru with additional resources for expanding our business.”
Fast Lane Ventures is a venture company created to develop, launch and promote innovative Internet projects with the goal of their final sale to strategic investors. At the moment, this is the only venture company in Russia that not only invests its own funds in the implementation of promising ideas, but also organizes the entire process of launching a project from scratch, acting as an investor and an operational partner at the same time.
IntelCapital, Intel's global investment fund, invests in innovative companies and startups around the world.
DirectGroup is a leader in market development services in Russia and specializes in investing and partnering with companies seeking to establish themselves in the fast-growing Russian market.
eVentureCapitalPartners is a venture fund specializing in early-stage investments in e-commerce companies. eVentureCapitalPartners actively invests in Internet companies in the USA, Europe, as well as countries with emerging economies such as Russia and Ukraine. Kinnevik is an investment company founded in 1936.
Sapato store, a leading player in the Russian online footwear market, announced a $ 12 investment ...
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