Dmitry Alimov

Dmitry Alimov
Born (1974-08-17) 17 August 1974
Samara, USSR
Residence Singapore
Nationality Russian
Education Harvard Business School,
University of Missouri–St. Louis,
Samara State Aerospace University
Occupation entrepreneur, venture capitalist, founder and managing partner of Frontier Ventures investment fund, co-founder of ivi.ru

Dmitry Alimov (Russian: Дмитрий Серге́евич Алимов, Dmitry Sergeyevich Alimov) (born August 17, 1974 in Samara, USSR) is a Singapore-based entrepreneur and investor in Internet and media businesses, founder and managing partner of the investment fund Frontier Ventures, co-founder of the online video service ivi.ru. He worked as a senior manager in major Russian and international companies, such as Access Industries, Gazprom-Media, TNT, Amedia, ru-Net Ltd, Sputnik Group. In 2012, Russian business magazine Secret Firmy named Alimov one of the Top-50 Russian Internet Millionaires.[1]

Biography

Dmitry Alimov was born in 1974 in Samara, USSR (now Russia). He studied applied mathematics and computer science at the Samara State Aerospace University. In 1998, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Missouri - St. Louis (USA) with a major in Business Administration (Finance).[2]

Alimov started his career at the mergers and acquisitions department of investment bank Renaissance Capital.[3]

In 1998 – 2002, as the vice president of a $1 billion private equity and venture capital fund Sputnik Group, he managed a number of venture capital and private equity investments.[2]

In 2001 – 2002, Alimov was First Deputy General Director and the member of the Board of Directors of the TV channel TNT as well as a member of the Gazprom-Media Executive Committee.[2][4]

In 2004, Alimov graduated from Harvard Business School with an MBA degree.[5][6]

In the same year Leonard Blavatnik invited him to work for Access Industries (Eurasia). In 2004 – 2005, Alimov was in charge of the company’s investment in media in Russia and CIS countries.[2][3]

In 2005, Alimov was appointed managing director of Amedia and developed the company to lead the market in TV production in Russia.[3]

In 2008, Alimov exited Amedia and sold his equity interest in the company to Access Industries.

In 2007 – 2010, Alimov worked as the managing partner of ru-Net Ltd venture capital fund which invested in Yandex, Russia’s leading search engine, and Ozon.ru, the first Russian online shop.[2]

Alimov has backed major Internet companies in Russia. He co-founded and played a key role in financing, launch, and growth of Russia's largest online video provider Ivi.ru and, on behalf of ru-Net Ltd, invested in the group purchasing site Biglion.ru.[7]

In 2011, Alimov founded a $50 million venture capital fund Frontier Ventures to invest in developing consumer Internet businesses.

Frontier Ventures

Frontier Ventures is an investment fund that invests in early-stage Internet businesses globally with a particular focus on businesses with strong network effects. It was founded in 2011 by Dmitry Alimov and ivi.ru Chairman Oleg Tumanov. The fund was officially launched in March, 2012.[7][8]

The fund’s partners position themselves as “serial entrepreneurs” with a track record of creating successful businesses from scratch. They work closely with entrepreneurs to build leading technology driven companies in the global market.[8]

In April 2012, co-founder of Digital Sky Technologies Gregory Finger joined the Advisory Board of Frontier Ventures.[9] In May 2013, Najam Kidwai, Real Time Content founder and serial technology entrepreneur and investor joined the Advisory Board. In September 2013, Holger Laubenthal, President and CEO of GE Money Bank Russia also became a part of Frontier Ventures Advisory Board. In December 2013, Advisory Board of Frontier Ventures added Jason Downes, former General Director of ru-Net Holdings and Board Member at Yandex and Ozon.

The fund’s first portfolio company was Ivi.ru, a Russia’s largest professional online video site with around 30m monthly unique users (www.ivi.ru). Frontier Ventures also invested in Biglion, #1 company in daily deals in Russia,expanding into off-price goods e-commerce.[10] In March 2013, Frontier Ventures invested in Ostrovok, leading hotel booking service in Russia.[11] In August 2013, Frontier Ventures invested in Profi.ru (formerly known as Eruditor Group), the leasing online service marketplace in Russia and CIS as part of US$12m Series B investment round.[12] In December 2013, Frontier Ventures, Intel Capital and Runa Capital were awarded a Venture Syndicate of the year award for their investment in Eruditor Group.

Frontier Ventures is a partner of the Skolkovo Innovation Center, “Russian Silicon Valley”.[13] In June 2012, the fund signed a memorandum of understanding with Skolkovo in which Frontier Ventures committed to investing $20 million into Skolkovo resident companies.[14][15]

In March 2015, as part of its global expansion Frontier Ventures opened an office in Singapore. Later in 2015, Frontier Ventures invested in the US$8m Series C financing of The Chope Group Pte Ltd (Singapore), owner and operator of Chope.com, a Singapore headquartered restaurant table reservation service serving Southeast Asia and China and led the A$4.1m Series A investment in Expert 360 Pty Ltd (Australia), owner and operator of Expert360.com, a global marketplace for high end consulting services with headquarters in Sydney.

Dispute with Jim Rogers

In 2003, his widely circulated e-mail exchange with the famous global investor Jim Rogers made Alimov, then a student at Harvard Business School, a prominent figure among businessmen and government officials.[3][16]

The dispute started after Rogers’ lecture at HBS when the co-founder of the Quantum Fund described Russia as a hopeless place for investors. Alimov wrote an e-mail to Rogers claiming that his statements and facts on Russia were not well-grounded. A long-lasting e-mail exchange that followed was eventually read by Alimov’s fellow-students as well as businessmen and the public around the world. The story was covered by The New Yorker, The New York Post and other international media.[5][17]

In 2012, Forbes and Financial Times declared Alimov the winner of this debate after Rogers changed his stance on Russia and became an advisor to the agricultural fund run by Russian state-owned bank VTB Capital.[18][19]

Personal life

Dmitry Alimov is married. His wife Yulia Korneva is the founder of Live up! (http://live-up.co/), a blog on healthy lifestyle and longevity. Dmitry and Julia have two sons.

References

External links

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