RTP targets Asia with $650m global fund
RTP Global, a Russia-headquartered VC firm that invests in Asia via offices in India and Singapore, has raised $650 million for its third global fund.
RTP III more than triples the size of its $200 million predecessor, which launched in 2017 and made 10 early-stage investments across India and Southeast Asia. The RTP III mandate also covers Europe and the US.
Target verticals include mobility, artificial intelligence (AI), software-as-a-service, and financial technology, including a focus on insurance. The firm will also explore opportunities in technologies related to food, healthcare, property, and sports.
“We are a founders-driven firm and the strategy for RTP remains the same,” Leonid Boguslavsky, RTP’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. “After starting my career as a computer scientist I became a serial entrepreneur, so I understand the unexpected challenges, the ups and downs, and the need for hard work, especially in the early stage of a company’s life.”
RTP recently reinforced its strategy for the region with an expansion of its India and Southeast Asia teams, including the appointment of Kirill Kozhevnikov as an India-focused partner. Kozhevnikov previously served as an India-based managing director for Russian conglomerate Sistema and oversaw the launch of the Sistema Asia Fund. RTP has been active in India since 2011, and has invested at least eight companies in the country to date.
Recent Indian activity includes participation in a $70 million round for app-based lending start-up MoneyTap and a $35.5 million round for e-sports gaming platform operator Mobile Premier League. Both deals featured Sequoia Capital India. RTP is also an investor in New Delhi-based e-commerce unicorn Snapdeal as well as Pune-based cloud kitchen and food delivery company Rebel Foods, previously known as Faasos.
Boguslavsky, an early backer of European internet and IT giant Yandex, founded RTP as Ru-Net in 2000 with a footprint spanning Moscow, New York, and Bengaluru. Globally, the firm also has exposure to start-ups via an investment in US accelerator Techstars. Elsewhere around Asia, RTP has joined Sequoia India in a $13 million Series A for Singapore’s Zenyum, which manufactures 3D-printed cosmetic dental products.
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