The VC Firm That Brokered An Oligarch's Investments

Forbes

Venture capital fund Target Global managed tens of millions of dollars for Roman Abramovich and helped the now-sanctioned oligarch build up stakes in some of Europe’s biggest startups.  Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich quietly invested $63 million in a string of European startups through his relationship with London-based venture firm Target Global, according to a cache of documents reviewed by Forbes. The venture capital fund, which has raised over $3.2 billion of capital and backed at least 15 European tech unicorns including fintech Revolut and car marketplace Cazoo, counted on Abramovich as a co-investor and limited partner from 2015 to 2021, the documents show. The U.K. later sanctioned the oligarch in March 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/iainmartin/2024/01/10/target-global-roman-abramovich-oligarch-startup-investments/?sh=13701f851d2e  Forbes Daily Briefing shares the best of Forbes reporting on wealth, business, entrepreneurship, leadership and more. Tune in every day, seven days a week, to hear a new story. Subscribe here: https://art19.com/shows/forbes-daily-briefing Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00 Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Saturday, January 13.

00:05 Today on Forbes, how a London-based VC quietly brokered Roman Abramovich's startup investments.

00:14 Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich quietly invested $63 million in a string of European

00:20 startups through his relationship with London-based venture firm Target Global.

00:25 This, according to a cache of documents reviewed by Forbes.

00:30 The documents show that the venture capital fund, which has raised over $3.2 billion of

00:35 capital and backed at least 15 European tech unicorns, including fintech Revolut and car

00:41 marketplace Kazoo, counted on Abramovich as a co-investor and limited partner from 2015

00:47 to 2021.

00:49 The UK later sanctioned the oligarch in March 2022 over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

00:56 The previously unreported investments appear in leaked documents from Merit Service, a

01:01 Cyprus-based offshore service provider that was shared anonymously with the Organized

01:05 Crime and Corruption Reporting Project and its partners, including Forbes.

01:10 The documents reveal the inner workings of Abramovich's relationship with Target Global,

01:15 which was co-founded by the son of another now-sanctioned oligarch, Alexander Frolov.

01:21 The documents show that Abramovich invested over $63 million either as a limited partner

01:26 or through specific companies that Target Global introduced for investments between

01:30 2015 and 2021.

01:33 In 2018, Abramovich invested $25 million as a so-called "anchor" limited partner in

01:39 one of Target's earliest funds, Target Global Mobility 2.0.

01:44 According to a subscription document for the fund, that check accounted for around a fifth

01:48 of the total assets of the $132 million fund, according to investment database Prekin.

01:56 Abramovich's cash was used for Target's investment in European scooter company Cirque in 2019,

02:01 which was acquired in 2020 by American startup Bird, which recently declared bankruptcy,

02:07 and German second-hand car unicorn Auto One in 2015.

02:12 The documents also show that another Abramovich shell company, Irvington, was a shareholder

02:16 of Auto One, and that it signed over a power of attorney to Target Global to vote on mundane

02:21 corporate affairs like remuneration packages for new executives.

02:26 Auto One confirmed Target and Irvington's investments and noted they occurred years

02:30 before the first sanctions.

02:33 According to the leaked documents, Abramovich and his holding companies also loaned tens

02:37 of millions of dollars to Target's special-purpose companies to indirectly buy stakes in startups.

02:43 For example, according to contracts between Target and Norma, between 2020 and 2021, Abramovich

02:50 provided Target Global with a series of loans totaling $23.5 million to invest in female

02:56 health app Flow.

02:58 Flow is a London-based period tracking app with over 300 million users.

03:03 In May 2017, Abramovich lent Target's Helium special-purpose vehicle $10 million to buy

03:09 a stake in Berlin-based Delivery Hero, a food delivery startup now with a market cap of

03:14 $7.1 billion on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

03:19 Delivery Hero said no sanctions were in place against any shareholders at the time of its

03:22 2017 IPO.

03:25 Flow and Bird did not respond to a request for comment.

03:29 For full coverage, check out Ian Martin's piece on Forbes.com.

03:34 This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

03:37 Thanks for tuning in.

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