Finam, the largest Russian brokerage and investment holding, that previously invested in Badoo and a host of other web companies, has invested USD10 million in IM+, a mobile messenger services with 17.5 million users and 800 million mobile ad impressions/month.
As a part of the deal Finam and Shape Services, the company behind IM+, launch FinamShape joint venture that will release a special version of plus . im web messenger for the fast growing Russian market.
"This deal is squarely in line with our fund’s new strategy which is geared towards investing in global players in the TMT sector worldwide. We have a deep understanding of the mobile applications market, and IM+ is one of the best and most popular universal communications platforms for young people. It’s particularly important that IM+ is well connected with all leading social communication networks, and our mission is to solidify IM+’s positions in the universal Internet messenger sector," says Dmitry Smirnov , FINAM Private Equity Fund CEO.
"With the new release of Beep in-app push messenger IM+ allows people to save on SMS and MMS while simultaneously chat on Facebook, Skype, Google Talk and tweet. In the first weeks after release Beep got a half of million users and we see endless opportunities for growth,” says Igor Berezovsky, IM+ founder.
