Troika Ventures, the venture arm of Troika Dialog and venture company, has successfully achieved the first exit from its investment portfolio by selling its share in Evernote Corporation to Sequoia Capital.
Troika Ventures was Evernote’s first institutional investor, which has since successfully attracted multiple investment rounds from top tier international and US venture funds, including Docomo Capital, Morgenthaler Ventures and Sequoia Capital.
“Evernote was one of the first companies that we invested in,” says Artyom Yukhin, the head of Troika Dialog’s venture division. “In addition to financing, we provided expertise and assistance at an early stage to bring the company to the forefront of consumer internet and mobile services. Since Troika’s investment, the company’s user base increased in three years from 500,000 to over 20 million users. This allowed the company to evolve from a promising startup project of Russian visionary entrepreneur Stepan Pachikov to an established market leader.
“The exit, at over ten times our original commitment, was a difficult decision for Troika and for me personally, but we ultimately decided to provide liquidity to our investors at a multiple return on their investment rather than await the next exit opportunity. Evernote has an absolutely unique team and we are proud of its achievements and have no doubt that the company will continue to flourish under the leadership of its CEO, Phil Libin.”