Oktogo.ru Raises $11M

Russian online hotel reservations agency Oktogo.ru has raised $11 million in new funding. Investors in the latest round include VTB Capital‘s venture business, Mangrove Capital Partners, Ventech and Victor Sazhin Group.

PRESS RELEASE
The leading Russian online hotel reservations agency Oktogo.ru has announced that it raised $11 million in a new round of venture capital funding. The investors of the round included VTB Capital’s venture business, Mangrove Capital Partners, Ventech and Victor Sazhin Group of an Internet entrepreneur and online marketing expert Victor Sazhin. The new funds will be invested into brand building and regional development of Oktogo.ru in Russia. Victor Sazhin joined Oktogo’s Board of Directors.

According to PhoCusWright, the Russian online travel market will exceed $10 billion in 2013, up more than 40 percent from 2012.

Oktogo has built into a leading online travel player in an offline market of Russia. In February Oktogo was named the most innovative company in Russia by Fast Company in The World’s Top 50 Most Innovative Companies 2013. Last September Oktogo.ru won the National Geographic Traveler Awards 2012 as the best Internet service.

“For the past year, Oktogo.ru has grown into the Russian market leader in online hotel booking. Our growth comes from converting travelers from offline to online,” says Marina Kolesnik, founder and CEO of Oktogo.ru. “We strive to build Oktogo.ru into the leading Russian online travel brand by innovating and investing in human capital.”

David Waroquier, partner at Mangrove Capital Partners says: “The Russian online travel market, which is valued at $10 billion per year, should double by 2016. The enormous interest in the Russian regions to the hotel rating project of Oktogo.ru and National Geographic Traveler shows that opportunities in Russian online travel are massive.”

About Oktogo
Oktogo is the leading Russian online hotel reservations agency. Designed specifically for Russian travelers, Oktogo.ru offers over 5,000 hotels in Russia and over 250,000 hotels worldwide. The Oktogo.ru website attracts more than 1 million unique visitors each month via the Internet. With the head office in St. Petersburg, Oktogo has the largest database of hotels online in the Russian regions. The investors and advisors of Oktogo.ru include Javier Perez-Tenessa, founder and CEO of ODIGEO and eDreams, Fabrice Grinda, founder of OLX, and Jose Marin, Chairman of ViajaNet.