PRESS: Russia’s Baring Vostok, Elbrus Cap invest $20 mln in Busfor

MOSCOW, Oct 27 (PRIME) -- Russian direct investments funds Baring Vostok and Elbrus Capital jointly with InVenture Partners have pumped U.S. $20 million into development of Busfor, an online service of bus tickets, in hope for the project’s global expansion, business daily Kommersant reported Thursday.

“We’ll spend the money on massive advertising of the product, including TV commercials, especially in Russian regions, Belarus, where we’ve recently started working, and in Kazakhstan, where we’ll start operating early next year,” Busfor’s co-founder and General Director Ilya Yekushevsky said.

In addition to Russia, Busfor works in Poland and Ukraine and in Thailand under franchise, where it is known under the Tickets brand.

“Busfor is an aggressive company, whose founders can sell themselves, while the project itself is remarkable only by its activities, investments and bold marketing steps like tickets for 99 rubles from Moscow to St. Petersburg. Frankly, I don’t see their advantage,” a manager in a big IT company said, adding that there are many similar projects, like Takebus and Unitiki.

According to Busfor, over 5,000 carriers sell bus tickets via the service, which has 2 million clients per month. The company earns a 15% commission from sale of tickets, whose average price is $20. Established in 2012, Busfor expects to sell its millionth ticket by the end of 2016.

A source on the venture market calculated the project’s revenue at $2 million–$3 million. “The deal is less than 40%, more likely for 20–35%. It means the company was estimated at $60 million–$80 million with annual revenue of $2 million–$3 million. I’d say that’s too much of belief in global prospects of the project,” the source said.

(62.2597 rubles – U.S. $1)

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