Mail.ru and Sberbank inject RUB 12 billion into O2O JV
MOSCOW: The O2O joint venture between Mail.ru Group and Sberbank focused on transportation and food has been provided with an additional RUB12bn of capital from Mail.ru Group and Sberbank on a pari passu basis.
The management of the O2O JV is confident about the prospects of not only restaurant delivery, but also egrocery, dark kitchens and dark stores, as well as transportation services offering not just ride-hailing or car sharing, but getting from point A to point B in the most optimal and convenient way.
The additional resources will be used for scaling the O2O JV businesses and verticals, which were not part of the perimeter at the time of the deal closure in December 2019, including the 2GIS mapping service as well as the Samokat express egrocery delivery unit (75.6% stake consolidated in May) and other assets.
Ride-hailing and restaurant delivery services Citymobil and Delivery Club remain well-funded and do not require additional fundraising.
The current fundraising does not affect the potential KPI-based payments set around the initial assets of the joint venture.
Following the additional funding Mail.ru Group and Sberbank will continue to have equal stakes in the JV of 45,005% each with the rest to be potentially allocated for the long-term motivation program to incentivize the O2O platform’s employees.
Boris Dobrodeev, CEO, Mail.ru Group: “Our ambition is to build a leading player on the local foodtech and mobility market. Many verticals inside O2O have been stimulated by the pandemic, with years of penetration pull-forward happening in 2020. We would like to be in a position to take advantage of the opportunities arising within the space, with our O2O unit well-positioned for further diversification and growth. We are confident that many habits established by the pandemic will remain in place and we want our units to be the companies of choice for satisfaction of key user demands within mobility and foodtech, stemming well beyond traditional restaurant delivery or ride-hailing services”.
Lev Khasis, First Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank: “The demand for distance services the JV companies offer has witnessed explosive growth over the past six months; in some cases, it soared several times. In fact, we are operating in a market that is growing at a dramatic rate. And we’re naturally interested in reinforcing our leadership where our domination is established, and most importantly we seek to take the lead with our brand new services that we are now launching as part of the JV. This is exactly what the new investment will be injected into.”
Mail.ru Group (MAIL, listed since November 5, 2010) is the largest internet business in Russia in terms of total daily audience (Mediascope WEB-Index Desktop&Mobile, Russia 0+, population aged 12+, March 2020).
Mail.ru Group is developing the leading domestic internet communications and entertainment platform. The company owns Russia’s two largest Russian language social networks, VKontakte (VK) and Odnoklassniki (OK), leading email service, one of Russia’s largest internet portals (Mail.ru), and four instant messaging services. The company also holds the international gaming brand MY.GAMES, with a portfolio of hundreds of popular games for a range of platforms and over 605 million users worldwide. In 2019, Mail.ru Group Tech Lab was launched with a primary focus on technology and innovation development.
Mail.ru Group is a shareholder of AliExpress Russia JV along with Alibaba Group, MegaFon and Russian Direct Investment Fund. The company partners with Sberbank to jointly develop O2O service platform targeting food delivery and taxi markets.
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