Heverest.ru Grabs $4.3 Million In Financing

The Russian online retailer for sports, leisure, and travel goods, Heverest.ru, has received $4.3 million (€3.2 million) in financing led by Fastlane Ventures and eVenture Capital Partners. The company opened for business June 1st, 2011, and this investment adds to the company’s total of $6.7 million in financing. This seems huge for a young e-commerce site, but CEO Vladimir Kim explains, “Before Heverest.ru, there were no such websites offering all kinds of sport, leisure and travel products in one place. We are in a strong position to change this, having joined the club of most successful startups in the Russian market of e-commerce, such as UTINET, KUPUVIP, SAPATO, etc.”

The company plans on using the funding to add a wider variety of products, as well as improve the quality of their customer service by developing their current CRM system. At present, Heverest.ru has an online collection of more than 6,000 items from 150 major International sport and leisure brands including: Salomon, Nike, Columbia, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Speedo, Rider and others, with the product range being renewed on a regular basis. The website has an average of 600,000 visitors per month.

Marina Treshchova, CEO of Fast Lane Ventures, commented:

“We are witnessing two significant trends in this country. First, is an unprecedented growth of e-commerce and second, is an increasing government interest in sports and encouraging active lifestyles. Heverest.ru, as an online supplier of sporting goods, benefits from both of these trends. The Company’s dynamic pace of development and committed support from our investors, supports our own philosophy and proves that this is the right choice of the business model.”