Aleinikov & Partners represented 2GIS in the acquisition of stake in RocketData

A map service 2GIS (which is a part of the Sber group) acquired a 47% stake in the statutory fund of Data Delivery LLC, a Belarusian developer of RocketData – a platform for managing online presence and working with business reputation. Aleinikov & Partners, together with the international law firm DLA Piper, represented 2GIS in the transaction. The Aleinikov & Partners team conducted legal due diligence of investee, participated in the development of transactional documents and their approval.

RocketData has been developing since January 2018. The same year, the startup attracted seed investments from the Russian-Belarusian Venture Capital Fund (RBF Ventures) and from several private investors. The venture deal was the first in Belarus to include the institutions of “English law”, introduced by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated December 21, 2017 No. 8 “On the Development of Digital Economy”. In 2020, the project closed a follow-on round with RBF Ventures. The interests of the Fund in both transactions were represented by Aleinikov & Partners.

2GIS is a leading Russian company in the development of digital maps and city directories. According to Forbes, it is included in the TOP-25 most expensive companies on the Runet. 2GIS states that its work covers about 500 cities in Russia, the CIS and far abroad, having MAU of 50 million people. In June 2020, Sberbank bought a controlling stake (72%) in the statutory fund of 2GIS. O2O Holding LLC, a joint venture between Sberbank and Mail.ru Group in the food and transport sector, also participated in the transaction and got a 3% stake in 2GIS. As a result, the investment funds Baring Vostok and RTP Global, the latter founded by the Russian billionaire Leonid Boguslavsky, exited the project.

It is expected that attracting 2GIS as investor will bring RocketData more customers, help enter new markets and launch products. In particular, the company is going to launch a personal account for running advertising campaigns in geoservices and social networks with geotargeting, as well as analyzing local search.