Moscow, Russian Federation — MTS PJSC (NYSE: MBT, MOEX: MTSS), the leading Russian company providing digital, media and telecommunication services, announces the investment of the MTS Venture Fund in Airo, the company providing digital service in ordering domestic services. MTS Venture Fund received about 10% share in the startup.
Deal size is 60 million rubles. All the investment will focus on marketing activities, refining current services and testing new directions.
Airo is an online service provider providing personal services «on demand». Apartment cleaning, dry cleaning, laundry and shoe repair and delivery services are available for order on the website and in the app. The project works in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The number of users is about 50 thousand people.
“Household services continue digital transformation and transition and migrate online, because of the constraints associated with the pandemic. MTS is already an investor in the YouDo services marketplace. The deal with Airo will increase our presence in this market. Startup has digitized all of its processes, from taking orders to logistics, offering its clients a full cycle service. We believe that, in the long run, a startup’s business model may have a high margin and it will claim a leading position in its segment. The MTS Foundation and the MTS StartUp Hub Innovation and Investment Center are ready to support Airo and other portfolio startups not only with money but also with expertise and infrastructure capabilities of MTS,” commented Islam Meadow, the Head of the MTS Venture Fund.
“We were impressed by the professionalism and efficiency of the MTS Venture Fund. The fact that the Fund’s team can move faster than other investors while maintaining the quality of interaction was noticeable both at the beginning and throughout the transaction. An opportunity to get additional expertise also attracted the company: we are very interested in the MTS big data and scaling new consumer services products experience. This transaction means that, following the taxi and the food tech service segment, online domestic services are ready for sped up growth and the higher interest of investors,” said Anton Drachev, the founder of Airo.
