Major Russian Equity Firms Invest $10mn in Appointment Scheduling Platform

Russian online appointment and automation platform YClients has secured $10 million in financing from Elbrus Capital and Guard Capital in exchange for a minority stake in the company, East-West Digital News reports.

Founded in 2015 by Yuri Petrov, Stanislav Petrik, Dmitry Shestakov and Anton Lutsevich, YClients claims more than 19,000 clients, essentially in Russia and neighboring countries. Operating across a variety of industries – from beauty salons to dental clinics to driving schools – its SaaS platform manages online bookings, inventory accounting, multichannel communications, loyalty program, and other functions.

No further details about the deal were disclosed, but an industry insider told business daily Kommersant that the company might have been valued in the range of $40 million.

The company says it processes more than 8 million appointments each month for a value of “more than 10 billion rubles” (around $160 million).

In 2018, YClients’s turnover reached 294 million rubles (around $4.6 million) with losses amounting to 19.8 million rubles ($314,000), according to the Russian company register cited by Kommersant.

The funding will be used to “further develop existing and new products, scale the business and expand into new industry segments,” Elbrus Capital announced. YClients aims to “significantly increase its customer base, expand geographical presence and strengthen its leadership among cloud-based solutions for small and medium-size businesses” in Russia.

A leading private equity firm operating in Russia and neighboring countries, Elbrus Capital manages assets worth more than $1 billion. Its funds invested in such companies as employment site HeadHunter, real estate classifieds platform CIAN Group, and French carpooling leader BlaBlaCar. The deal with YClients involved Elbrus Capital Fund II.

Founded in 2009 by a Russian team, Guard Capital has invested in a dozen projects in the telecom and Internet industries. It generally invests from $2 to $5 million in each deal.