Scientist And Entrepreneur Alexander Galitsky Story Of Success

alexander galitsky inventor successful businessman biography

Digital technologies are a real Treasure trove for investors who want to invest in a developing business. Almaz Capital venture fund, with 14 years of history, helps them in this. Today it is one of the international investment market leaders with a multimillion-dollar turnover and an office in Silicon Valley. It was created by entrepreneur Alexander Galitsky, who devoted many years to the development of space technologies. 

From Scientific Discoveries To A Verified Business Strategy 

Alexander Vladimirovich Galitsky became a businessman after a series of transformations of the research institute where he developed software for satellite systems. The scientist headed ELVIS Scientific and Technical Center. During a visit to Moscow, Bill Joy, the founder of Sun Microsystems, which also specialized in software development, reached out to him. 

The meeting ended with an offer of cooperation – Alexander Galitsky and about 200 of his employees received a Green card. This opened up opportunities for the scientist in the field of attracting funds to the scientific and technical center from abroad. The company "ELVIS+" created by him was able to make not only a number of discoveries in the digital sphere. 10% of the shares of this business were sold in 1993 for a record amount of $ 1 million. This transaction showed that investments are a rather promising field of activity. 

For a researcher and a novice entrepreneur, it was clear exactly where to invest money. It remained to create a venture fund. 

Almaz Capital Of Alexander Galitsky: Outlook To The East 

In 2008, together with partners Galitsky created the Almaz Capital venture fund with an authorized capital of $ 72 million. The funds were raised thanks to the authority of the businessman, who for 10 years managed to prove to foreign investors the prospects of investing in companies from the post-Soviet territory. The Fund was initially focused on supporting startups in the CIS and Eastern Europe. One of the first companies invested by the Fund was Yandex. No less promising was the video messaging service Qik, whose shares the fund later sold to Skype. 

Subsequently, Almaz Capital II and Almaz Capital III were formed. The amount of attracted investments of the last fund, closed in 2021, reached to more than 190 million dollars. Now Almaz Capital invests mainly in companies in Eastern and Western Europe. 

And Who Are The Investors? 

Initially, Cisco participated in the creation of the Almaz Capital venture capital fund. In addition, Alexander Galitsky and his partners raised three funds from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, United Financial Group, European Investment Fund, and the International Finance Corporation. 

Where Does The Venture Fund Invest? 

For almost 15 years of its existence, Almaz Capital has invested more than $300 million in more than 50 companies. Among them are Acronis, a developer of system solutions for backing up hard drives, GridGain, a startup for processing large memory arrays, and Hover, a platform for creating three–dimensional images of residential premises. The fund participated in most of the projects as a co-investor along with such well-known international  venture funds as: General Catalyst, Tiger Global Management, GGV Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and Khosla Ventures. 

Galitsky's strategy makes it possible to find investment projects with the prospect of entering global markets, which diversifies risks and promises high returns. When choosing a new project, it is important for Alexander Galitsky to personally communicate with its creators and build trusting relationships. Therefore, the pandemic period became a real test for Almaz Capital, as well as for many. The founder of the Fund admits that he had to adjust his work to the new realities. Nevertheless, over the past three years, the venture fund has invested in 9  new projects. 

Exit From Investing: Why And How It Happens 

At the moment, Almaz Capital Fund has exited  from the capital of 18 companies. In most cases, such decisions were made at the peak of startup growth and brought investors the maximum possible profit. This was the case with Yandex and Qik, during the sale of shares of which multimillion-dollar transactions were made. 

Among the successful exits that have created a decent income for Almaz Capital investors are Xometry, Qik, Sensitivity Systems, Yandex and Acumatica. 

Alexander Galitsky Biography 

Alexander Vasilyevich Galitsky is a scientist, inventor, investor, one of the founders of technological business in Russia. He was born in a small village in the Zhytomyr region in 1955. Since childhood, he dreamed of designing spaceships, so he connected his life with physics, becoming a student at MIET. At the university, he became interested in computer technologies, which he studied independently and tried to apply in practice while working at the Research Institute of Micro-Devices. In parallel, he defended his thesis on the topic "Technical Cybernetics". 

The research institute where Galitsky worked was reorganized several times. As a result, the young Doctor of Science headed the ELVIS Center. On its base Alexander Galitsky subsequently founded the "ELVIS +" Company , which became one of the first in Russia to attract large foreign investments. At the same time, the entrepreneur has created several businesses in the Netherlands. In 2008 Alexander Galitsky registered the Almaz Capital fund with its head office in United States. 

He also participated in Russian business life. However, when the changes in economic strategy began to occur, Alexander Galitsky left his posts at Alfa-Bank and Megafon, Skolkovo, Skolkovo-Venture Investments and SkolTech. He also resigned from the advisory council for the development of venture investment and the expert council for the development of the information technology industry under the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, curtailed cooperation programs with the MSU business incubator (the organization ceased to exist after the first meeting) and the Russian Quantum Center, left the Advisory Council of RVC. 

Alexander Galitsky is a well–known researcher, he has about  hundred of scientific articles published in international specialized publications. He is the author and owner of more than 30 patents in the field of digital technologies. In 2014, based on the biography of the developer and entrepreneur, the film "Startup" was shot.

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