MUNICH & MOSCOW--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Fast Lane Ventures, the leading Russian developer of internet companies, has agreed to sell its stake in Shopping Live business to German based Group – Home Shopping Europe.
Shopping Live is a Russian online teleshopping company providing a convenient and accessible shopping solution. The website broadcasts short and entertaining live videos to showcase the products for purchase. Shopping Live was launched a year ago and has showed excellent results, recently winning first prize at the Russian "Big Digit" TV awards in the category ‘Best Russian Teleshopping Channel’.
Fast Lane Ventures CEO Marina Treshchova said Shopping Live was one of the first of its portfolio companies launched and was a very successful investment both in terms of profitability and also demonstrating Fast Lane’s unique ability to achieve rapid growth.
"The key audience of Shopping Live is dedicated to television, and its “live shopping” format appeals more to television viewers rather than internet users. Therefore, the company needed an experienced partner with strong expertise in television to continue to develop the business further and take it to the next level. We are glad that such partner has appeared and I am sure Shopping Live will continue to be successful under the control of a strong partner like Home Shopping Europe. Shopping Live was a very profitable project, as we had invested relatively small seed money and received a very good return on the investment,” - added Mrs. Treshchova.
Shopping Live first went on air in July 2011 and now has 60 employees. It is currently the only 24-hour shopping channel that broadcasts part of its program live (up to five hours each day).
"Within a short time, the highly dedicated and international management team started successfully a competitive shopping channel that even offers a live program. Now, the goal is to expand the reach and product offer of Shopping Live further to differentiate it from other providers clearly," said Dr Konrad Hilbers, Chairman of Home Shopping Europe.
"With our live shopping concept, we were able to establish ourselves swiftly as important player in the market. With Home Shopping Europe having already joined our Advisory Board in November 2011, we found the right strategic partner to increase sales and market share even more quickly," says Ilya Kirik, CEO Shopping Live.
The start-up TV channel reaches currently 7.5 million of the 53 million Russian TV households via satellite and cable. It is intended to expand this coverage with the cooperation of satellite and cable network operators even further in the near future.
The sale, for an undisclosed price, represents the second successful exit for Fast Lane Ventures who sold Sapato.ru, Russia’s principal online shoe and accessories retailer, to Russian online store OZON Group in February, 2012.