FX.co ★ What startups Abramovich invests in

For what reasons does Roman Abramovich make decisions about investing in a particular young company? The representative of the businessman John Mann informs: "We are looking at the startup, we estimate its potential. We do not have a crystal ball for predictions, but we know the business plan of each company and understand how each of them plans to develop."

Roman Abramovich provided a large investment amount of $15 million to the Music Messenger music service. This application for smartphones allows you to listen to music for free and share your playlists with other users. The app was added to Google Play and AppStore about a year ago, during this time it managed to attract $35 million of investment.

The twelfth in the Forbes rating also became interested in the British startup, which is aimed at combating weeds. Abramovich invested about 1.3 million pounds sterling in Weedingtech. This company has invented a natural remedy made from vegetable oils and sugars, which removes weeds and does not harm the environment.

One of the most promising startups, which was invested by Abramovich, is StoreDot. Its creators are engineers and scientists from Israel. Their product is bio-organic batteries, which can charge a smartphone for half a minute. It may take several years to finalize the prototype, but the investors do not mind the terms - for two years StoreDot attracted $58 million of investments.

The amount of $2 million was invested by Roman Abramovich in AcousticEye. The founders of this startup are engaged in the development and implementation of acoustic pipe testing technology. Prospective clients are oil and gas companies. The amount of the last investments in this startup was about $15 million.

The Russian billionaire also has a share equal to 14.6% in the Velocys startup. The specialization of this company is the production of synthetic liquid fuel from gas and biomass. A popular development in which the brand takes part is a project to create aviation fuel from recycled garbage for British Airways.

Another British company, in which Roman Abramovich invested part of his money (here the share of the businessman is 15%) is the startup of AFC Energy. This company is working on the development of hydrogen fuel cells. In the spring of this year, AFC Energy signed a contract with Samyoung Corp. and Chang Shim Chemical Co. from Korea to install their products. The amount of the contract exceeded $1 billion.

Abramovich invested $5 million in February 2015 in the company Propell Technologies from America. The brand owns the technology of plasma pulse fracturing (by the way, this technology was developed by the Russian Novas Energy). This method of extraction of shale oil is ecological. Thus, it is possible to trace the tendency of Abramovich's investments in "green" projects.

Abramovich also made investments in the ridesharing service Via, which is aimed at residents of New York, but invented in Israel. However, the amount of investment is not specified. The essence of Via is that, with the help of the application, every resident of New York can find a driver ready to bring him to the necessary point in the city, as well as fellow travelers, to divide the fee for the trip. The Via service is available only from 6.30 am to 9 pm, you can drive exclusively within the city limits - these are another differences from the service of a simple taxi. Since 2013, Via has attracted about $37 million of investment.