The well-known venture capital firm Target Global (website) was founded in 2012 by Alexander Frolov Jr, son of the Russian oligarch Alexander Frolov Sr. Originally set up and operated in Moscow, the group reportedly has over $3 billion in assets under management (AUM). One of its portfolio companies is Mercuryo. Sanctions were imposed on oligarch Alexander Frolov Sr in November 2022. His son has stepped down as CEO of Target Global and left the group by the end of 2022.
The Founders and Funders
The Russians Alex Frolov Jr and Mikhail (Mike) Lobanov established Target Global in 2012 with $300 million late-stage fund backed by Russian investors. One of them was the Russian Invest AG (report here) owned by Alexander Frolov (Wikipedia) and Alexander Abramov (Wikipedia).
The Israeli nationals Yaron Valler, Shmuel Chafets joined Target Global as General Partners in or around 2015. According to the German online financial magazine Finance Forward, the son, and co-founder, Alexander Frolov, withdrew from the fund after Western sanctions took effect. Frolov Jr used to be the CEO of Target Global until May 2022. In May last year, he resigned from his CEO post to save the fund’s reputation, Finance Forward reports. In November 2022, he officially left the fund, according to Frolov’s LinkedIn profile.
The Blank Check Company
The Target Global group did an IPO on the Nasdaq with their blank check company Target Global Acquisition I Corp (NASDAQ: TGAAU). At this time, their sponsor was controlled by Alexander Frolov, Mikhail Lobanov, Shmuel Chafets, and Yaron Valler.
According to an SEC filing, in March 2022, the Russians Alexander Frolov and Mikhail Lobanov transferred their interests in the indirect parent of the sponsor to their partner Yaron Valler and were no longer beneficial owners. As a result of the transfer, the sponsor of the Nasdaq-listed blank check company is controlled by Shmuel Chafets and Yaron Valler.
Investments
In 2020, Russian-founded Mercuryo announced the completion of its first round of funding, having received €2.5 million from Target Global. Founded in 2018 by the Russian Petr Kozyakov and his two co-founders, Mercuyo had offices in Tallinn, Moscow, and London.
In addition to Mercuryo, other FinTechs are also in Target Global‘s portfolio. Among them are Revolut and Rapyd. Mid-2021, Target Global led a $300 million Series E finance round for the Israeli fintech Rapyd (website) of Ariel Shtilman.
Conclusion
Based on the available information, Target Global group can be identified as a global investment group focused on FinTec investments. It was financed and founded by Russian oligarchs, and most of its employees are located in Cyprus (according to their Linkedin profiles). It works with Israeli partners and has now its official headquarters allegedly in Berlin, Germany. According to the latest SEC filing, Target Global has $3 million in assets under management (AUM).
The details of the withdrawal of Alex Frolov Jr and his Russian partners are unknown. It can be doubted that the Russians simply gave away their shares.
If you have information about Target Global, its operators, investments, and affiliates, please let us know through our whistleblower system, Whistle42.
