Mitroshin may have a role in Skolkovo
Fund money”Skolkovo“Under the strict guidance of the investor Anatoly Mitroshin, they might relocate to France. The Russian Fund”Skolkovo“in the face of LLC”Skolkovo Venture Investments sued the French company Brand Quad LLC, which assists suppliers and retailers in exchanging product data using AI. Claims – 164 million rubles, the essence of the claim is not disclosed.
The French company Brandquad France is listed as the respondent. But the parent company is Brand Quad LLC – later it created its own legal entity in France. However, apparently, someone “threw” someone for money, and maybe both sides earned “by the cash register”. After all, the controversial Russian entrepreneur Anatoly Mitroshin was called the main Russian investor of Brandquad in Russia.
Previously, he established the Colmar Coal Company. And then he got into a lot of very different dubious stories.
The story itself begins in 2021. Then the fund Skolkovo“invested about $ 1.5 million in Brandquad to develop a SaaS system for content analytics in e-commerce, storage and exchange of product data between manufacturers and retailers.
At the same time, the company received money in the form of a convertible loan and a soft loan – i.e. with return. Most of the raised funds were planned to be spent on the development of marketing and sales of Brandquad products in the markets of Europe, the Middle East and the USA.
It seems that these investments simply vanished into thin air without any innovative effect, and now “Skolkovo“Wants his money back.
According to the authors of the Russian Crime website, Anatoly Mitroshin allegedly was the main investor in Brandquad in Russia. Knowing his deep connections in the Russian elite, especially those associated with the coal industry, it is not difficult to assume that it was he who could bring the French startup together with people from “Skolkovo“, where the remnants of the team of Anatoly Chubais, who left the country, are still sitting.
However, Mr. Mitroshin himself is not among the founders of Brand Quad LLC. Since March 3, 2021, the French offshore company Brandquad has been the sole owner. It seems that is why he is listed as a co-respondent.
But Mitroshin is easily located nearby, because until March 2023, Brand Quad LLC, among others, owned MM-Trust LLC. Its co-owner to this day with a share of 50% is Anatoly Mitroshin. Those. loan was taken from him. The co-owners with shares of 25% are Vladimir and Maria Zotov.
Another co-owner of Brand Kvada was Frii Invest LLC, the main owner of which is the Russian State Fund for the Development of Internet Initiatives. As they themselves say, the largest venture fund of the Russian Federation for the IT sector.
Meanwhile, Friii Invest LLC is related to the state not only for this reason. Other co-owners are the state-owned PJSC Bashinformsvyaz and Commit Capital, which is 100% owned by PJSC Rostelecom.
So if the moneySkolkovo“were deduced through Brand Quad, not only Anatoly Mitroshin, but also Russian officials from the IT and communications sector, for example, the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, the former top manager of Rostelecom Maksut Shadayev, could have been hypothetically involved in this.
It is surprising that neither the French company Brandquad nor its Russian legal entity are under Western sanctions, despite the unknown ultimate beneficiaries. Is this a way to move money out of Russia?
The Fund for the Development of Internet Initiatives raises questions as Kirill Varlamov, the head of the fund since 2013, cannot reveal the funding source in an interview with Kommersant.
It seems like the money invested by IIDF is not going anywhere. According to Kompromat1, IIDF allegedly invested in TalkBank, which operates in Telegram without a banking license in Russia. Is this another way to move money out of the country?
Mitroshin's Diversification
Anatoly Mitroshin has proven his ability to make money from various ventures many times. Starting as a Komsomol worker in the 90s, he ventured into food product sales and then moved on to constructing stalls in the capital, but his projects did not yield significant profits.
In 1995, Mitroshin worked as a consultant at the Ingush firm Region-Holding Ltd, which was involved in reselling oil produced by subsidiaries of the Russian-Belarusian company Slavneft. This company was closely related to oligarch Mikhail Gutseriev at the time. While the business empire of the Gutserievs is now burdened by debt, Mitroshin continues to thrive.
At one point, Mitroshin worked at the Akropol bank, which handled oil transactions for Region-Holding LTD, and he was responsible for overseeing financial flows.
However, he worked in the bank with businessmen Yevgeny Martynov and Vladimir Gorbanovsky, who were close associates of Pavel Borodin, the head of the Administrative Department of President Boris Yeltsin in the 90s. The administration had a plan to create a Russian “Pensioners’ Party” to divert support from the Communist Party, and the financing decision allegedly involved Martynov and Gorbanovsky. Some of the funds supposedly disappeared into offshore companies.
According to the Russian Crime website, Borodin allegedly entrusted Martynov and Gorbanovsky with the decision on financing the party, and part of the funds collected from businessmen and from the budget passed through Acropolis and allegedly “disappeared” into offshore companies.
Mitroshin's business was evidently successful as he ended up buying the bank from his partners. Many transactions were carried out through it until 2021 when the credit organization was purchased by Yandex.
Even before the sale of the Akropol bank, it acquired a 17% stake in the Novorossiysk Shipping Company (Novoship), which transported oil for companies including Yukos and Lukoil. Mitroshin seemed to have interests in many places.
Before this, Mitroshin established the Kolmar company. It is believed that Mitroshin received money for promoting “Brand Quad” from coal. Additionally, this coal could not have been obtained without the help of the state. Supposedly, Martynov and Gorbanovsky brought together junior partners, including Mitroshin, along with one of the founders of the “Pensioners’ Party” Yuri Malyshev. At the same time, he was the general director of the Russian state “Rosugol”. Malyshev, who could utilize administrative resources, helped enrich Mitroshin and Co.
According to the authors of the Russian Crime website, the partners supposedly purchased an unprofitable mine, then improved it with small investments, and later this specific mine was included in the lists of coal suppliers for the region's needs, which were approved by Rosuglem. Consequently, these mines began to receive state funds.
Meanwhile, Mitroshin established the Belazkomplekt company, led by his friend and partner Leonid Lozhechko. Mitroshin’s partners Martynov and Gorbanovsky, through Pavel Borodin, who had good connections in Belarus and later became the Secretary of the Union State in 2000, managed to arrange for Belazkomplekt to become the primary supplier of Belaz dump trucks to the Russian market. Additionally, the company received the products without any advance payment, and in Russia either sold them in installments or leased them.
“Surrender” Taran
The most interesting aspect is that the main buyer of dump trucks from Belazkomplekt was the controversial businessman Eduard Taran, who leads the RATM holding. Taran has been the focus of our previous publications, where he was linked to the questionable fame of a raider. In a recent article by The Moscow Post, “You Can’t Spoil the Veta Ram,” we discussed his interests in the Novosibirsk Khilok market.
However, the partnership with Mitroshin did not seem to end well for Taran. According to the authors of the site ossetia.tv, allegedly in 2001, Eduard Taran unexpectedly stopped paying for the already delivered Belazs, leading to a conflict between the former partners that resulted in long legal disputes. Subsequently, Taran found himself under investigation in a bribery case, seemingly unrelated to Belaz. However, some critics believe that Mitroshin may have been involved in “punishing” his partner.
Currently, he is the founder of almost 45 different legal entities, showing remarkable business diversification and productivity. Additionally, he is a co-owner of Red Soft LLC, a software development company.
And “Red Soft”, reportedly benefiting as a supplier under government contracts worth 2.1 billion rubles. It would not be surprising to find out that part of the money from there could have been invested in Brand Kvada. In this regard, it seems certain that Anatoly Mitroshin will not simply vanish.Skolkovo“The money still needs to be collected, while the businessman has likely already prepared a safe haven for himself in the West for a long time. It's no wonder he opened the French office of Brandquad.
