Moscow, Russia – Frontier Ventures, a venture/growth capital fund focused on investments in Internet services in Russian-speaking markets, today announced that Jason Downes has joined the Fund’s Advisory Board.  Mr. Downes has nearly 20 years of dedicated technology, media and telecom industry experience in venture capital, private equity and capital markets banking, primarily in Russia/CIS, India, and Sub-Saharan Africa.  Mr. Downes will advise Frontier Ventures alongside the other members of the Advisory Board, including DST/Mail.ru Group co-founder Gregory Finger, Real Time Content founder Najam Kidwai, and President and CEO of GE Money Bank Russia Holger Laubenthal.  

Mr. Downes is an active venture investor and currently serves as consultant to the International Finance Corporation (where he previously held the position of Senior Investment Officer for 7 years).  Previously Jason co-founded and served as General Director and Chief Investment Officer at ru-Net Holdings for 5 years, simultaneously serving on the Boards of Yandex, Ozon and Vested Development Inc.  Prior to joining ru-Net, Mr Downes held senior positions in the investment banking divisions of United Financial Group, Renaissance Capital and Credit Lyonnais.  Mr. Downes attended City University, London.

Dmitry Alimov, Founder and Managing Partner at Frontier Ventures, said: “We are truly excited to see an investor of Jason’s caliber and experience join our Advisory Board. Jason’s hands-on experience in building top Russian Internet companies and managing one of the leading Russia-focused VC funds will greatly benefit Frontier Ventures and our portfolio companies.”

About Frontier Ventures

Frontier Ventures is a venture/growth capital fund that supports entrepreneurs in the Russian-speaking Internet industry. It was co-founded in 2011 by Dmitry Alimov and Oleg Tumanov. The fund works closely with entrepreneurs to build leading businesses in the Russian-speaking Internet. Its partners are serial entrepreneurs with hands-on experience in the launch and development of leading online consumer services. For more information please visit www.frontier.ru/en.