We are the Team

Our team has vast experience in building and scaling up our own and globally minded founders’ businesses.

Sergey Negodyaev

Founder and Managing Partner

Venture industry executive who has been working in the investment business for 13 years.

As the Managing Partner of PTV, he builds the fund’s strategy and sets its vision. Sergey manages the team and processes, fundraising and investor relations. He is actively involved with the fund’s portfolio companies and has significantly impacted their growth.

As a portfolio manager, I add value with team building and motivation, product and marketing strategy, sales/marketing and management operations and fundraising.

Nowadays, I see a big opportunity in bringing tech companies from CIS countries and Eastern Europe into global markets by collaborating with international accelerators like YC and 500 Startups in the US, Plug&Play Lafayette in Europe, Founders Factory in the UK, and others.

My personal network consists of 70+ friendly VC funds in the US, EU and Asia with a track record of $40M co-investments in existing and former portfolio companies.

I have been actively involved in the Russian innovation ecosystem and was one of the IIDF top-managers (more than 400 investments, $130M AUM), an expert of the numerous committees and advisory boards and one of the first investment managers at a well-known VC fund called Runa Capital.

Besides my main activities, I’m an invited lecturer and professor in the area of Digital and Tech business topics (Top-3 lecturers in Mail.ru Digital MBA), a board member of QazTech Ventures (Baiterek, Kazakhstan), mentor and angel investor to several tech startups.

Sergey holds a master’s degree in system analysis from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).

Alexander Kuraksin

Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Alexander is an executive who has been in banking and private equity for 11 years, and he has 4 years of entrepreneurship experience.

Alexander Kuraksin is a co-founder and Managing director of PTV. His areas of responsibility are strategy, partnerships, finance, operations, and deal structuring.

Together with Sergey, Alexander works on fundraising for PTV and its portfolio companies.

Besides running his own business, Alexander has held different managerial and executive positions in Family PE Fund, Bank of Moscow (VTB Group), MDM Bank. At these companies, Alexander successfully closed more than 50 deals in real estate financing, project financing, DCM / ECM deals and M&A totaling more than $1bn.

Today my interests are in everything related to using new technologies in order to disrupt existing legacy industries and build multi-billion dollar global companies.

Alexander holds a master’s degree in system analysis from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT).

Nikita Yuriev

Principal

I have been working in VC for 12+ years and have always wanted to create my own Venture firm. Finally, my partners and I succeeded in bringing PT Ventures to life in 2021. I love rocket science startups and I’ve helped them hit new markets in the most effective way.

I learned to understand rocket science when I received my master’s degree at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technics (MIPT).

I figured out how to score and evaluate startups, how to close deals during my job as an analyst, consultant, associate and portfolio manager in VC firms. I supported deal closing for more than $80M. As a portfolio manager in IIDF (more than 400 investments, $130M AUM) in 2015-2017, I found the best hardware/robotics startups in Eastern Europe and invested $10M in them. Their valuation quadrupled by 2019.

I know the pain and glory of being an entrepreneur because I joined the AdTech startup team as a co-founder and COO in 2011. Over the course of 3 years, we reinvented our business 3 times, faced cash shortages, and bank account problems during the banking crisis but managed to survive and double our business every year. I’m sure my experience will be useful for our portfolio companies.

I learned how to be a mentor while working for IIDF. I saved years of lives for 30+ startups by implementing Lean Startup and Customer Success management frameworks.

In 2019, I built a venture studio for corporates. Our core clients were Eastern Europe subsidiaries of Havas and IPG (top worldwide agencies) and Veon (a leading Eastern Europe telecom operator).

We managed to help 20 teams find their business niche and run from idea to seed round for less than 9 months. I learned how hard it is for corporations to integrate new technologies so I figured out how to build strong relationships between corporate management and startup teams. I’m sure all my accumulated knowledge and skills will help our portfolio startups become successful on the global market.

Dmitrii Novikov

Principal

Dmitrii has diversified experience across various industries, including over 10 years of experience in corporate finance and banking and 5 years in the real sector.

At PTV, Dmitrii is responsible for all financial matters, including tax, compliance, audit and cash flow management (both in-house and portfolio companies). He is also in charge of deal structuring and together with a legal counsel, he helps PTV choose the optimum structure for portfolios in terms of taxes.

Prior to joining PTV, Dmitrii worked on structuring and executing complex long-term financing deals across different industries (acquisition finance, real estate, distressed assets, special situations, etc.) in VTB Group.

After leaving banking, Dmitrii joined and became a partner of BVG – the startup from the e-cigarette industry. He spent two years in China developing a BVG trading project from scratch and managed it to the point where it became cash-flow positive during its second year of operation. Once he got back from China, he kept running BVG in-house finance and analytics. 

Dmitrii holds a master’s degree in system analysis and management from MIPT, apart from it he holds a master’s degree in economics from RANEPA. 

Olga Khachikyan

Legal Counsel

Olga Khachikyan is a skilled lawyer with an over 10-year track record of working for a variety of businesses, focusing primarily on cross-border M&A, joint ventures, private equity transactions, corporate restructurings, and regulatory compliance.

Olga’s experience includes representing major corporations, Russian and foreign companies operating in various industries, including TMT, IT, digital, banking, construction, and pharmaceuticals. She has taken part in trendsetting, complex corporate projects and deals, many of which have been high-profile in the Russian market. 

Olga has extensive knowledge of the laws and regulations pertaining to start-up businesses and transactions, both in Russia and abroad. As a legal adviser, Olga has handled numerous venture investments led by digital giants into promising projects and overseas startup companies with roots from Russia and the CIS.

Olga graduated from Moscow State Lomonosov University in 2011 with honors. 

In 2020, Olga successfully completed the Software Lawyer training program at Moscow Digital School taught by industry experts.

Prior to joining PTV, Olga was an M&A associate at a top-ranked international law firm. 

My goal at PTV is to implement the best strategies, both well-established and innovative practices in venture capital investments. As a legal adviser, I always go for a balanced approach and transparent and straightforward structures.