Our Team

Founder and Senior Partner at Runa Capital, Mr. Serguei Beloussov, Ph.D., is a self-made entrepreneur with a 20-year track record in investing, building, growing and leading global high tech companies. Noted as an innovator and thought leader in virtualization, datacenter automation and cloud computing, Serguei is a frequent speaker at industry events and is actively involved in development of science and education, both in Russia and internationally.
 
Serguei's current activities include:
Senior Partner at Runa Capital, a $135M VC  investing into technological startups in fast growing segments of cloud computing, internet, mobile apps, and virtualization.
Venture Partner in Almaz Capital (www.almazcapital.com) a $100M VC focused on growth stage, Russia and CIS related companies.
Personal inverstor in GFI, AutomatedQA, ASPlinux, Falcon, Westcom and others.
Founder and Partner of Quantum Wave Fund (www.qwcap.com), a $30M venture capital firm focused on companies that are applying quantum materials and technologies  to solve real-world problems.
Founder, Chief Architect and Chairman in Parallels (www.parallels.com). With over 1k employees and $150M+ revenue, the company is the market leader in Containers Virtualization, Desktop Virtualization for Mac and Automation for Cloud Service Providers.
Founder of Acronis (www.acronis.com), specialising in physical and virtual data management and disaster recovery software, the company employs 850+ people and generates over $150M revenue. Beloussov was President and Chairman, then Executive-Chariman until 2009, when his business partner Ilya Zubarev took over as Executive-Chairman.
Founder and Chairman of the Board in Acumatica (www.acumatica.com), an innovative and fast-growing developer of cloud-based ERP software, after a recent investment from KKR the company is well on its way to become the main platform for 300K SMBs in the Nordic countries.
Chairman of the Board of Trustees in the Russian Quantum Center (www.rqc.ru)
Member of the Governing Board in the Center for Quantum Technologies in Singapore (www.quantumlah.org)
 
In the past Mr. Beloussov was CEO, founder and co-owner of Solomon Software, an exclusive franchising distributor of US mid-market ERP vendor, the company was aquired by Microsoft. He was the first CEO, founder and co-owner of Rolsen (www.rolsen.ru), the largest consumer electronics manufacturer in Russia with a $500M/year turnover.
 
Serguei received a B.S. With honours in Physics in 1992, an M.S. With honours in Physics and Electrical Engineering in 1995 and a Ph.D. In Computer Science in 2007, all from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.
 
In rare moments of rest Beloussov enjoys wild nature travel and sampling Red Bordeaux wines.

• 19+ years Serial Entrepreneur & Investor
• 2010–present – Senior Founding Partner at Runa Capital, focus on later-stage opportunities, primarily in Russia/CIS
• 2008-present – Founder at Acumatica
• 2001-present – Founder and Chairman (from 2008) of the Board at Acronis
• 2000-present – Founder at Parallels
• 1999-present - Founder and Board member at Infratel
• 1995-2003 – Founder and CEO at Rolsen
• 1996-1999 – Founder at Solomon SEA
• BSc, MSc in Electrical Engineering at Moscow Institute of Physics & Technology

Dmitry Chikhachev is an investor and business executive with more than 18 years of extensive cross-functional experience.

Currently, Dmitry is the Managing Partner at Runa Capital where he focuses on closing deals, managing portfolio companies and the fund’s performance.He is a co-founder of the fund and led the fundraising process for Runa Fund I.

Most recently Dmitry was COO/acting CEO of Uvenco Holding, responsible for the start-up and successful roll-out of the company which under his leadership has become the leading operator in the field of automated trade in the Russian market.
PreviouslyDmitry served as Business Development Director at Ritzio Group, one of the top gaming operators in Eastern Europe, where he headed international business development and managed investment projects - including M&A and greenfield -  in Latvia, Romania, Germany, South/Latin America, growing Ritzio international business from zero to $75M. Dmitry Chikhachev also served as HR Director for LM ERICSSON International, a world-wide provider of telecommunications equipment and services to mobile and fixed network operators, where he managed all HR-related processes and recruiting across 7 CIS countries.
 
Dmitry holds an MS degree in Applied Mathematics and Physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He  also completed an MBA curriculum, graduating with highest honors from the American Institute of Business and Economics.

As partner, CFO and COO of Runa Capital, Vera Shokina brings more than 20 years of finance and investment experience both in the US and Russia and a passion to build a Russian VC industry to the Runa team. She is responsible for all of Runa’s finance, legal, operations and investor relations functions.

Prior to joining Runa in 2010, Vera spent five years as a VP with California-based Silicon Valley Bank where she was responsible for building relationships with technology start-ups and oversaw a $50M USD venture debt portfolio for early-stage VC-backed software and services companies. Additional Silicon Valley experience includes work with GE Capital and Goldman Sachs & Co. Before moving to the US, Vera worked for Citibank Moscow where she managed a portfolio of loans and traded Russian equities for institutional foreign investors.

Active in both professional and civic communities, Vera is a former president and board member of the American Business Association of Russian Professionals (AmBAR), a non-profit business association of more than 2,000 Russian-speaking professionals based in Silicon Valley, and founder and board member of Moscow-based ArtWeekend, Children School of European Art. As part of her work with AmBAR, Vera organized a delegation of 20 prominent Silicon Valley investors representing top-tier VC firms managing $60+ billion USD and brought them to Moscow to meet with Russian business and government leaders to cement ties between the high tech communities of the two regions. The result of this trip was $400 million of joint investments.

Vera holds an MBA from the Moscow Finance Academy and a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages from Moscow State Linguistics University.

"Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy

Committed to helping entrepreneurs succeed, Gaidar joined the Runa team in October of 2012 as Investment Director. He screens seed-stage startups, advises and educates entrepreneurs, supports business development of portfolio companies and maintains relationships with incubators and accelerators. Gaidar lives by Runa’s motto to “provide smart money to smart startups” and grow global technological business around the world.

Gaidar brings more than seven years of experience in information technology to Runa. Most recently he served as Managing Director of Microsoft Seed Fund and as Local Software Economy Initiative Lead at Microsoft Corporation. Prior to that, he worked as a software engineer/architect on various software projects, and led a team of six freelance developers. He also spent three years as a senior research assistant at A.N. Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds of Russian Academy of Sciences, before switching from fundamental research to software development.

Before joining Microsoft, Gaidar was awarded “Microsoft Most Valuable Professional” for three consecutive years. During his five and a half years with Microsoft, he was decorated with Gold and Platinum Circles of Excellence awards. Gaidar is also the founder and ex-chairman of the Commission on Web Development at the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC).

Gaidar holds a master’s degree in Chemistry from the Higher Chemical College of Russian Academy of Sciences.Currently resides in Moscow. In his spare time, he enjoys torturing a guitar and singing.

Since joining Runa Capital in October of 2012, Oleg Melnikov has thrown himself into his work of helping Runa portfolio companies build world-class class engineering organizations. In addition to supporting due diligence efforts and mentoring the product and engineering teams of Runa’s portfolio companies, Oleg is responsible for Runa University, the company’s online and in-person start-up education and training program.
 
Oleg comes to Runa from Parallels, a worldwide leader in virtualization and automation software, where he served as senior VP responsible for the company’s flagship Automation product. During his 12 years with the company, Oleg helped grow the product to become a multi-million dollar line with hundreds of telecom and large service provider customers around the world.
 
Oleg holds a master’s degree in computer science as well as a bachelor’s degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. In his free time, he is an avid runner and hiker and also enjoys flying. He currently resides in Seattle, Washington, US.

Masha Drokova is goal-driven Communication/Public Relations executive and entrepreneur with outstanding qualifications in all areas of corporate and government communications. She is currently focused on increasing visibility and communicating strategic vision of Runa Capital and their portfolio companies.

Masha is also a PR Director for a new cutting edge scientific research center in Russia, Russian Quantum Center, which conducts scientific research leading to a fundamentally new class of technologies in future. Among the potential results of this research are safe data transmission networks, new materials with superior properties, optical sub-micron transistors and high-frequency optical electronics, new systems for ultrasensitive imaging of the brain, clocks for navigation systems.

Together with friends, Masha has also founded Legend Media Agency in Moscow, specializing in social media and internet. Young and energetic, like its founders, Legend has quickly attracted an impressive list of Russian and international clientele, including Beeline, Skolkovo, Russian Government, Pierre Cardin, RIAN, CTC, Sapato, Progrestar, Vigoda.ru and others.