Viktor Prokopenya

Viktor Prokopenya
Born (1983-07-21) July 21, 1983
Minsk, Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
Occupation Executive Director at VP Capital (2012—present)

Viktor Prokopenya (Russian: Виктор Михайлович Прокопеня, Belarusian: Віктар Пракапеня, Viktar Prakapenya, born July 21, 1983) is a Belorussian technology entrepreneur and venture investor born in Belarus, now residing in London, UK. He created Viaden Media company, and after its sale he founded the investment fund VP Capital. He is one of the initiators and developers of the Belarusian "Decree on Development of Digital Economy".

Biography

Education

Viktor Prokopenya was born in Minsk, in the then Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1983. He was born into a family of scientists: his father received a doctorate in Physical and Mathematical Sciences, worked at the Belarusian State University and later at the Belarusian National Technical University, while his mother was a mathematician. He studied in schools № 2 and № 130, where he graduated with distinction. He received a bachelor's degree at law from the Belarusian State University, bachelor's degree at information technology from the European Humanities University and at software development at the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics. He also graduated from the Minsk IPM Business School (Master's degree in Business Administration), before continuing his higher education abroad at Full Sail University (Master's degree in Internet Marketing), executive MBA courses at Stanford Graduate School of Business (Strategic Marketing) and Northeastern University in Boston (Master's degree in finance). In 2017 he completed his doctorate in business administration at the SBS Swiss Business School.[1][2][3][4]

Entrepreneurship

Viaden Media

At the age of 16 Prokopenya took on the responsibility of caring for his family, when his father, who had started a business in the 1990s, died in a car accident. In the 2000s, Prokopenya focused on IT consulting and running Viaden Media, an IT company that he founded. In 2006, he reoriented Viaden to develop their own IT products.[5][4]

In 2009 the company launched a mobile applications department, headed by Yuri Gurski. The company developed numerous top-rated applications including All-in Fitness, which sustained top ranking positions on the AppStore Healthcare & Fitness category in 40 countries for several months. Viaden achieved in excess of 200 million mobile application installations. By 2011 the company was the largest mobile phone software developer in the post-Soviet region. Prokopenya ran the company until 2011 when he sold it to Teddy Sagi, an Israeli entrepreneur and founder of Playtech software company for €95 million. Later Viaden Media was divided into two companies: Sport.com (the largest developer of fitness applications, and owner of sites sport.com and yoga.com) and the Skywind Group (which specialises in mobile and social games).[6][7][8]

VP Capital

In 2012, Prokopenya founded his investment company, VP Capital, which focuses on the technology sector. In the same year he started the fintech company exp(capital), which develops solutions for banks and brokers to construct algorithms for high frequency market making. The company is located in the Belarus High Technologies Park, and was ranked the best employer of the year in 2014. The mobile applications department of exp(capital) was acquired by the British company IG Holdings for an undisclosed sum.[9][5]

Prokopenya also established VP Capital's Real Estate company in 2012 and acquired a number of key commercial real estate assets in the center of Minsk—by 2017, the company became the largest private owner of real estate of its kind in Minsk.[10][5][8]

In December 2016, together with the Larnabel Enterprises Fund, owned by Gutseriev family, Prokopenya announced his intention to invest over $100 million in artificial intelligence startup businesses.[10][11] In February 2017 the partners announced four investment agreements, in which they have invested equally

  • VP Capital and Larnabel Enterprises together with Vast Ventures and GVA Capital invested $16.65 million in the Russian-American company Astro Digital, which develops satellites and a real-time monitoring system of the Earth's surface;[12][13][10] On 14 July 2017, the company successfully launched its first two satellites into orbit.[14]
  • Banuba, a company which develops applications based on augmented reality technologies, with the development center in Minsk, was allocated $5 million; The company specialises in neural networks and machine learning algorithms that are capable of revealing and identifying objects and facial expressions in real time.[15][10][16]
  • The partners took a stake in Dronefence company, which develops defences against unmanned aerial vehicles. The investment size was undisclosed.[17]
  • Capital.com, a fintech startup developing mobile applications for retail investors was allocated $25 million. The Artificial Intelligence enhanced application allows users to trade wide range of financial instruments rom their smartphones and provides them with access to educational materials.[18]

Attempts to acquire bank

In the summer of 2017 it was announced that VP Capital planned to buy Paritetbank and that the $50 million deal had been approved by the authorities. The regulator welcomed the interest of a private sector investor from the IT sphere.[19][20] In an interview to Tut.By, Viktor Prokopenya claimed that bank acquisition is direct and important development of his experience in IT and fintech.[21] Later, presidential edict approving the sale of Paritetbank was abolished.[22] However, his company claimed that their focus is fintech of capital.com which develops mobile applications in sphere of finances, and their refusal from bank acquisition is not connected with refusal of the National Bank of Ukraine for acquisition of Ukrainian Sberbank by partners of Viktor Prokopenya—Said Gutseriyev, a son of Mikhail Gutseriyev, and Grigoriy Guselnikov for the absence of funds and unconfirmed origin of the funds.[23] VP Capital also applied to acquire Sberbank's banking business in Ukraine, but later called back its application for permit of the National Bank of Ukraine to focus on other projects.[24]

In March 2017 Viktor Prokopenya proposed development of legislation for the use of autonomous cars in Belarus,[25] cryptocurrency[26] and the development of initiatives designed to stimulate the development of IT business in Belarus.[27] On 22 December 2017, President Alexander Lukashenko signed into law the Decree on the Development of a Digital Economy.[28]

Top taxpayer of Minsk

Viktor Prokopenya became the top taxpayer of Minsk for the years 2016 and 2017, consecutively.[29]

Criticism and controversies

In 2017, critics questioned the idealization by media of Prokopenya and the value of doctor's degree earned by Viktor Prokopenya at SBS Swiss Business School with doctoral thesis on behavioral economics. Criticts further pointed that Swiss International Institute for Management Development is more well known educational institute than SBS Swiss Business School and that it is much more easy to be admitted to non-degree qualifications executive courses rather than to full-time programs if there is no restraints in funds. Replying to criticism, Prokopenya claimed that the full-time MBA in Stanford University is for 26-year-old children rather than executive education in Stanford, and that most of Stanford MBA graduates upon their graduation receive in the US the remuneration comparable to salary of a skillfull programmer in Minsk. He further claimed that in doctoral program, the most important thing is the name of your thesis supervisor, your publications and your thesis topic.[30]

In July, 2017, cryptocurrency legalization initiative of Viktor Prokopenya was heavily criticized by Belarusian economist Serge Chaly who pinpointed the bubble nature of cryptocurrencies and ICO's. In a reply to his criticism, Viktor Prokopenya demonstrated in Facebook virtual beating of his critic's image in augumented reality application for the smartphone developed by one of his companies—Banuba. Viktor Prokopenya also added that he has one million followers in Instagram because the brains are more powerful than breasts and the brains are the new tits.[31]

In June, 2018, Viktor Prokopenya commented the opening of the restaurant nearby Kurapaty. According to him, the restaurant should be closed, even not by the state, but by the owner, and all socially responsible Belarusians should boycott all restaurants owned by the owner.[32]

Arrest, drop of investigation, and media scandal

In the spring of 2015, Viktor Prokopenya was arrested by Belarusian state security service and was charged with unregistered business activity, earning profits to the sum of $650,000.[33][34] Deutsche Welle, and Belarusian IT experts alleged that the arrest of Viktor Prokopenya could potentially cause million of dollars in damages to Belarus.[34] One of the experts, IT business owner and a lawyer, explained that Viktor is too young and is not much aware of legal aspects of conducting business. Viktor Prokopenya was released on bail at the end of 2015.[35][36] Upon spending over ten months in detention at Valadarka pre-trial prison in Minsk, Prokopenya was released on December 2015, under street bail. Prokopenya claimed that he lost 20 kilograms (44 lb) while being in detention. In February 2016, all allegations against him were dropped after authorities failed to uncover any violations.[37]

The story of Prokopenya arrest gained widespread media coverage in Belarus. At the end of 2017, Prokopenya's legal advisors approached various Belarusian media channels, including BelaPAN, BelTA, European Radio for Belarus, Narodnaja Volya, Nasha Niva, Onliner.by, Tut.By, requesting the removal or correction of news stories over arrest of Viktor Prokopenya to play down this event. Many outlets deleted or changed their publications so that they disappeared from online search engines and this provoked discussions concerning compliance of media with journalism ethics and their reputation.[38][39][40] Many Belarusian media were strongly denounced by Poland-based Belsat TV.[38]

Honours & awards

The Belarusian media has repeatedly included Prokopenya in the ratings of notable Belarusian entrepreneurs. In the list of the 200 most successful and influential businessmen of Belarus, published by the Internet newspaper “Ezednevnik”, Prokopenya was awarded the 184th place in 2011,[41] the 47th in 2013,[42] the 45th in 2016,[43] the 23rd in 2017,[44] and the 12th in 2018.[45] In the list of 25 most influential businessmen of Belarus from 1992 till 2017, also published by Ezhednevnik, he received 13th place.[46] Viktor Prokopenya has been named Belarus's "Entrepreneur of the Year" three times.[47]

Personal life

Prokopenya is married and has one son. He lives and works mostly in London. His hobbies include photography, hockey, snowboarding, diving and cycling.[42][8][2]

Publications

  • Ben-David, Itzhak; Birru, Justin & Prokopenya, Viktor (2017). "Uninformative Feedback and Risk Taking" (PDF). Review of Finance.

References

  1. ↑ Nikolay Shchetko (2013-12-20). "IT.TUT.BY готовит рейтинг белорусских ИТ-стартапов" [IT.TUT.BY prepares a rating of Belarusian IT startups] (in Russian). TUT.BY.
  2. 1 2 "10 фактов о белорусском миллионере, ведущем переговоры о покупке Сбербанка Украины" [10 facts about a Belorusian millionaire, who is negotiating the purchase of Ukraine’s Sberbank] (in Russian). Vesti-ukr.com. 2017-07-14.
  3. ↑ "Как становятся миллиардерами в Беларуси. И кто следующий" [How to become billionaires in Belarus. And who's next] (in Russian). 2017-10-03.
  4. 1 2 "Trends by Viktor Prokopenya". The Minsk Herald. 2017-11-10.
  5. 1 2 3 "Айтишный банкир. Как IT-бизнес довел Виктора Прокопеню до покупки банков" [IT-banker. How IT-business led Prokopenya to buy banks] (in Russian). UBR.ua. 2017-07-14.
  6. ↑ "Юрий Гурский" (in Russian). Ежедневник. 2017.
  7. ↑ Alena Sukharevskaya, Ivan Osipov (2016-03-11). "Минский экспресс: зачем Facebook купил совсем молодой сервис MSQRD" [Minsk Express: why did Facebook buy a very young MSQRD service] (in Russian). RBC.
  8. 1 2 3 "Кто вы, претендент на покупку Сбербанка?" [Who are you, a candidate for buying Sberbank?] (in Russian). Укринформ. 2017-07-14.
  9. ↑ Катерина Сипакова (2014-02-28). "Как белорусский стартап exp(capital) зарабатывает на том, что сложно даже скопировать" [Belarussian startup exp (capital) earn on the fact that it is difficult even copy] (in Russian). TUT.by.
  10. 1 2 3 4 "Чем занимается ИТ-предприниматель Виктор Прокопеня, к которому приходил президент" [What is the IT entrepreneur Viktor Prokopenya doing, to whom the president came?] (in Russian). Про бизнес. 2017-03-17.
  11. ↑ "Гуцериев и Прокопеня вложат $100 млн в искусственный интеллект" [Gutseriev and Prokopenya will invest $ 100 million in artificial intelligence] (in Russian). The firm’s secret. 2016-12-15.
  12. ↑ Mikhail Baklanov (2017-03-13). "Astro Digital развернет спутниковую группировку до конца года" [Astro Digital will launch the satellite group by the end of the year] (in Russian). Skolkovo.
  13. ↑ Valeriya Komarova (2017-02-01). "Фонд Гуцериевых вложится в российско-американский космический проект" [The Gutseriev Foundation will invest in a Russian-American space project] (in Russian). RBC.
  14. ↑ Jonathan Shieber, Ingrid Lunden (2017-07-14). "Astro Digital launched its first imaging satellites". Techcrunch.
  15. ↑ Albert Habibrahimov (2017-02-22). "VP Capital и фонд владельца "Эльдорадо" инвестировали $5 млн в AR-стартап Banuba с центром разработки в Минске" [VP Capital and “Eldorado” owner’s fund invested $5 mln in AR-startup Banuba with the development center in Minsk] (in Russian). Vc.ru.
  16. ↑ ""Хотим создать большую AR-экосистему". Banuba и Inventain запускают продуктовую компанию" ["We want to create a large AR-ecosystem". Banuba and Inventain launch a product company] (in Russian). Dev.by. 2017-10-25.
  17. ↑ ""Новый тренд — все, что «анти". Виктор Прокопеня раскрыл подробности своих инвестиций в антидроны" [“Everything that is “anti” is a new trend”. Viktor Prokopenya revealed some details about his investments in antidrones] (in Russian). Про бизнес. 2017-06-05.
  18. ↑ Ivan Tkachev, Marina Bozhko, Oleg Makarov (2017-07-18). "Гуцериев инвестировал в трейдинговый стартап с искусственным интеллектом" [Gutseriev invested in a trading startup with artificial intelligence.] (in Russian). RBC.
  19. ↑ "Власти Белоруссии разрешили VP Capital купить Паритетбанк" [Belorusian authorities allowed VP Capital to buy “Paritetbank”.] (in Russian). RBC. 2017-07-21.
  20. ↑ "Президент дал добро на покупку Виктором Прокопеней Паритетбанка за 50 млн долларов" [The President gave the green light to purchase Victor Prokopenya Paritetbank for $ 50 million] (in Russian). Tut.by. 2017-07-21.
  21. ↑ "Виктор Прокопеня близок к покупке сразу двух банков — Паритетбанка и Сбербанка Украины" [Viktor Prokopenya is close to acquisition of two banks at once - Paritetbank and Ukraine's Sberbank] (in Russian). Tut.by. 2017-06-30.
  22. ↑ "Виктору Прокопене отменили покупку Паритетбанка" [Bank acquisition was abolished to Viktor Prokopenya] (in Russian). Officelife.media. 2017-08-21.
  23. ↑ "Прокопеня передумал покупать банки? VP Capital отказалась от украинского "Сбербанка"" [If Viktor Prokopenya changed his mind on acquisition of banks? VP Capital refused from Ukraine's Sberbank] (in Russian). Dev.by. 2017-08-03.
  24. ↑ Eugeny Kaljukov, Marina Bozhko (2017-08-03). "Виктор Прокопеня отказался от покупки "дочки" Сбербанка на Украине" [Belorusian businessman Prokopenya refused to buy the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank] (in Russian). RBC.
  25. ↑ "Лукашенко поддержал идею создания условий для использования в Беларуси беспилотных автомобилей" [Lukashenko supported the idea of creating conditions for the use of autonomous cars in Belarus] (in Russian). The Belarusian Telegraph Agency. 2017-03-13.
  26. ↑ "Как будет выглядеть ИТ-страна: с беспилотниками, криптовалютами и без бюрократии" [How the IT-country will look like: with drones, cryptocurrencies and without bureaucracy] (in Russian). TUT.BY. 2017-07-17.
  27. ↑ "Янчевский: "Создать IT-страну" - Беларусь открывает новый этап в развитии сферы высоких технологий" [Yanchevsky: "To create an IT-country" - Belarus opens a new stage in the development of the sphere of high technologies.] (in Russian). The Belarusian Telegraph Agency. 2017-03-13.
  28. ↑ "Декрет о развитии цифровой экономики: что написано в документе, обещающем великую ИТ-революцию" [Decree on the development of the digital economy: what is written in the document promising a great IT revolution] (in Russian). Tut.by. 2017-12-22.
  29. ↑ "Виктор Прокопеня стал крупнейшим налогоплательщиком Минска, заплатив 7 млн рублей" [Viktor Prokopenya has become the largest taxpayer of Minsk, having paid 7 billion rubles] (in Russian). Dev.by. 2018-05-23.
  30. ↑ "Мы не планировали опять писать про Прокопеню. Но мимо этого жаркого спора пройти невозможно" [We have no plans to write on Prokopenya. But we can't escape this hot debate] (in Russian). Про бизнесс. 2017-08-04.
  31. ↑ "Виктор Прокопеня виртуально избил Сергея Чалого" [Viktor Prokopenya virtually beated Serge Chaly] (in Russian). Naviny.by. 2018-01-18.
  32. ↑ ""Ресторан в Куропатах должен быть закрыт — владельцами". Прокопеня и другие о том, как быть с "Поедем поедим"" [Restaurant in Kurapaty should be closed - by owners. Prokopenya and others on how to handle "Let's ride. Let's eat"] (in Russian). Dev.by. 2018-06-18.
  33. ↑ "СК: Задержанный ИТ-бизнесмен обвиняется в получении 650 тысяч долларов от незаконной деятельности" [Investigative Committee: Detained IT-businessman accused of receiving 650 thousand dollars from illegal activities] (in Russian). TUT.by. 2015-04-03. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22.
  34. 1 2 "Арест бизнесмена Виктора Прокопени грозит Минску ущербом на миллионы долларов" [The arrest of businessman Viktor Prokopenya threatens Minsk with millions of dollars of damage] (in Russian). Deutsche Welle. 2015-04-11.
  35. ↑ Dyer, John (6 April 2016). "Are You a Budding Tech Innovator? Head to Repressive Belarus". Vice News. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  36. ↑ "Финал громкого ИТ-дела: инкриминируемый ущерб возмещен, бизнесмен отпущен из СИЗО" [The final of a loud IT case: the incriminated damages are reimbursed, the businessman is released from jail] (in Russian). TUT.by. 2015-12-23. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22.
  37. ↑ "Искусственный интеллект. Михаил Гуцериев и Виктор Прокопеня стали партнерами" [Artificial Intelligence. Mikhail Gutseriev and Viktor Prokopenya became partners] (in Russian). TUT.by. 2016-12-15.
  38. 1 2 Ольга Жерносек (2017-12-27). "Цензура Прокопени. Кто и почему скрывает от нас правду? [Prokopenya's Censorship: who is hiding the truth from us, and why?]". Belsat. Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  39. ↑ "#Прокопенягейт: Социальные сети гудят, независимые медиа говорят "ничего страшного не случилось"" [# Prokopenyagate: Social networks are buzzing, independent media say "nothing terrible has happened"]. Mediakritika.by (in Russian). 2017-12-27.
  40. ↑ "История с удалением контента: новые подробности" [History with content removal: new details] (in Russian). UDF.by. 2018-03-13.
  41. ↑ "Виктор Прокопеня — ТОП 200 успешных и влиятельных бизнесменов Беларуси — 2011" [Viktor Prokopenya - Top 200 successful and influential businessmen of Belarus — 2011] (in Russian). Ежедневник.
  42. 1 2 "Виктор Прокопеня — ТОП 200 успешных и влиятельных бизнесменов Беларуси — 2013" [Viktor Prokopenya - Top 200 successful and influential businessmen of Belarus — 2013] (in Russian). Ежедневник.
  43. ↑ "Виктор Прокопеня — ТОП 200 успешных и влиятельных бизнесменов Беларуси — 2016" [Viktor Prokopenya - Top 200 successful and influential businessmen of Belarus — 2016] (in Russian). Ежедневник.
  44. ↑ "Виктор Прокопеня — ТОП 200 успешных и влиятельных бизнесменов Беларуси — 2017" [Viktor Prokopenya - Top 200 successful and influential businessmen of Belarus — 2017] (in Russian). Ежедневник.
  45. ↑ "Виктор Прокопеня — ТОП 200 успешных и влиятельных бизнесменов Беларуси — 2018" [Viktor Prokopenya - Top 200 successful and influential businessmen of Belarus — 2018] (in Russian). Ежедневник.
  46. ↑ Vadim Sechovich (2018-02-12). "Александр Мошенский возглавил топ-25 выдающихся бизнесменов современной Беларуси" [Alexander Moshensky topped the top 25 outstanding businessmen of modern Belarus] (in Russian). Ежедневник. Retrieved 2018-04-11.
  47. ↑ "IT-бизнесмен Прокопеня – вновь самый крупный плательщик подоходного налога в Беларуси" [IT-businessman Prokopenya is again the largest payer of income tax in Belarus] (in Russian). Interfax.by. 2017-06-30.
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