Waves Founder Sells Blockchain Startup to Russian Financial Consultant

A startup founded by the Waves platform team, Vostok, has been sold to one of the project’s earliest investors.

According to a report by Gazeta.ru, Waves CEO Alexander Ivanov “sold his stake” in the data management and smart city oriented project to Mark Garber of the financial consultancy GHP Group.

The Waves platform has developed blockchain solutions through partnering with some of Russia’s largest private and state-owned enterprises, as well as global firms, for institutional, industrial, and military use.

Vostok, in particular, aligned with the Russian state-owned conglomerate Rostec in 2018 to securely manage data for the firm’s 700 industrial entities. Additionally, the startup was instrumental in roadmapping the “digital economy” as part of the “Strategic Development Objectives of the Russian Federation up to 2024,” announced by President Vladimir Putin.

Ivanov told Gazeta:

Though details of the deal have not been disclosed, Garber plans to integrate Vostok’s digitalization solutions in GHP’s mining, production, and logistics projects.

Gazeta also reports that Garber holds a stake in the container transporting company Fesco and serves on the board of another trade logistics company, called TransContainer.

Vostok was formed in 2018. Its"Gorod N" project saw a partnership with Nizhny Novgorod region administrators to develop a civic voting and public budgeting solution, which reportedly enables citizens to vote on where tax dollars are spent.

Garber intends to keep the startup's development team aboard, but will elect a new supervisory board. As part of their initiative to strike larger international deals, Waves will open a Berlin office.

Russian dolls photo via Shutterstock