Draft:Alexander V. Chikunov

Alexander Chikunov – venture capitalist, considered a notable figure in the venture capital sector, currently serving as the General Partner at Verb Ventures Previously Alexander was a Managing Partner at Sova VC. Chikunov's professional background extends to various areas of expertise, making him a versatile professional in the investment field; ex-managing Partner of the Sova VC venture fund, which ranks among the top 140 venture funds in the UK (2022). Alexander is in the top 100 influencers, according to Welp Magazine (2022), nominee for Forbes 30 under 30, face of Tech Nation Visa (2022), fellow in the Startup Leadership Program, mentor for Wayra GE, Forbes finance council member.

Education and Early Career
Alexander Chikunov obtained his MSc in Investment Management from the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics between 2007 and 2012. Alexander also obtained a CF29 certification from the Financial Conduct Authority in December 2019.

Alexander's experience spans over 10 years in venture capital. Alexander began his career in 2013 as an investment analyst at IPOboard. In 2015, he joined StartTrack as Head of the Analytical Department, part of the founding team. In 2016, Chikunov became a principal at Maxfield Capital. In 2018, he invested and joined Bash as a board director. In 2020, after investing in a business he became a board director at LaundryHeap, the world's fastest-growing on-demand laundry and dry cleaning platform. In 2021, he became a board observer at Geomiq. In 2022, Alexander joined CGHero as a board director.

In 2020, Chikunov led the venture capital firm Sova VC in London, which raised over €100,000,000 (as of 2022), later launching his own enterprise - Verb Ventures.

Sova VC
Sova VC was created with the aim of investing more than 50 million euros in building a portfolio of more than 20 early-stage technology companies. The fund's strategy is based on identifying promising technology companies in the late seed and Series A stages. Sova VC's main focus is on companies targeting B2B and B2B2C markets, as well as software platforms that have the potential to expand across various sectors and markets. Minimum check size is €1,500,000, with up to –  €4,000,000 per one portfolio company.

Sova VC’s strategy was to identify disruptive technology companies with a particular focus on B2B and B2B2C marketplaces and software platforms.

Although sector agnostic, the Sova VC team had particular interest in urban tech, fintech and healthcare, and its initial geographic focus was on growth stage companies in the UK, Nordics, Baltic states and the US East Coast.

Alexander Chikunov, was Managing Partner at Sova VC who headed up firm, has a 10-year track record as a venture capitalist and corporate finance investor, who has worked on a range of venture deals and exits involving companies such as Airsorted (Houst), Homewings, Hubble and SimplyCook.

"We believe Sova VC is unique in its ability to combine financial backing with agility, and a truly personal approach to working with entrepreneurs, whilst also being able to leverage Sova Capital's extensive global network and financial platform, which unlocks a range of solutions and exciting opportunities for our partner companies," said Chikunov.

Sova VC was looking for innovative startups for investment and striving to help them reach their full potential, investing among others to:


 * LaundryHeap, a British startup in the laundry and digital dry cleaning sectors, raised Series A funding of $3.5 million (approximately £2.5 million).
 * Smartcat , a US based-based global B2B platform for translation services connecting translation agencies, freelancers, and corporate clients to ensure continuous delivery of multilingual content.
 * Geomiq, a marketplace connecting engineers and manufacturers, raised €3.3 million. The funds were raised from a consortium of investors, including Samaipata, Sova VC, Fuel Ventures, Tekton Ventures, and Eka Ventures
 * Feel, a manufacturer and seller of supplements, raised $6.2 million. The investments in the first year of Sova VC's operation illustrate a wide range of industries. And on top of the initial portfolio Sova VC was able to launch an additional strategy to cover more stages of IT companies development.
 * In 2022, Sova VC launched a new $50 million liquidity fund. Its main aim was to provide early shareholders with access to income via the secondary market. The new Sova VC liquidity fund was anchored  by the Cypriot asset manager Luna Wealth. "At the same time, it allows us to leverage emerging market opportunities in our key markets in the UK and Europe, helping to address the issue of lack of opportunities for early liquidity in fast-growing companies where the investment cycle can have a very long tail for founders, employees, and early shareholders."

Verb Ventures
In 2023 Partners Alexander Chikunov and Tom Wesseldine have combined over 25 years experience across building their own companies and working directly with founders. Alexander had launched his maiden fund focussed on early stage marketplaces — amassing a fantastic portfolio of 6 companies — whilst Tom, who had worked with start-ups (including his own) for the past 10 years, was in the midst of launching a private equity fund of fund.

In 2024 Verb Ventures led the Legitify, an online notarisation platform headquartered in Dublin, announced that it has secured €1.5M in a seed round of funding Legitify. The round was led by Verb Ventures and supported by Enterprise Ireland, Actium Partners, Redbay Ventures, and other investors.