Draft:Oskar Hartmann (entrepreneur)

Oskar Hartmann (born 1982) is a German entrepreneur, investor and author. Hartmann is the founder of companies such as KupiVIP, CarPrice, Aktivo, Carfix and others. He is known for founding a number of companies and as an activist promoting information on changing lifestyle habits for individuals with health issues.

Early life and education
Oskar Hartmann was born in 1982, in Kokterek village, Jambyl Region, Kazakh SSR. He spent his early childhood in Kazakhstan. His father, Richard, worked as an engineer, and his mother was a teacher. Hartmann has three siblings, two brothers and one sister. In 2001, at the age of 19, he created an online store, which was his first Internet project. Hartmann attended high school in Germany and later participated in an exchange program at Tuscarawas Valley High School in Ohio, USA. He pursued his higher education at the WHU School of Management in Koblenz, Germany, where he studied international economics, graduating in 2008. In 2007, Hartmann participated in an MBA program from the University of Hawaii, USA.

Career
In 2008, Hartmann founded KupiVIP Group, an online shopping club that offered daily private sales of designer products. . The site had over 7 million customers, and in 2010, the company's revenues grew by 600%. In 2011, KupiVIP raised $55 million in investment. Hartmann stepped down as CEO in 2014. In 2010, Hartmann co-founded Fast Lane Ventures, an investment company in Moscow, with French businessman Pascal Clément. By 2012, the company had launched eighteen Internet businesses. One of them was Sapato, an online retailer of shoes and accessories, 100% of which was sold to OZON a year and a half after its foundation. In 2012, Hartmann established Simile Ventures Partners, a fund with offices in Luxembourg and Moscow that invested in projects from various countries, with investments exceeding half a million dollars per project. Hartmann launched the real estate crowdfunding platform AKTIVO in Russia in 2015 and created CarFix in 2016, investing 1 million euros in the latter. Mail.ru Group acquired a stake in CarFix in 2016. The same year, Hartmann became president of the Institute for Accelerating Economic Development (Rybakov Foundation), co-founded by entrepreneur Igor Rybakov. . Together, they also established the World Entrepreneurship Leadership Foundation (WELF) to support and encourage entrepreneurship globally. In 2017, Hartmann started a YouTube channel producing educational videos for aspiring entrepreneurs. As of March 2024, the channel has 473 thousand subscribers and 363 videos. Hartmann has authored or co-authored several books on entrepreneurship and personal development. From 2017 to March 2022, Hartmann served on the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank. He was elected to the Board of Directors of Moscow Exchange in April 2020 and re-elected in 2021 and 2022, serving as an independent member on various committees. Hartmann resigned from the Supervisory Board on November 1, 2022. In May 2021, Hartmann was elected to the board of directors of the development company SAMOLET as an independent director, overseeing minority shareholder interests, innovation, technology, and startup investments. As of 2024, Hartmann has invested in over 75 companies, 14 of which have reached a capitalization of more than $1 billion.

CarPrice
In 2014, Hartmann co-founded CarPrice, an online auction for used cars, with Artem Bolshakov, Alexander Cherniak, Eduard Gurinovich, and Alexander Danilov. The service received $2 million in funding from various investors and quickly expanded, with a turnover of 3.5 billion rubles in 2015, tripling to 9.3 billion rubles in 2016. By 2017, CarPrice had a turnover of 14 billion rubles, 140 offices, and more than 4,000 dealers trading on the platform. Mitsui & Co. Corporation acquired a 25% stake in the company's Japanese subsidiary in 2017. In March 2018, CarPrice was ranked among the most promising European growth companies with Unicorn-potential by Tech Tour Growth 50 experts.

Rowing
In 2020, at the age of 37, competing in the lightweight category for the 30-39 age group, he recorded a time of 13.4 seconds. The following year, in 2021, as a 38-year-old in the heavy category, he completed the same distance in 12.9 seconds. His 2021 performance, which was verified and conducted using slides, demonstrated a wattage output of 1304 and a speed of 27.9 km/h, with a pace of 1:04.5 minutes per kilometer.

Community involvement
Diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis at age 19, Hartmann has focused on projects promoting a healthy lifestyle. He co-founded Acteam holding company to support such initiatives, including the Soon application, which helps users form healthy eating habits. In 2018, Hartmann provided financial assistance to ARGIMOZ, an Arkhangelsk regional public organization supporting parents raising children with multiple organic and rare genetic diseases. In 2021, Hartmann released a 50-hour YouTube podcast titled "What does a person need for happiness?" featuring 50 interviews without a break for sleep.