Updated:
iDealMachine Venture Partners
iDealMachine launched in 2012 when Artyom Yamanov, a serial entrepreneur from St.
iDealMachine Venture Partners
iDealMachine launched in 2012 when Artyom Yamanov, a serial entrepreneur from St. Petersburg, repurposed his startup accelerator experience into a permanent venture structure. The firm operates as a hybrid venture studio and seed fund, concentrating on IP-transfer opportunities from Russian and Belarusian technical universities. It does not draw from a single family fortune but from a blend of partner capital and small institutional commitments, making it one of the earliest dedicated deep-tech micro-funds in the region. The firm targets pre-seed and seed rounds in enterprise software, industrial hardware, and applied AI. Its studio arm co-founds companies around lab-developed IP — historically in sensor systems, machine vision, and process automation — before bringing in external co-investors for Series A. Portfolio activity includes exits to strategic buyers in the Russian industrial sector, though the firm discloses individual portfolio company names infrequently. Geographic focus spans St. Petersburg, Moscow, Novosibirsk, and Minsk. The team size and total committed capital are not publicly disclosed. The firm maintains no known office outside St. Petersburg. Its adjacent activities include a mentorship network dense with Russian technical university alumni and a media arm producing a Russian-language podcast on startup mechanics called 'iDealMachine Podcast' (per the firm's official communications). In recent periods, the fund has emphasized semiconductor design software and industrial IoT as reactor areas where Russian technical graduates hold competitive advantage. iDealMachine is structurally distinct from a typical family office or Western venture firm. Its studio model — where the fund itself generates deal flow by spinning IP out of institutions rather than waiting for inbound founders — means capital deployment is intentionally lumpy and early-stage. This limits comparability to mark-to-market venture indices and ties its returns to the slow but predictable cycle of academic technology transfer in an economy dominated by industrial conglomerates.
General information
Firm type
Venture Capital
Year founded
2012
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
Europe
Country
Russia
City
St. Petersburg
Corporate office
St. Petersburg, Russia
Principals
Artyom Yamanov
Co-founder & Managing Partner
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at iDealMachine?
Artyom Yamanov, co-founder and managing partner, leads the investment committee. The firm operates with a small partnership group that combines technical screening and portfolio management responsibilities. Day-to-day sourcing leans heavily on the studio team embedded inside partner universities.
How does iDealMachine source proprietary deal flow?
The firm's venture studio arm co-founds startups around intellectual property transferred from technical universities in Russia and Belarus. This gives iDealMachine a first-look position on research with commercial potential — sensor systems, machine vision, automation — before external founders or funds can access the same IP.
Is iDealMachine structured as a family office or a traditional venture firm?
It operates as a hybrid venture studio and seed-stage fund, not a family office. The capital comes from partners and small institutional commitments rather than a single family fortune. The fund's unusual structure — where it both creates and invests in companies — differentiates it from both standard limited-partner funds and family-directed investment vehicles.
What investment stages does iDealMachine target?
iDealMachine concentrates on pre-seed and seed rounds, often as the first institutional check into companies it has co-founded through its studio program. It typically exits or reduces involvement by Series A, when later-stage funds step in. The firm does not run a growth-equity practice.
Which sectors does iDealMachine focus on?
The firm invests in B2B software, industrial hardware, and applied AI. Specific areas of historical activity include sensor systems, machine vision, process automation, semiconductor design software, and industrial IoT. It does not participate in consumer internet, fintech, or B2C marketplaces.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on venture capital firms?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: