Russian capital fund “The Games Fund” settles in Miami

The “events” between Russia and Ukraine pushed the founding partners of The Games Fund to seek a new center.
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TGF moved its activities from Moscow to Miami.

The founders of The Games Fund (TGF), an equity fund company that invests in game studios in Eastern and Western Europe decided to move the company’s headquarters in Moscow to Miami. This decision was caused by sanctions between the USA and Russia.

The Games Fund was founded in 2020 by Ilya Eremeev and Maria Kochmola with the participation of several investors. Based in both Los Angeles and Moscow, the company has invested in 11 portfolio companies so far. The events between Russia and Ukraine caused 70% of the deals made by the company to shift to Western Europe.

Sanctions between the USA and Russia prevent companies headquartered in these countries from investing in each other. Besides the USA, many European countries are also imposing sanctions on Russia, and venture capital companies such as The Games Fund are adversely affected by this.

A significant part of the investments made by The Games Fund consists of Russian-based game studios. This makes it difficult for TGF to bring its capital from the USA and European countries to Russian game studios. Both game studios and investors have difficulties in fulfilling the agreements made.

TGF’s limited partners include many investors and game studios from the USA, China, UK, Israel, UAE, and Europe. Given the current situation in Russia, the company has to prove to these partners that its current capital is safe. In line with this, The Games Fund says that “there is no money coming from Russia” in its current capital. On the subject, Ilya Eremeev says:

“If we took government money, we had this concern that sooner or later this could cause some troubles. That was why we decided not to take it.”

The company’s relocation to Miami resulted from seeking solutions to the challenges posed by the sanctions against Russia. While this may be a solution to investments in game studios in Europe but it may not solve the problems for game studios already in Russia. TGF’s shifting course towards Western Europe may herald a new future for the company.

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