Some interesting movement coming out of Russia yesterday. The leading Russian online recruitment website HeadHunter and private equity investor Digital Sky Technologies have each acquired 20% of Free-lance.ru, an online workplace for freelance specialists not unlike elance.com, for an estimated sum of $0.4 million.
Free-lance has some 100,000 registered users. Digital Sky Technologies (which I’m having trouble finding a direct link to) is known to be a significant shareholder of Russian Webmail site Mail.ru and sold a 15% minority stake in the company to Naspers of South Africa for some $85 million in January 2007. I understand Mangrove Capital Partners met with two founders of Free-lance back in the summer, but appeared to pass on the deal.
