Known as a pioneer in early-stage and seed investment in Russia, David Waroquier is a Belgian investment veteran mainly interested in e-commerce, consumer Internet, and startups involved in disrupting the technology sector. Waroquier joined Mangrove Capital Partners in 2006 and achieved partnership in 2011. Before joining Mangrove, Waroquier discovered the magic of innovation at Monsanto where he launched his career. He then went on to hold a range of high-ranking roles at companies like Ernst & Young and Arthur Anderson and led operations for two years at Lumension, a company that used to be part of Mangrove’s portfolio. Waroquier studied at the Antwerp Maritime Academy where he achieved a bachelor’s degree in nautical sciences and at the Brussels Management School where he completed his master’s in international business management with honors. 

Location

David Waroquier believes that foreign investors are underestimating the potential the Russian market holds and so there are relatively few venture capitalists injecting funds into the country. Waroquier further states that potential investors also hesitate because of uncertainty about existing investments and getting funding repaid. Investors generally need to be certain of a return on investment between five and seven years from inception, and are uncertain about their potential for successful exits in the largely unknown territory of the Russian Federation. 

Remarkable Investments

David Waroquier and Mangrove Capital Partners started backing Quintura, a search system development company, in 2006. They then started supporting Entermedia, a media project focused on multi-platform advertising, including games. The third major investment was in KupiVIP.ru and then in the social gaming service Drimmi and in one of the foremost hotel reservation services Oktogo. Besides his strong interest in making investments into the Russian technology sector, Waroquier has also made significant investments in the United Kingdom. One such investment is into the healthcare booking platform Zesty. The investor is a board member of Zesty alongside other venture capitalists Florian Reinaud from Innovation Capital and Miles Kirby from Qualcomm Ventures. 

Recent News

Recently Waroquier and Mangrove further expanded their portfolio in Russia to include the online furniture sales portal called HomeMe. In 2017 the company also announced that Hugo Mahieu has been appointed as CEO to oversee the Mangrove Capital Partners charitable foundation and Waroquier said that he is excited about having somebody passionate about the initiative.