Background

Mike Calvey was born in 1967 in Wisconsin, US and grew up in Oklahoma. He studied computer science and business at the University of Oklahoma and then earned an MS degree in finance at the London School of Economics.

His early jobs included working as an investment banking analyst at Salomon Brothers in New York and as an investment associate at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in London.

Notable Investments

In 1994, Mike joined a team backed by Baring Asset Management to raise a private equity fund to focus on Russia and other countries in the former Soviet Union. Named the First NIS Fund, the team attracted investments from EBRD, the World Bank’s IFC, TIAA-CREF, and Fidelity.

In 1997, Mike with several colleagues founded Baring Vostok Capital Partners, which took over management responsibility for the First NIS Fund. The following year, the firm experienced its first major challenge, when Russia defaulted on its sovereign debt due to the economic crisis. The local stock market dropped by 98%. Despite the economic downturn, the First NIS Fund returned $600 million to its shareholders, four times the fund’s original capital.

Following the success of the First NIS Fund, Baring Vostok launched a second fund, Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund LP, which raised $205 million between 2000 and 2001. Baring Vostok’s second fund invested at an early stage in well-known innovative companies like Yandex and Ozon.

Between 2004 and 2011, Baring Vostok created three more funds for investment in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, with total capital reaching approximately $2.5 billion. By 2011, Baring Vostok investors included more than 40 sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and university endowments from North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.

Notable early-stage investments by Baring Vostok funds over this period included Tinkoff and Kaspi, companies which later achieved market valuations in excess of $20 billion.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Baring Vostok fund investors approved a restructuring plan to divest their remaining Russian investments. As part of the plan, Baring Vostok was divided into two separate and independent firms:

Vostok Investments, solely owned by the former Russian managers of Baring Vostok and which purchased substantially all of the Russian assets from the Baring Vostok funds.

Baring Ventures, which manages the international assets that remain as part of the group (including Kaspi, Revolut, Blablacar, Plata, and more).

Mike Calvey is currently Chairman of Baring Ventures.