Mikhail Nikolayev – founding investor

Mikhail Nikolayev is the first founding investor in the Dekarta Capital fund and Chairman of the fund’s investment committee.

In 1993, Mikhail founded the insurance company Nasta, where he served as President from 2000 till 2004. The leading Swiss insurance group Zurich Financial Services AG (SIX:ZURN) acquired a majority stake in Nasta in 2007 with an agreed path to 100 percent ownership by 2010. The transaction was the first case in the history of the Russian insurance market when a western investor bought a majority stake in a significant player (based on the amount of premiums collected in 2006, Nasta was # 18 in Russia).

In 1997 Mikhail founded RosPromBank, where he was Chairman of the Board until 2009, when the bank was acquired by the second-largest Cyprus banking group Marfin Popular Bank (CSE:CPB).

Upon graduation from the Moscow State Linguistic University in 1976 Mikhail worked in the Soviet Peace Committee (a member of the World Peace Council). In 1997 Mikhail founded the Kumir actor awards, which over the course of a decade, became one of the most prestigious ceremonies in Russian cinematic and theatrical life.