Runa Capital Invests in Metabar.

Runa Capital, a Russian seed-stage Venture Capital firm, announced its third investment; in Metabar, a free platform that automates the process of creating browser-based applications.

In a release, the Company noted the platform is designed specifically to help increase web traffic and brand loyalty for Russian-based internet sites.

"The Russian internet today includes hundreds of sites that attract a million plus visitors. Metabar's team has extensive experience of this market and the resources needed target these websites. Our platform allows website owners to quickly offer applications that can transform casual visitors into regular audiences," said Michael Ushakov, CEO at Metabar.

"The Russian internet market is growing rapidly, with approximately 50 million users today, and a predicted 60-80 million in three years. The online advertising market alone was worth approximately $1 billion in 2010," said Dmitry Chikhachev, managing partner of Runa Capital. "Metabar's business model is similar to California-based Conduit.com with revenue coming via advertising searches. However, Metabar is the first to offer these capabilities in the Russian market. The investment from Runa represents another major step toward realizing our ambition of helping Russian and CIS-based technology talent reach the global stage."

Metabar has been open for beta-testing since Autumn 2010.

Runa Capital, founded by Serguei Beloussov, chairman of Parallels and Acronis, is an early stage venture capital fund.

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