Dmitry Grishin
| Dmitry Grishin | |
|---|---|
| Born |
October 15, 1978 Kapustin Yar, Soviet Union |
| Occupation | Co-founder, Chairman & CEO of Mail.ru Group Founder of Grishin Robotics |
Dmitry Grishin (born October 15, 1978) is a Russian businessman, investor and Internet entrepreneur. He is best known as co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Mail.ru Group. Grishin also made significant contributions to Russia’s internet presence, Runet, in its early days. In 2012, Grishin invested $25 million to found the first-ever robotics investment company, Grishin Robotics, to focus exclusively on consumer robotics.
Dmitry Grishin was born in 1978 in Kapustin Yar a Russian rocket launch and development site in Astrakhan Oblast. His father designed radar systems for the MiG-29 jet fighter. When he was 12, he saw a VCR for the first time and the mechanics of the machine sparked his interest in robotics. During his sixth year of school, his parents bought him a basic computer, the Electronika BK, with which he played games and created his own programs.
While attending Bauman Moscow State Technical University Grishin started working for the U.S. software company Axiom Int, overseeing programmers in Florida from his student hostel in Moscow. He worked as Design Engineer, Senior Software Developer, and IT consultant while with Axiom. In March 2000 he began to work for netBridge as head of the project development division of the online auction site Molotok.ru. After a year, he became CTO. After the Dot-com bubble burst in the U.S., the company’s funding disappeared, so netBridge and Port.ru — another struggling company that included the project Mail.ru — merged in 2001. That same year, Grishin earned his CAD degree with a red diploma for outstanding performance and became head of the service center for what was then called Mail.ru. By December, he was the company’s technical director. He became executive director in June 2002 and succeeded Yuri Milner as CEO in April 2003.
Under Grishin, Mail.ru expanded to become Russia’s second largest web company by revenue. It provides a suite of consumer products including chat services, e-mail, and a social network, Odnoklassniki. In 2010, Mail.ru held the first large IPO by a Russian Internet firm, raising $912 million. In addition to chat, email, social, and search services, Mail.ru has made revenue from games and ads. 90% of Russian internet users regularly use Mail.ru’s services.
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