Goldman Sachs invests in IXcellerate

Goldman Sachs has become the third key investor in IXcellerate (together with IFC and Sumitomo Corporation) and will hold approximately 25% of shares following conversion. The total sum of funding that IXcellerate has attracted in international markets for its Russian project amounts to $35 million USD.

In 2016, IXcellerate was recognized as the fastest growing datacenter in Russia in terms of “filled-up and operational racks”. For two consecutive years IXcellerate has been announced as the winner of the prestigious annual Data Center Awards Russia&CIS across multiple categories. Among IXcellerate’s clients there are well known Russian and international companies such as Thomson Reuters, Orange Business Services, RETN, Telia, NTT Communications, Evroset, Softline, Onlanta, FORS Distribution, as well as other global corporations, undisclosed due to confidentiality policies.

The newly obtained investments will be used to support the strong growth of IXcellerate and the expansion of the current Moscow One facility. Two new data halls will be built in the coming months to collocate 1100 and 350 racks respectively. Approximately 20% of this capacity is already reserved by existing and potential customers. IXcellerate’s business strategy continues to be based on the modular construction concept, enabling a customized “data center within data center” solution to large enterprises. Once both data halls are commissioned, IXcellerate will be the third largest player among all operating commercial data centers in Russia in terms of total rack capacity. The IXcellerate Moscow One campus will be able to collocate 2185 racks following the projected expansion.

Guy Willner, CEO and co-founder of IXcellerate: “Since the launch of our data center in Russia, we have been consistently moving towards becoming one of the market leaders. Our main competitive advantages are infrastructure quality and full transparency of our business as well as the highest level of customer service. In the nearest future, we are planning to expand further and rely not only on organic market growth and new investments, but also considering merge & acquisition opportunities”.

According to iKS-Consulting’s market report, the financial returns in the Russian commercial data center segment demonstrate a positive dynamic. In 2016, revenues totaled 16.8 billion rubles, equivalent to 250 million USD, growing from the previous year by 21% in ruble terms and 11% in foreign currency terms. Dmitry Bederdinov, iKS-Consulting, said: “New significant international investments will have a positive impact on the growth of the Russian commercial data center market. Large and resilient data centers with enough resources to come up with competitive bids will have the advantage in terms of customer service and overall sustainability. IXcellerate’s new 1100-racks data hall will become the largest in Russia, allowing the company to substantially strengthen its market positions”.