Foreign strategies and results: Can Arkady Volozh duplicate Yandex's international accomplishments?
**"The story of Nebius unfolds in a nutshell, with the country of origin under wraps - a sensible move given Accel's investments in the company. NebiusOwner, a top manager, candidly admitted to our query, "Discussing anonymously isn't my scene and I have no desire for it." Ilya Zalesky, head of TripleTen, Nebius' educational division, echoed a similar sentiment, "I'm on a tight schedule."
The journey of Arkady Volozh, the man behind Nebius, started as early as 2014, after he relocated to Israel. Since then, he showed less interest in his Russian roots. Volozh's partnerships shifted focus, and he became increasingly involved in international projects, favoring a distance from the Russian market.
Upon Russia's "special operation," up to 3000 "Yandex" employees fled, with some joining forces with Volozh's future project. The Russian and foreign assets sold by Volozh were valued at approximately $5.4 billion. Rebranding as Nebius Group, Volozh set out to prove his entrepreneurial prowess anew.
With three core elements supporting Nebius, Volozh has built his business primarily in the B2B sector, capitalizing on his cloud services and server rental for tech companies. Data centers in Finland and the Netherlands have become the base for Nebius' operation, receiving support from Nvidia, a key player in the industry.
People with expertise and technologies, such as experienced developers from "Yandex," form the first leg of Nebius. The second leg comprises strong connections with hardware producers, ensuring priority access to scarce GPUs, helping the company remain competitive. Lastly, Nebius' data centers have been lauded for their energy efficiency, placing the company among the top AI-powered data centers in Europe.
This journey hasn't been without hiccups. The launch of self-driving taxis in 2022 had to be postponed, and the intellectual property for the autonomous taxi project was not transferred to Nebius as anticipated. Nevertheless, Volozh has forged partnerships with key industry players like Uber and Hyundai to advance the autonomous transportation sector.
Despite criticisms and mockery early on, Volozh showed a change in behavior by publicly condemning Russia's actions in Ukraine in 2023, leading to the lifting of EU sanctions. With a focus on forging ahead, Volozh addressed his past accomplishments in an interview with Matt Weigant but refrained from discussing contentious topics, preferring to focus on the future success of Nebius."
- The new focus of Arkady Volozh's investments in the tech industry involves artificial-intelligence, as he builds his business, Nebius Group, leveraging cloud services, server rental, and energy-efficient data centers.
- In the process of rebranding, Arkady Volozh, the entrepreneur behind Nebius, has actively sought out partnerships with leading companies in the finance sector, such as Uber and Hyundai, for investing in autonomous transportation technology.
- As Nebius Group continues to grow, its strategy will still heavily rely on its early investments, with key contributions coming from skilled technologists, such as experienced developers from Yandex, and valuable connections with hardware manufacturers for acquiring scarce GPUs.
