External capital as a management tool: why IT companies need an investor

Pavel Okhonin, partner at the investment company KAMA FLOW, served as the guest moderator of a webinar by the RUSSOFT Committee on Investment and Strategic Development: “Smart money in the technology sector: can an investor–company alliance cope with business challenges?”

What was discussed:

- The impact of the macroeconomic environment on the tech business: the high cost of capital has led to cuts and freezes in development budgets, and some demand remains deferred.

- The market’s financing structure: Russian IT companies continue to grow primarily on internal funds; the share of external capital is minimal.

- A decline in valuation multiples of public IT companies. If the median EV/EBITDA was 12.4x in 2024, it could fall to 5.4x by 2026.

- A reduction in VC/PE investment volume in 2025 and a rising role for structured and hybrid deals.

- Low liquidity in the M&A market outside major ecosystems.

According to Pavel Okhonin, an external investor can be useful even to a profitable and resilient company—not only as a source of capital, but also as a management tool: “Founders often have to fully reinvest profits into development to sustain growth. An investor can replace part of internal investment with external funds and free up cash flow. Yes, you give up a minority stake, but you maintain your growth rate and gain more flexibility. The second point is shared responsibility. When unpopular decisions need to be made—on expenses, structure, salaries—the investor becomes a party you can lean on. And this mechanism really works.”

Watch the webinar recording via the link.