LONDON, ENGLAND, aiHit, a UK-based artificial intelligence company, seed-financed by the Amadeus & Angels Seed Fund, has attracted US$5.5m investment from Russia's VTB Capital.

AiHit has created a fully automated data management system which can extract, structure, analyse and manage unstructured data from the web. There are multiple applications for this technology, but the company is currently focused on the business information industry, with Capital IQ, Dun & Bradstreet, Bisnode, Equifax and Datamonitor among its key clients.

The $5.5 million investment will finance marketing, business development and R&D. As a part of the business development plan, aiHit will be opening an R&D centre in St. Petersburg.

Aidar Kaliev, Head of VTB Capital's venture business said: "There are several factors that excite us about this company. First, aiHit has created an absolutely unique technology: the company has invented a new way to extract, manage and analyse raw data which, we believe, will change the way the industry operates. Second, we see huge market potential for this technology. The company's client portfolio demonstrates that many key players already appreciated the value proposition. Finally, we are very impressed by the entrepreneurial spirit of this company."

Alan Hambrook, Founder and the Chairman of aiHit, said: "We are delighted to have VTB Capital on board as an investor; this is a great opportunity for us to take our company to the next level of its development. It is also a unique chance for the Russian market to absorb expertise, through a new R&D centre in St.Petersburg. There are many market opportunities in Russia and we shall be opening an office there to develop our business in the CIS region."

Laurence John, Partner, Amadeus Capital Partners said: "It's exciting to work with new investors VTB Capital, who understand aiHit's long-term funding needs and will help it achieve its potential. We are now perfectly set to exploit the web-harvested data market and to build a significant, game-changing company."

About Amadeus

Amadeus Capital Partners is one of Europe's leading technology venture capital firms, with £470m under management. Since its inception in 1997, the firm has backed nearly 70 companies in industries that include communications and networking hardware and software, cleantech, medtech, computer hardware and software, media, and e-commerce. Major businesses built by the firm include CSR plc (LSE:CSR), the leading producer of single chip bluetooth radios for short range connections, Solexa Ltd, the developer of next generation genetic analysis systems, merged into Illumina, Inc. (ILMN) to create the world-leader in gene-sequencing technology and Transmode, a networking solutions business that had an over-subscribed IPO on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm in May 2011.

The Amadeus and Angels Seed Fund (AASF) focuses on seed stage technology companies with a base in the UK. AASF is jointly funded by Amadeus, Capital for Enterprise Limited [BERR], business angels and private investors. AASF has access to proprietary, high-quality deal flow, complemented by the discipline of a large VC fund and the expert knowledge of business angels. For more information, please visit www.amadeuscapital.com

About VTB Capital Investment Management

VTB Capital, the Investment Business of VTB Group, is one of the three strategic business arms of VTB Group, along with the corporate and retail businesses. Since its foundation in 2008, VTB Capital has taken part in more than 170 ECM and DCM deals, which were instrumental in attracting more than USD 90.7bn worth of investments in Russia.VTB Capital offers a full range of investment banking products and services to Russian and international clients, focusing on arranging operations in the debt, equity, global commodities markets, developing investment and asset management, advising clients on M&A and ECM deals in Russia and abroad. VTB Capital operates in Moscow, London, Singapore, Dubai and Hong Kong, with headquarters in Moscow.

VTB Capital occupies the top position in the debt and equity capital markets in Russia and CIS according to the league tables for the first 9 months of 2011 by Dealogic, Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters. In 2011 VTB Capital research team was ranked #1 in Thomson Reuters Extel Survey and Institutional Investor All-Russia Investor Survey.