Viktor Prokopenya (born July 21, 1983) is a European technology entrepreneur and venture investor. Having founded Viaden Media in 2001 and subsequently selling the business in 2011, he launched his investment company, VP Capital, which currently owns several technology businesses including a fintech company Capital.com and Currency.com, a cryptocurrency exchange.
Education
Viktor Prokopenya was born into a family of scientists: his mother was a mathematician and his father held a doctorate in physical and mathematical sciences, working at the Belarusian State University and later at the Belarusian National Technical University. Viktor studied at schools No. 2 and No. 130, where he graduated with distinction. He received a bachelor's degree in information technology from the European Humanities University (2004), a degree in software development from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics (2006), and a bachelor's degree in law from the Belarusian State University (2010). He also graduated from the Minsk IPM Business School, gaining a master's degree in business administration (2010), before continuing his higher education in the US at Full Sail University (gaining a master's degree in internet marketing; 2012), Stanford Graduate School of Business (executive MBA course in strategic marketing; 2016) and Northeastern University in Boston (master's degree in finance; 2016). In 2017 he completed his doctorate in business administration at the SBS Swiss Business School.
Entrepreneurship
Viaden Media
Later in his life, Viktor's father left scientific career and became a businessman. He died in a car crash when Prokopenya was 16, since that time Viktor took on the responsibility of caring for his family. Since the 2000s, Prokopenya earned his living by IT consulting, he founded an IT company Viaden Media. In 2006, he reoriented Viaden to develop IT products.
In 2009, Viaden Media launched a new department, developing mobile applications for iPhone and iPad. The company created more than 100 top-rated applications, including All-in Fitness, Smart Alarm Clock, and Yoga.com. For a long time, All-in Fitness ranked top in the AppStore's Healthcare&Fitness category in more than 40 countries. By 2011, Viaden had achieved more than 200 million mobile application installations and had become the largest mobile phone software developer in Eastern Europe. Prokopenya ran the company until 2011 when he sold it to the founder of software company Playtech. According to the media publications, Viaden Media was purchased for about €95 mln although the exact sum remains undisclosed. Later, Viaden Media was divided into two companies: Sport.com, a fitness applications developer, and Skywind Group, which specialised in mobile and social games.
VP Capital
In 2012, Prokopenya founded an investment company, VP Capital, which specializes in the technology sector. One of its first investments was into the fintech company, exp(capital), which developed solutions for banks and brokers by constructing algorithms for high-frequency market making. Exp(capital) was ranked the best employer of the year in 2014. Exp(capital)'s mobile applications department was later acquired by British company, IG Holdings, for an undisclosed amount.
In 2012, Prokopenya established VP Capital Real Estate which focused on central street assets. By 2017, the company had become the Minsk's largest private owner of real estate of this kind.
In the summer of 2017, VP Capital announced plans to acquire Paritetbank. At the same time, the company applied for acquisition of the Ukrainian division of Sberbank. However, on August 3, 2017, Prokopenya withdrew the applications. He commented that he has always desired to own a bank and that it would be a venture that he would pursue given the right circumstances.
In December 2016, Larnabel Ventures Fund and VP Capital announced a joint intention to invest in startups in computer vision, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. From 2017 to 2019, the partners announced six investment agreements on a parity basis, in which they invested equally: Astro Digital, Banuba, Dronefence, FaceMetrics (later merged with Banuba), Capital.com and Currency.com. VP Capital acquired all Larnabel's shares in Capital.com and Currency.com in 2021. Meanwhile, VP Capital's share in Astra Digital and Dronefense was transferred to Larnabel. Larnabel's share in Banuba and its subdivisions was sold to private investors, Prokopenya sold his stake to the company's management. After the split, VP Capital and Larnabel no longer held any joint projects.