Comfort has been a top priority for human beings for centuries.

We have been building our homes, arranging our interiors, and even dedicating whole working lives to making our dwellings more comfortable.

Nevertheless, with comfort come costs, and we all know how expensive and time-demanding are our efforts to find a pleasant home.

This is where CIAN Group enters the scene.

CIAN Group answered the call of millions of people across Russia searching for the best property and rent offers available. Today, CIAN Group can be easily called the leading Russian online real-estate market. If you are searching for a flat or rent in Moscow or St.Petersburg, then CIAN Group is your best option.

The platform provides sale and resale of apartments, long-term rent, office, and warehouse rent services, and makes comfort available for anyone!

Stick around to unveil the story of Dmytri Demin, a young entrepreneur, and enthusiast who started his never-ending journey to the top.

Everyone Deserves a Comfy Home

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, there have been many people in Russia struggling to find a proper home.

The problem is even more vivid among young and middle-income individuals who are trying to start their own homes and family. The youthful and enthusiastic Dmytri Demin saw all of this and was utterly enraged.

Young people like him were experiencing this problem, especially in the capital, Moscow.

Dmytri Demin was originally from Kirov, but came to Russia’s capital with a determination ‘to conquer it’.

When Dmytri saw the problems people faced, along with the inefficiency and inflexibility of the agencies to meet their needs, he gained a clear vision of how he will conquer the capital.

In the 1990s, Dmytri and his best friend and a business partner opened several different enterprises that failed and bankrupted. After some years, the duo created a base of owners who rented their apartments.

Dmytry and his business partner approached issues honestly and were dedicated to their mission to develop the platform. The determined duo was searching for ways to sell it to bigger investors.

However, the base of owners became very popular. Dmytri saw how the bigger real-estate agencies wanted to be included and marketed to his base of clients.

Dmytri realized the potential of the opportunity and told the interested parties to contact him via email if they wanted to be a part of the platform. It wasn’t long before dozens of emails flooded Dmytri’s mailbox.

A Gathering of People

Dmytri communicated with realtors and collected huge databases of info about apartments and rents throughout Moscow. Dmytri was approaching the matter quite simply- by communicating through phone or mail.

Dmytri accumulated huge depositories of excel files bursting with information and started distributing them between the owners and the potential buyers. Future tenants might just be in the making.

In 2000, after extensive research and huge public interest, Dmytri came up with the idea of creating a website that will serve as an ideal real-estate marketplace.

Dmytri's determination was something to be admired. According to his friend and future CEO of the company, Maxim Melnikov, Dmytri bought a book on programming and learned from scratch. Restless Dmytri soaked up all the knowledge available and implemented what he had learned into the building of the website.

The real-estate agencies, along with the general public were eagerly awaiting the platform, and in 2001, Dmytri Demin initially launched cian.ru.

Dmytri managed the company until 2012 when he transferred the general directory to Maxim Melnikov. According to Maxim, Dmytri once again, in his manner, recognized the need for a more strategic and systematic management approach. Dmytri landed on the move mainly because the competition in the Russian real-estate market was rapidly growing.

Dmytri Demin is now one of the four main owners of the company alongside Elbrus Capital Investment Fund, Goldman Sachs Investment Bank (which entered the project at the turn of 2017-2018), and the board of the company, that’s also a shareholder.

After all the hard work, Dmytri’s job was finally done. Now, he just had to lean back and see how his invention drives people and investors in.

Finally, Dmytri achieved his dream of providing every young Russian, like him, 20 years ago, with the opportunity to easily find a comfortable and affordable home.

Sustainable Growth Is the Key to Success

Over the years, Dmytri Demin managed the platform very carefully, without over-expanding or indulging in dubious contracts. CIAN was growing steadily and was slowly growing on the Moscow real estate market.

More and more owners and investors contacted Dmytri, which finally led to the first funding round held in 2013. The main investor was Promvsyazbank, a privately-owned Russian bank.

Dmytri wisely planned his next steps and decided to hold two more funding rounds in 2014 and 2015. This time, the main investor was Target Global, an investment fund from Berlin, Germany, which supports tech companies throughout their lifecycle.

The management of CIAN Group was more than aware of the fact that sustainable growth is the only way to success. That’s why the management let investors in gradually, without undermining the already established organizational structure and culture.

In 2013 and 2014, after raising the necessary funds, CIAN Group successfully acquired EMLS and Dmir.ru. Thus begins the era of real-estate dominance in both Moscow and St.Petersburg.

Building of the Financial Pillars

In 2020, the CIAN Group announced its plans to be a part of an IPO and publicly offer its stocks and shares to investors. This decision came after becoming a ‘corporate brother’ of HeadHunter, because of the mutual investors Goldman Sachs and Elbrus Capital Investment Fund.

A call came from HeadHunter to the CEO, Maxim Melnikov, to visit HeadHunter’s Board of Directors. Maxim acknowledged that this company already went public on NASDAQ, and recognized that that’s what CIAN needs. Maxim knew that to provide liquidity, the CIAN Group must offer its shares publicly.

After 3 successful funding rounds, the company finally proposed terms and filed to raise $269 million of its American Depository Shares. If the IPO is successful, the company will be valued at $965 million. Maxim hints that this will probably happen in 2022, and the main runner-ups are Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and other investment banks.

Reinventing the Russian Real-estate Market

Today, many Russian real estate companies and platforms are envious of the CIAN Group. The platform of Dmytri Demin has boxed its way up to the top and there’s no going back!

The CIAN Group platform already provides multiple services and solutions for Russians. Some of the services include long-term and daily rents, sales and resales of apartments, rooms, and shares, houses and cottages, and office rents and sales. Also, the platform features an online magazine that’s available for its users.

The CIAN Group currently has more than 322 employees and is headquartered in Moscow with an IPO ownership status. The company plans to further expand and offer better services than the main competitors like DomClick, Yandex. Nedvizhimost, Square Meter, Youla, Avito, and Ozon.

Soon, the company’s going to improve their already existing services like agent-procurement services, mortgage support, property valuation, and online transaction services. The influx of fresh capital will open the way for new investments and the future expansion of the offer.

The CIAN Group is now ready to burst over the Russian ground and conquer the US market. But this won’t look like a Cold War scenario when the USSR threatened the US, far from it! Instead, Dmytri Demin’s CIAN Group aims to conquer people’s hearts and investors’ goodwill by providing affordable, simple, and fair solutions.

Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next one to enjoy a comfortable and cozy home found at the CIAN Group platform. Who knows?