# Charles E. Ryan

> Charles E. Ryan is a Series B investor at Almaz Capital backing Gift and Advertising. See 1 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Almaz Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/almaz-capital)
- Total investments: 1
- Last investment: Aug 2012
- Lead investor: 100%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-ryan-62a62765

Charles E. Ryan is a Series B investor at Almaz Capital focused on Gift and Advertising. Charlie Ryan is a General Partner at Almaz Capital. Charlie focuses on managing later stage companies in Almaz’ portfolio and their exit strategy.His professional career combines top-level expertise and deep knowledge of international markets, and began in 1989 with CS First Boston where he was a financial analyst.From 1991 to 1994, Charlie wasan Associate and Principal Banker with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London.In 1994, he co-founded United Financial Group (UFG), and as Chairman and CEO steered UFG to become one of Russia’s leading investment companies.In 1996 UFG also founded UFG Asset Management. In 2006 Deutsche Bank acquired 100% of UFG’s investment banking business, and Charlie Ryan was appointed Chief Country Officer and CEO of Deutsche Bank Group in Russia. UFG Asset Management remained independent.In 2008, Charlie stepped down as CCO and CEO of Deutsche Bank in Russia and became Chairman of UFG Asset Management.Among Ryan’s private and corporate investments, there are Ru-net Holdings, Yandex, the #1 search engine in Russian language markets, and Ozon, the “Amazon.com of Russia”.He graduated with honors in Government from Harvard College.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Gift | 1 | 100% |
| Advertising | 1 | 100% |
| Restaurants | 1 | 100% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| FreeMonee | FreeMonee is changing the economics of advertising by enabling stores and restaurants to attract customers on demand using FreeMonee Gifts. With its unique new consumer incentive, FreeMonee delivers gifts of money directly to cardholders of the largest financial institutions. Customized to precisely match consumer interest, gifts allow consumers topurchase anything they want at designated stores or restaurants—no strings attached. The gifts are made possible by FreeMonee’s proprietary Gift Underwriting Engine, which accurately determines the right gift to ensure the highest level of consumer interest and the best return on ad spend for a merchant. Unlike traditional coupons or offers, FreeMonee Gifts feel like a gift card from a friend—money to spend at places consumers like. For retail marketers, FreeMonee Gifts enable brands to attract large volumes of profitable, incremental customer visits—without discounting. For banks and credit card companies, FreeMonee provides the opportunity to positively engage customers and strengthen loyalty.Founded in 2009 and located in San Mateo, California, FreeMonee is led by former executives of Google, Visa, Oracle, Cisco, Procter & Gamble and Coca- Cola. To date, FreeMonee has raised $45 million in funding with investments from Charles E. Ryan, Opus Capital Ventures, Redpoint Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures, among others. Through continued partnerships with the top U.S. financial institutions, the company expects 50 million households to have access to FreeMonee Gifts in 2012. For more information, please visit www.freemonee.com. | $34M | Series B | Aug 07, 2012 |  |

1 of 1 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Opus Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/opus-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Pinnacle Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pinnacle-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Redpoint](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/redpoint-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Sutter Hill Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/sutter-hill-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Almaz Capital

VC Fund · Portola Valley, United States

Almaz Capital is an international venture capital firm investing in early stage, capital efficient technology companies. A unique bridge fund headquartered in Silicon Valley, Almaz Capital connects Eastern European/former Soviet engineering and entrepreneurial talent to the U.S. market and helps build global businesses. The firm invests inhigh-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence and blockchain applications, data engineering, cybersecurity, industrial IoT, networking architecture and infrastructure. Its investors include Cisco, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. Founded in 2008, Almaz Capital has invested in over 30 portfolio companies and has had nine exits to date.

5 contacts available at Almaz Capital.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Alexander Galitsky | Co-Founder and Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/dr-alexander-sasha-galitsky |
| Pavel Bogdanov | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/pavel-bogdanov |
| Aniruddha Nazre | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/aniruddha-nazre |
| Charles E. Ryan | General Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/charles-e-ryan |
| Daniil Stolyarov | Investment Director | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/daniil-stolyarov |

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## FAQ

### What does Charles E. Ryan invest in?

Charles E. Ryan invests primarily in Gift, Advertising and Restaurants startups, most often at Series B stage. Most of the 1 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Charles E. Ryan last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Charles E. Ryan closed in Aug 2012. Shizune tracks 1 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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