Ukrainian company Reface raises $18M from PvX Partners. The goal of the funding is to attract new users

Ukrainian company Reface has raised $18 million. The round was led by PvX Partners.

“We have received more fuel to move faster. More users. More training. More movement. Many thanks to the PvX team for their support — and now we are returning to development and implementation,” the Reface team said on LinkedIn.

• This funding has a specific structure: the funds are not directed to the company’s capital, but to a specific goal — user acquisition. This means that the investment will go towards marketing and attracting new users, rather than traditional venture capital.
• This is not the first such case for the Ukrainian market. Earlier, Grammarly (regarding its Superhuman product) reported on the use of a similar model of raising capital — at that time, the company raised $1 billion from General Catalyst. General Catalyst is a partner and investor in the PvX Partners fund.
• The entire PvX Partners fund was created to support gaming and consumer app companies through unconventional financing with a focus on scaling through marketing.

For Reface, this is the largest public funding since raising $6.5 million from a16z. After the first round, the company had some difficulties attracting further investment, went through staff reductions and a change in strategy, but ultimately found new ways to scale.

A distinctive feature of the PvX Partners model is that funding goes to users and marketing and does not put pressure on the company’s core operating budget. The fund makes a profit within 2-3 years rather than waiting for an IPO.

Read more: Grammarly has become Superhuman: How will this affect the Ukrainian team? Interview with Volodymyr Lysiuk, Ukraine Site Lead