Michael Calvey

Michael “Mike” Calvey is a seasoned American investor and entrepreneur, currently serving as Chairman of Baring Ventures, a global private equity firm advising about $5 billion in assets, with major holdings in fintech and digital markets. He co‑founded Baring Vostok in the mid-1990s, pioneering early-stage investments in Russian and CIS markets.

Born in Wisconsin and raised in Oklahoma, Calvey studied computer science and business at the University of Oklahoma and finance at the London School of Economics. He began his career at Salomon Brothers in New York, focusing on energy sector M&A, before moving to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London, where he financed significant oil joint ventures in the former Soviet Union.

In 1994, Calvey co-led the First NIS Regional Fund, supported by EBRD, IFC, TIAA‑CREF, and Fidelity, later evolving into Baring Vostok Capital Partners. Facing Russia’s 1998 financial crisis, the fund still returned 4× its capital, largely due to investments in Burren Energy. Subsequent funds backed tech giants such as Yandex, Tinkoff, Ozon, and Kaspi, with Yandex alone growing to a $25 billion market cap.

In 2019, Calvey was arrested in Russia over a corporate dispute involving Vostochny Bank—a case that received extensive international media coverage. After being detained, placed under house arrest, and ultimately sentenced, his conviction was vacated by Russian courts in April 2024, and he left Russia in early 2022. In 2025, he released a memoir, "Odyssey Moscow: One American’s Journey from Russia Optimist to Prisoner of the State," chronicling his investment journey, imprisonment, and resilience.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Baring Vostok restructured to separate its Russian and international assets, forming two independent entities in 2023. Calvey now leads Baring Ventures, which holds stakes in Revolut, Kaspi, Plata, and other global fintech startups.