A monstrous 350ft long floating toy box has just been moored in the Seychelles, take a look at Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s $250million yacht. A strong supporter of Ukraine, he was an early investor on Facebook and Twitter and is now working with Jeff Bezos to reverse the aging process.

The 107.4 meter long superyacht Andromeda is one of the largest private luxury vessels in the world. Previously named Ulysses, nothing is regular in the exploration yacht. The sturdy expedition vessel has been specially designed for adventure-filled long-distance voyages in harsh sea conditions, which is well demonstrated by its sturdy construction and huge tender garage. In fact, it’s nothing but a monstrous floating toy box that can only be imagined by someone with a strong passion for adrenaline-filled adventures.

The Andromeda was built for New Zealand billionaire Graeme Hart, known for his huge fleet of superyachts. Built by Kleven Maritime AS of Norway, Andromeda was launched in 2015 and was finally delivered to Hart the following year.

While Andromeda’s exterior was designed by Marin Teknikk AS and Oscar Mike Limited, the vessel’s interior was designed by H2 Yacht Design. The superyacht has a gross tonnage of 5937.0 GT and a beam of 18.0 m. For robustness in the face of harsh conditions, the vessel features a steel hull and an aluminum and steel superstructure.

Andromeda is powered by six Caterpillar DE 3516 diesel engines which give the superyacht a top speed of 16.4 knots (approximately 19 mph) and a cruising range of 8,500 nautical miles (9,800 miles). In addition, there are three Caterpillar C18 550 kW electric generators for power generation.

The gigantic yacht was equipped in Germany by the Finnish company Europlan. It can accommodate up to 30 guests in 15 cabins, with 30 crew members. Facilities include a spa which includes a jacuzzi and swimming pool, gym, cinema, airstrip and helicopter hangar.

But it’s the ship’s large toy collection that makes it truly unique, which includes six motorcycles, two ATVs, a helicopter, a double-hulled 50-knot support boat, an amphibious Sealegs RIB and a landing craft complete. It also has two specially fitted cranes on the foredeck. After being owned by Graeme Hart for a very short time, the Andromeda was put up for sale and was finally sold in 2017 to an anonymous and well-known buyer from Ulysses in Andromeda. Although ownership has never been officially revealed, many industry insiders believe it was purchased by Russian-born entrepreneur Yuri Milner.

The current location of Andromeda fuels speculation
Milner’s official spokesperson categorically denied claims that the superyacht was owned by a renowned venture capitalist, which was confirmed by Burgess Yachts’ denial of ownership. However, there are a few reasons to believe otherwise. In 2019 Milner was spotted on board the superyacht while in Singapore and is believed to have been accompanied by a team from Burgess Yachts. Moreover, according to public records,

Andromeda is registered with a company called Proxima Y Ltd which shares a post office box in the Cayman Islands with Milner’s DST Global. A Twitter account that follows superyachts owned by Russian businessmen pointed out that the superyacht had anchored near the Seychelles. Although Milner is not on the sanctions list announced after Russia invaded Ukraine, some believe the superyacht was sent to calmer waters as a safety measure in case the man’s name businessman of Russian origin would be on the list.

Who is Yuri Milner?
Milner is a Russian-Israeli entrepreneur considered one of the world’s most influential information technology investors. His net worth is pegged at $3.3 billion by Forbes. Born on November 11, 1961 into a family of Russian intellectuals, Milner studied theoretical physics at Moscow State University. After graduating in 1985, he began his business career selling gray market DOS computers in the Soviet Union. However, this angered his father, and he decided to move to the United States in the early 1990s to move to the United States to receive an MBA from Wharton. After spending a few years in banking and serving as CEO of a stock brokerage firm, Milner decided to start an Internet company in Russia after reading a Morgan Stanley report on online businesses. Founded by Milner in 1998, Mail.Ru began as a simple email service and grew into the largest “Russian-focused” internet company.

An investor in some of the biggest tech companies, including Facebook
After making his fortune from his internet company, Yuri Milner launched a venture capital and private equity firm in 2009 as DST Global, which now has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London , Beijing and Hong Kong. That same year, he met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and bought a 1.96% stake in Facebook for $200 million. According to NY Timesover the years, DST Global has become one of the world’s leading technology investors with its portfolio consisting of names such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Airbnb, Spotify, Alibaba and other leading internet companies.

Partners with Jeff Bezos to fund anti-aging research
Milner has expressed support for the scientific community and for funding research and development, which could be attributed to his background as a physicist. However, many people were surprised when Milner joined Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos in funding Altos Labs, a startup that researches the potential of cell reprogramming technology to develop anti-aging techniques. . The company was incorporated in the United States and the United Kingdom last year and has raised nearly $270 million in 2021, helping it recruit top scientists in the field of biotechnology.

One of the few Russian businessmen who supported Ukraine during the war
While most of Russia’s top businessmen and oligarchs have found their names on the sanctions list thanks to their close relationship with President Putin, Yuri Milner has managed to avoid it altogether so far, says Bloomberg. This is despite his name being included in the US Treasury Department’s 2017 CAATSA report which included 96 people of Russian descent who “have an estimated net worth of $1 billion or more”. However, it turned out that the report was simply copied from Forbes’ 2017 World’s Billionaires list.

In 2020, Forbes magazine reclassified Yuri Milner from the Russian list to the Israeli list of billionaires. Yuri and Julia Milner’s non-profit foundation, DST Global, and the Breakthrough Prize Foundation have also pledged millions of dollars to support humanitarian aid for refugees fleeing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The foundation has also issued several statements condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.