While earning his master's, Bell co-founded his first business, Unium (Phystech College), which provided science students with course materials. In 1992, he began working at a Russian computer company called Sunrise. Bell expanded the company's operations to 10 subsidiaries, becoming one of the largest
PC retailers in Russia by the time he left in 1994. After leaving Sunrise, Bell founded and co-owned Solomon Software SEA. Solomon Software SEA was a distributor and developer arm of mid-market
ERP vendor Solomon Software in Southeast Asia. Solomon Software was later acquired by
Microsoft and is now known as
Microsoft Dynamics SL. In 2000, Bell founded
SWsoft, a privately held server
automation and virtualization software company and the then-
parent company of
Parallels, Inc. and Acronis, Inc. Bell‘s family office is located in Luxembourg as Arici Lux Sarl.
Acronis In 2001, Bell founded
Acronis as a storage management business unit of SWsoft. In 2003, Acronis was reorganized as a separate entity focused on backup and data protection software. In 2022 Acronis employs over 2,000 people worldwide, and its products are available in 26 languages in over 150 countries. Bell has served on the board of directors since 2002. From 2007 to 2011, he turned his focus on Parallels, acting as CEO of the company. During this time, he also founded a pair of venture capital funds, Runa Capital and QWave Capital. He returned as CEO of Acronis in May 2013, replacing former CEO Alex Pinchev. Chief Constructor & Founder & Executive Board Member of Acronis, SB previously served as Acronis’ Chief Executive Officer from 2013-2021. As of July 1, 2021, SB has stepped down as CEO of Acronis to focus on the company’s technology and research strategy as Chief Research Officer.
Parallels, Inc. Parallels, Inc. was initially a server automation and virtualization software unit of SWsoft before it was spun off into a separate entity and maintained its own distinct branding. In December 2007, SWsoft announced its plans to change its name to Parallels and ship both companies' products under the Parallels name. The merger was formalized in January 2008. From 2007 to 2013, Bell led the company as CEO while remaining on the board of directors at Acronis. Bell stepped down as CEO and serves as the executive chairman of the board and chief architect of Parallels, Inc. The company has more than 900 employees across offices in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia, and as of 2012 it had 5,000 customers and partners worldwide. Odin Automation, a service automation platform company owned by Parallels and founded by Beloussov, was sold to
Ingram Micro in December 2015.
Runa Capital Bell co-founded
Runa Capital in 2010 together with university mates Dmitry Chikhachev and Ilya Zubarev. The three put in around $30 million in addition to capital raised from friends, family members, private investors,
Goldman Sachs,
UBS, etc. The firm invested in Europe and USA-based startups in the fields of deep tech, open-source software, machine learning, quantum computing, finance, education, and healthcare. By 2022, Runa Capital raised around $500 million for 4 funds and made over 100 early-stage investments. Bell was also the venture partner of Qwave, a quantum computing-focused venture fund, which effectively served as the "
material science arm" of Runa Capital. Since 2013, Bell scaled down executive functions in Runa Capital to focus on Acronis. In 2023, he stepped down as the general partner and stopped his involvement with the firm.
Constructor group, formerly known as Schaffhausen Institute of Technology Bell founded
Schaffhausen Institute of Technology in 2019 in Switzerland.
Schaffhausen Institute of Technology is an international research-led university for selected areas in computer science, physics, and technology transformation. Due to slow development in Switzerland and for expansion of the market, Bell invested in the private Constructor University (formerly Jacobs) in Bremen, Germany, becoming its major shareholder. Constructor has yet to recover. ==Other ventures==