Yuri Milner is very popular among internet entrepreneurs. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, encourages him to drop by and Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga, an online games company, regards him as a trusted adviser. Among Silicon Valley’s venture capitalists, feelings are decidedly cooler.

“He came on a night attack when everyone was asleep and while you might be full of admiration for his audacity and cunning in taking advantage of that moment, we’ve woken up now and he won’t be able to do it again,” says one Valley investing veteran about Mr Milner, chairman of Mail.ru, a Russian internet company that floated in London this month.

Mr Milner, who runs Digital Sky Technologies, the investment fund of Mail.ru, came up with a solution to the initial public offering drought that has afflicted venture capital funds and technology companies. He offers them a simple way to raise fresh money, and for their employees to sell shares, without going public.