Maximilian von Vogau, born in 1807, had a sharp mind and commercial instinct. However, his affairs in his native Frankfurt am Main were not going well, and at the age of twenty, he decided to try his luck in the Russian Empire, which seemed promising for business.

In 1827, he moved to Moscow and got a job at a trading company run by a fellow countryman. Despite his diligence, he struggled to gather starting capital. Everything changed in 1839 when Maximilian married Emily Rabenek, the daughter of a successful businessman. Her dowry became the very capital that Vogau used to start his own business.

Together with his brother Friedrich, he opened his first business, and trade in chemical and colonial goods went well. However, being Germans, they faced restrictions for foreign entrepreneurs in the Russian Empire. In 1848, Maximilian accepted Russian citizenship, becoming Maxim, which allowed him to become a merchant of the first guild.

In 1859, he founded the trading house 'Vogau & Co' together with a merchant from Revel. His partner soon left the business, leaving Vogau as the sole owner of the company. Maximilian started trading in bleaching lime, soda, and dyes, but soon switched to tea, which was more profitable at that time. Vogau decided to focus on tea as the alcoholic market was saturated with competitors.

Tea was imported to Russia from China via Kyakhta, the center of Russian-Chinese trade. There was also a sea route from Europe, but it was state-controlled. Vogau began trading tea in Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, but logistics were expensive. In 1862, under Alexander II, merchants were allowed to purchase tea in Europe, which reduced its cost. Vogau quickly established connections with Great Britain, India, Ceylon, and China, and in 1865 opened a representative office in London.

In the 1860s, Vogau expanded his business by selling sugar, cotton yarn, cotton, and building materials. He then invested in production: calico factories, textile mills, and cement plants. In 1870, he became one of the founders of the Moscow Accounting Bank, and in 1874, he invested in the metallurgical industry, becoming a shareholder in a complex in the Southern Urals. He modernized the factories, which began producing quality steel and mastered wire-nail production.

Maximilian died in 1890, but his trade and industrial empire continued to exist.