RVC will receive a billion for venture "seed"
This was reported to journalists by the Minister of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation Elvira Nabiullina.
According to her, 9 billion rubles will be allocated for the second competition. "But this does not mean that all the funds will be spent," the minister said. - A lot depends on the quality of applications." As Nabiullina noted, the main difference between the second competitive selection and the first is that companies that have created mutual funds (mutual funds) can participate in it. The results of the competition, which will select several management companies, will be announced in early June 2008.
The RVC Board of Directors also unanimously approved the development of the so-called "seed stage" of venture capital. Elvira Nabiullina stressed that this stage is necessary for the transformation of a person with a certain idea into a company with a clear business plan. Probably, in the II or III quarter of 2008, 1 billion rubles will be allocated from the budget for this project.
The head of the Department also said that the Board of Directors decided to create an audit committee that will be able to analyze the work of RVC and fund managers and monitor how effectively venture capital is spent. According to Nabiullina, the third competition for the selection of management companies may take place in late 2008 or early 2009, depending on the demand for RVC funds. According to Alexey Korobov, CEO of the Russian Venture Company, it is planned to create 8-12 venture funds with the participation of RVC funds during 2008-2009.
"The intention to allocate part of the funds of venture funds created with the participation of RVC strictly to the "seed stage" can only be welcomed, since the company's share of this stage of development in the overall structure of private direct and venture investments is quite small," says Sergey Shalmanov, an expert at CNews Analytics. outside of it, they make only occasional investments in domestic technology companies that are at the "seed stage" of development. Of course, venture funds are intended to minimize risks and maximize profits, but in Russia the situation with seed investments is quite unfavorable and it is necessary to find an acceptable solution." Thus, according to Pavel Gulkin, the author of a study on venture investments made in the Russian Federation over a 10-year period, "of all venture and direct investment transactions made in the Russian Federation in 2004, 73% were at the expansion stage, 13% were at the early stage and only 5% were at the seed stage".
Currently, in Russia, in addition to venture capital and private equity funds, which are primarily interested in companies at an early stage of development or expansion, "seed" money is provided by Rosnauka (FCNTP, ~3 billion rubles), the Fund for the Promotion of Small Forms of Enterprises in the Scientific and Technical Sphere (~1 billion rubles) and business-angels (~0.5 billion rubles). At the same time, the volume of venture and private direct investment funds in Russia in the near future will amount to at least 40 billion rubles. These are funds created jointly with RVC (30 billion rubles), RIF (~1.5 billion rubles), regional venture funds (~2.3 billion rubles), private venture funds (foreign jurisdiction, ~5 billion rubles). "It is obvious that seed and business angel investments, with the current practice of financing technology business in Russia, will be more than insufficient to meet the needs of venture and private direct investment funds operating and being formed in the country today, especially in the case of focusing on technology companies," Sergey Shalmanov said.
Recall that the real outlines of RVC began to acquire in June 2006, when the then head of the Ministry of Economic Development, German Gref, unveiled a plan for the development of a venture structure. At the end of the summer of 2006, the company's budget was approved. In May 2007, the results of the first RVC competition were summed up. The state allocated 4 billion rubles to the three winners. The main investment areas were bio- and nanotechnology, telecommunications, energy and security.
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07.03.08