Dozens of young tech entrepreneurs left the fourth annual Startup Village elated on Friday after winning cash prizes of up to 3 million rubles ($45,000) in a competition at the culmination of the two-day event held at the Skolkovo innovation centre.
Multikubik, the maker of a handheld projector, took the first prize of 3 million rubles. Photo: Sk.ru.
A total of 26 companies made it through to the final, and were all awarded certificates for 300,000 rubles from the Skolkovo Foundation, whose aim is to support tech startups and foster a culture of entrepreneurship in Russia.
The first place – and another 3 million rubles – was awarded by the international jury to Multikubik, a resident of the Skolkovo Foundation’s IT cluster. The company makes small, portable projectors that can be used at home and outside. Multikubik was also awarded tickets to the Slush startup conference held annually in Helsinki in the autumn.
The second and third prizes both went to biomed companies: The second prize of 2 million rubles was given to AGCT, which is working on a treatment for HIV-associated tumours and HIV itself using stem cell transplants and site-specific genome editing.
Third place, and 1 million rubles, was given to Target Medicals for its new-generation tuberculosis treatment.
Each of the finalists was awarded 300,000 rubles. Photo: Sk.ru.
Pekka Viljakainen, an advisor to Skolkovo Foundation president Viktor Vekselberg and the driving force behind the Startup Village and the travelling Startup Tour that precedes it, praised the quality of the presentations and the projects themselves.
“I hope you’ve learned something new in the last two days and I hope it makes your startups successful,” he told the young tech teams assembled on the outdoor stage.
“The whole Skolkovo team – including Viktor Vekselberg – we love you. We are nothing without a great startup community, so you should applaud yourselves,” he said.
In addition, dozens of certificates for 2 million rubles were awarded by Ivan Bortnik, creator of the Foundation for Assistance to Small Innovative Enterprises in Science and Technology.
Special prizes were also awarded by several of the Skolkovo Foundation’s partners, including United Rocket and Space Corporation, which presented a copy of the watch given by the Soviet authorities to Yury Gagarin when he returned to Earth after becoming the first man in space in 1961. The corporation awarded the watch to CosmoLab, for its project to help private space companies to carry out experiments on the International Space Station.
About 20,000 people attended this year’s Startup Village, Eastern Europe’s biggest conference for tech entrepreneurs and investors.