Skolkovo Foundation signed an accreditation agreement with Russia Partners, a leading Russian private equity firm. According to the agreement, Russia partners will gain access to Skolkovo project pipeline and will be in position to invest up to US $10m in Skolkovo resident companies over the next two years. The agreement is based on successful track record of cooperation between the two organizations: Parallels Research (affiliate of one of Russia Partners’ portfolio companies) received Skolkovo resident status and $5m in grant financing from the Foundation in 2011.
Skolkovo Foundation launched the investor accreditation program in mid 2011, acknowledging the importance of professional venture investors in Skolkovo ecosystem. Skolkovo Foundation developed a matching funds program with accredited venture funds as a way to make sure its deals are market-driven. Since the launch of the accreditation program Skolkovo Foundation has financed 14 projects jointly with accredited investors. The amount invested by accredited funds exceeded $30m USD.
About the Skolkovo Foundation
The Skolkovo Foundation has the mandate from the Russian Government to help accelerate the transformation of Russia from a resource-intensive to an innovation-based economy through strategic partnerships with leading scientists and corporations (currently numbering almost 500 companies and start-ups). The Foundation aims to strengthen the links between Russian and international science, technology, education, entrepreneurship and investment communities. To achieve this objective it is overseeing the creation of the Skolkovo Innovation Centre composed of five R&D clusters, a Technopark, the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (a new graduate research University established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Skolkovo city, located near Moscow. Together these entities will establish a vibrant eco-system of technology innovation and entrepreneurship. The Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in May 2010 by the Russian Government with a grant of USD 5 billion. For more information: http://www.sk.ru/en
About Russia Partners
Russia Partners is a family of Russia-focused private equity funds managed by Siguler Guff & Company, a New York-based private equity specialist firm, with over $10 billion of private equity capital invested both in mature markets and the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Russia Partners has been a pioneer of Western-style private equity investing in Russia since 1994, having attracted and successfully invested over $1 billion in diverse sectors of Russia’s economy, with a strong and robust track record in technology investing. Russia Partners has made numerous notable and successful investment in the technology and media space, including EPAM Systems, MTV Russia, KupiVIP, Parallels, WestCall Telecommunications, DataSpace Partners, Radio-7, among others. EPAM Systems, the #1 software services and solutions provider from Central and Eastern Europe, which has grown from a $40 million revenue business at the time of Russia Partners’ investment to over $400 million today, successfully listed on the NYSE in early 2012. To further capitalize on the fast-emerging opportunities in the technology sector, Russia Partners recently launched Russia Partners Technology Fund, which will target high growth investments in the technology space in Russia and the CIS.
Contact details:
Roman Sherbakov
Skolkovo Foundation Press centre:
Tel.: +7 (495) 967 01 48, ext. 2260
Fax: +7 (495) 967 01 96
E-mail: rs@sk.ru
www.sk.ru