Day one of Startup Village saw deals signed or announced to the tune of $272 million, organizers have announced.
One of Startup Village’s key functions is to serve as a forum for business, where critical components of the innovation process can be connected to creating industry, jobs, and, ultimately, wealth.
More than a dozen major were agreements signed or announced at Startup Village on Tuesday, including the Biocity initiative between Skolkovo Foundation and Turku Science Park, a deal linking Skolkovo resident company Ivideon and Impulse VC, and an accord to create a SOVZOND R&D Center at the Skolkovo Innovation Center.
“This is what Startup Village is all about,” said Skolkovo vice president Alexander Chernov. “We are here to facilitate innovation. We are here to make connections. More and more companies from Russia and abroad are joining the Skolkovo ecosystem because they understand we can connect them with the domestic and international market. The deals struck at Startup Village are proof that the ecosystem is thriving.”
The biggest deal of the day was on the creation of Biocity, a leading biomedical research facility.
Skolkovo president Victor Vekselberg and Turku Science Park general director Rikumatti Levomäki inked the contract on the Open Stage at the end of the opening ceremony at Startup Village on Tuesday.
Turku Science Park is taking on the role of partner and operator of the project, according to Kirill Kaem, Skolkovo vice president and executive director of the biomed cluster. The Biocity will cover a territory of around 20,000 square meters and be financed by Finland’s Capital Development Group to the tune of 200 million euros, Kaem said.
Another headline deal was to help the R&D spinoff of Dauria Aerospace, Russia’s first private space firm, get its project Auriga off the ground.
Dauria Satellite Technologies is to receive 60 million rubles from the investment arm of state corporation Vnesheconombank.
The resident of Skolkovo’s space and telecommunications cluster intends to develop Auriga, a new satellite that takes high-resolution images of earth for optical remote sensing.
The contract was signed by Dauria Aerospace general director Sergei Ivanov and VEB chairman Andrei Morozov.