The Skolkovo Foundation and 11 of its resident startups have sought to gain a key foothold in Southeast Asia, as a road show to Singapore brought opportunities for forging new partnerships and cementing existing ties.
The motivation behind the trip to the Echelon Asia Summit, the continent’s biggest innovations event held June 22-26, was twofold: It provided Skolkovo companies with the chance to expand eastwards into vital tech markets, while the foundation offered Asian startups access to the Russian market.
“Most of the companies that took part in the road show had no experience in the region, while three companies – Ivideon, SPB TV and SDN Video – looked into the possibility of expanding their business in Asia,” said Skolkovo vice president Igor Bogachev, who led the delegation as executive director of the IT cluster.
“The other companies had two aims: To gauge interest in their products and, as far as possible, find potential sales partners in the region, and also to find investors and discover what support programs are on offer in Singapore to access the southeast Asian market,” he added.
Ten IT cluster companies took part in the road show, as well as one from the energy-efficient cluster. They were: Ivideon, 3DiVi, Nanosemantics, Flexbby Solutions, Artquant, SPB TV, BoardMaps, Intelligent Social Systems, Logistic IT, SDNvideo - and Bravo Motors of the energy cluster.
Each had its own area of the Skolkovo stand at the conference, which took place at the 123,000-square-meter Singapore Expo Hall.
As for the Skolkovo Foundation itself, the priority was to get acquainted with Singapore’s innovations ecosystem to discover how best to support Russian startups, added Bogachev.
The Skolkovo vice president was a speaker at the Echelon Asia Summit and took part in a panel discussion entitled “Exploring opportunities in Europe,” in which he explained the attractive investment opportunities available in Russia due to the recent devaluation of the ruble.
Ivideon already has a big presence in Asia and sought to expand further at Echelon. Photo: sk.ru
“The interest in Russia from Southeast Asia is high. The local community and media are interested in dialog,” Bogachev said.
During the trip, Skolkovo signed a partnership agreement with hardware startup investment fund HaxAsia to assist resident companies in their efforts to enter the Southeast Asian market. Meetings were also held with Singapore’s first business accelerator JFDI, which boasts around $200 million in venture capital and invests solely in international projects, Bogachev said.
Some Skolkovo residents are considering applying for JFDI’s Go Global program, which helps matured startups enter the market, Bogachev said.
Another promising avenue of cooperation was provided by the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), Singapore’s answer to Skolkovo. ACE was set up in 2003 by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to provide fertile ground for innovation to take root. Skolkovo’s exact interactions with ACE remain the subject of negotiations.
Skolkovo’s residents sized up well against companies from more traditional tech markets in Asia at the conference.
“I can say that our startups were very worthy participants,” Bogachev said. “Our residents at the conference found lots of potential partners for entry into the markets of various countries,” he said.
The partnership agreement with HaxAsia is signed. Photo: sk.ru
But should Skolkovo firms build a presence in Asia, Bogachev warned it might not all be plain sailing, an opinion formed after meeting Singapore-based companies that had Russian roots.
“The consensus I can share from those meetings is that working and creating a business with state support in Singapore is a comfortable endeavor, but living there on a permanent basis can be tough.”
Summing up the conditions available for companies in Singapore, Bogachev noted the following: “Singapore is neutral and offers more comprehensive support in organizing full-scale presence in Asia than, say, Hong Kong. Firms should explore the possibility of setting up their global headquarters there, taking into account the tax treaties it has in place with the majority of countries, and the low general taxation rate.”