Rosinfocominvest, a government fund set up to back IT and telecom projects, now has 12 partnerships with major Russian IT players and VC funds under its belt, all set to jointly invest in IT startups.
The Russian Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, which stands behind the Rosinfocominvest project, emphasized that this represents “a fourfold increase in partnerships” from last year, when the fund, originally established in 2008 to support large IT projects, was revived after years of inactivity and refocused on helping young teams of developers.
Alongside LETA Capital, Runa Capital and IBS, which joined in 2013, the 1.45 billion ruble (about $41 million) fund will now also be planning seed investments with Open Alliance, RK-Telecom, Lanit, Prostor Capital, IQ One, MTT Group, Naumen, InfoWatch and Waarde Capital.
The new co-investors lined up despite a fairly rigid set of entry requirements, including a minimum 180 million rubles (about $5 million) in 2013 investments distributed among five different IT companies with over 20% Russian-resident ownership. Eligibility for Rosinfocominvest partnerships is limited to funds that run at least 300 million rubles (about $8.6 million) worth of assets.
Between now and January 1, 2018, when the Russian cabinet is likely to wind up Rosinfocominvest, the fund is expected to make 40-80 investments in high-tech IT companies, laying out anything between $285,000 and $2.9 million, or a maximum 50% of the total per project. It remains to be seen, however, when the fund will start the ball rolling.
