Nizhny Novgorod-based investment company Open Innovations, the RVC Seed Fund and DI Group, a Tomsk-based high tech group, have set up a new “fund-accelerator” for hardware startups in Nizhny Novgorod – following a similar initiative earlier this year in Tomsk, Siberia.
The fund is starting with 33.4 million rubles (approximately $585,000 at the current exchange rate) under management. The RVC Seed fund, established by RVC, Russia’s fund of funds for innovation, contributed the lion’s share of the initial investment, 25 million rubles, with plans to bring additionally up to 50 million by the end of this year.
The “venture fund-accelerator” enjoys the support of Singapore’s hardware accelerator HaxAsia.
Up to 8 million rubles (approximately $140,000 at the current exchange rate) will be invested in each startup.
The startups will attend a six-month acceleration program and receive assistance to launch a crowdfunding campaign. The best and brightest will take part in HaxAsia’s program in Singapore and the United States in a bid to find partners and raise next-stage funding from international investors.
Russia’s first hardware accelerator launched in Kazan, Tatarstan, in early 2014.
Sources: DK.RU, Marchmont News
