7 jsc rvk purpose of creating results of activity. Russian venture company Creation of a Technical Committee for AI Standardization

Russian venture company- OJSC "Russian Venture Company" (OJSC "RVC") was established in accordance with the Order of the Government Russian Federation dated June 7, 2006 No. 838-r in order to stimulate the creation in Russia of its own venture investment industry, the development of innovative sectors of the economy and the promotion of Russian science-intensive technological products to the international market.

Authorized capital RVC OJSC amounts to 28,225,879,400 rubles.

Activities

The main objectives of RVC's activities are: to stimulate the creation in Russia of its own venture investment industry and to significantly increase financial resources venture funds.

The role of RVC OJSC in the innovation system is the role of the state fund of venture funds, through which the state stimulates venture investments and provides financial support for the high-tech sector as a whole.

RVC's investment activities are aimed at attracting private Russian and foreign investors to innovative segments of the Russian economy, as well as at developing new investment instruments for the national venture capital market.

This area of ​​activity is implemented through the creation of funds based on public-private partnerships. RVC pays special attention to knowledge-intensive sectors with a low presence of private capital, which are important for the balanced innovative development of the country.

Management

The Federal Agency for State Property Management exercises the powers general meeting shareholders of the open joint stock company Russian Venture Company (RVC OJSC), 100% of which is owned by the Russian Federation.

General directors of RVC:

• from December 2016 - Alexander Borisovich Povalko
• from April 28, 2009 to 2016 - Igor Agamirzyan.
• until March 2009 - Alexey Korobov.

Oblast of investments

The priority areas of investment of venture funds created with the participation of RVC are determined in accordance with the list of critical technologies approved by the President of the Russian Federation:

• Security and Counter Terrorism;
• Living systems (understood as biotechnology, medical technology and medical equipment);
• Industry of nanosystems and materials;
• Information and telecommunication systems;
• Rational nature management;
• Transport, aviation and space systems;
• Energy and energy saving.

Foundations

The total number of funds formed by RVC JSC reached 27, their total size - 51.3 billion rubles. The share of RVC JSC is 26.8 billion rubles. The number of innovative companies invested by RVC funds has reached 202. The total amount of invested funds is 17.8 billion rubles.

With the participation of capital, by December 2017, RVC formed 26 funds. Their total amount was about 35.1 billion rubles. The share of RVC in the established funds is 22.5 billion rubles, the number of portfolio companies approved for investment by RVC funds has reached 217.

The total amount of funds approved for investment in innovative companies amounted to about 17.1 billion rubles (excluding projects from which the withdrawal was made).

By December 2016, 21 funds were created with the participation of RVC capital (including two funds in foreign jurisdictions), their total size is 32.3 billion rubles. Share of RVC JSC - 19.9 billion rubles

The organization informs that in 2016 the number of innovative companies approved for investment by RVC funds reached 194. The total amount of funds approved for investment is 17.5 billion rubles.

Seed Investment Fund

Biofund RVK

In June 2010, RVC approved the concepts of the Biopharmaceutical Cluster Fund (RVC BioFund). In early 2011, RVC Biopharmaceutical Investments was established.

The initial value of the "Biofund" was 500 million rubles. (about $ 16 million) with the planned increase to 1.5 billion rubles. ($ 48.6 million).

Biofond is focused on investments not only in manufacturing biopharmaceutical enterprises, but also in service and infrastructure companies offering information, analytical and consulting services in medicine, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology.

RVC Cluster Fund of Information and Telecommunication Technologies, Embedded Intelligent Systems, Mechatronics and Robotics

According to the head of RVC, companies in the domestic IT sector do not experience a big shortage of investments from venture capital funds, since in addition to RVC, almost all venture investors in Russia work with IT companies.

• On April 13, 2011, for the first time, RVC officially confirmed its intention to create a trust fund for investing in the IT industry.

The new fund will be called the RVC Cluster Fund of Information and Telecommunication Technologies, Embedded Intelligent Systems, Mechatronics and Robotics, and its capital, according to Andrey Vvedensky, Director of the RVC Program and Projects Department, will amount to up to 2 billion rubles. This amount is comparable to the total volume of RVC investments in 2010, which amounted to 2.7 billion rubles.

The interests of the new foundation will be extremely broad. As examples of projects where investments could be directed, the top managers of RVC, in addition to industrial and household robotics, name IT systems for managing low-profit oil wells and the creation of "smart houses" (in which energy management systems can reduce the cost of housing and communal services by 30-50% ). However, they say, the fund's investments will most likely not be limited to these areas.

RVC Director Igor Agamirzyan said that the registration of the fund as a subsidiary of the Russian Venture "company" can be expected at the end of 2011, and its financial content "will be phased, as the projects are approved." The first investments of the "fund for robots" will be made in the first months of 2012.

It is important to note that, unlike most venture funds created by RVC, a large co-investor will not be invited to the cluster “fund for robots”. According to Agamirzyan, "the fund will not be a leading investor at the project level, it will co-invest where there is already private capital."

The head of RVC speaks of the investment goals of the newly created fund as "horizontal" - capable of affecting all sectors of the economy. Therefore, it is difficult to estimate the volume of the “robotics, mechatronics and intelligent systems” market (see Industrial Robotics).

Regional Venture Funds for Small Enterprises in Science and Technology

In June 2010, the Board of Directors of OJSC Russian Venture Company approved the concept of the RVC Infraund. At the beginning of 2011, the company with limited liability RVC Infrastructure Investments (RVC Infrafund) has started its work.

The key task of RVC Infrafund is to develop the market specialized services and services required by technology companies for the efficient conduct of their core business and accelerated development, product promotion in the domestic and foreign markets. The new infrastructure will provide innovative entrepreneurs with consulting services in marketing, finance, law, intellectual property, investor relations and others.

Venture fund for the project "Human Resources for the Digital Economy"

The fund is created in pursuance of the federal project "" of the national program "Digital Economy of the Russian Federation" of the Government of the Russian Federation for the development of promising educational technologies using the best world technological solutions to improve the efficiency and accessibility of education. As part of the Fund's activities, it is planned to develop Russian technology companies in the field of education with their subsequent expansion abroad, as well as the transfer of world educational technologies to Russia.

The total volume of the fund will be 7 billion rubles due to the provision of RVC from federal budget in 2019-2021 budget investments with an increase in the equivalent part of the participation of the Russian Federation in the authorized capital of RVC. The term of the Fund will be 10 years with the possibility of a double extension for a period of 1 year. The Fund will be organized in the form of an investment partnership, while the managing partner of the Fund will be determined as a result of an open selection procedure.

Within the framework of the Fund's activities, it is planned to organize acceleration activities, which will expand the funnel potentially successful projects and stimulate the development of new technological solutions.

History

2020

Identifying research centers and companies to fund end-to-end technology development

On January 10, 2020, RVC determined the winners of the competitive selection of leading research centers (LRCs) and leading companies in the development of products, services and platform solutions based on "end-to-end" digital technologies... RVC will allocate 2.8 billion rubles to the winners of the tenders. RUB 2 billion - for PERSONS, for leading companies - RUB 792 million. More details.

2019

Where and how much did RVC invest in 2019

RVC investments in portfolio companies in 2019 amounted to 1.3 billion rubles, and the total volume of exit transactions reached 2.3 billion rubles, an increase of 35% compared to 2018. The Russian Venture Company announced the annual results of its activities on January 27, 2020.

By the beginning of 2020, RVC includes 29 venture funds, including the New Industry Ventures fund, created jointly by Gazprom Neft and co-investors in 2019, a fund with the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation in the pharmaceutical and medical industry, and a fund with the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation to support promising educational technologies. RVC's other partners in creating new funds include the investment company Terra VC, the State Transport Leasing Company (GTLK) and Russian Railways.

In 2019, funds with the participation of RVC capital approved the provision of investments to 24 companies in the amount of 1.4 billion rubles, including 6 projects in the amount of 573 million rubles. During the year, there were 24 exits of RVC funds from portfolio companies.

By the beginning of 2020, the portfolio of RVC funds includes 180 companies. At the same time, 270 companies received investments from RVC funds at the beginning of 2020. The volume of funds created with the participation of RVC capital increased by 32% at the end of 2019 and reached 64.4 billion rubles.

Approval of a digital transformation strategy

On December 19, 2019, RVC informed TAdviser about the approval of the digital transformation strategy.

The company's strategy is calculated until 2021. Its main goal is to create a transparent and convenient system of relationships between the company and partners - from investment teams of venture funds to start-ups participating in RVC accelerators and NTI projects.

The digital transformation strategy, as indicated by the company, includes, in particular, such areas as information exchange between RVC and venture capital funds, aggregation and monitoring of data on funds and portfolio companies, management of relations with recipients of RVC support measures, partners and experts.

In 2019, in addition to RVC, many other state-owned companies and state corporations adopted digital transformation strategies.

Choosing Unicorn Capital Partners to manage a fund of high-tech medical projects

On December 18, 2019, RVC informed Zdrav.Expert that it had identified the winner of the selection for fund management for high-tech medical projects.

The highest number of points based on the results of the open selection was scored by the Unicorn Capital Partners investment team. More details.

Public discussion of draft preliminary national standards in the field of IoT and IIoT

Creation of a Technical Committee for AI Standardization

On May 21, 2019 it became known that on the basis of the Russian Venture Company (RVC), the Technical Committee (TC) for the standardization of artificial intelligence (AI) will begin work. In his area of ​​responsibility will be issues related to the normative and technical regulation of the applied use of AI technologies. More details

2018

Development of a Venture and Direct Investment Market Development Strategy

The purpose of the agreement is the implementation of projects and programs in the field of NTI and digital development in the city, the development of venture capital investment and the ecosystem in St. Petersburg, as well as the popularization of technological entrepreneurship.

Cooperation will include, among other things, the development and implementation of joint technology competitions for NTI. Also on the agenda are holding thematic events of the all-Russian and international level, including project sessions, attracting venture capital investors to the region, participating in the development of the urban startup community and innovative infrastructure.

2017

Year results: 26 funds, investments for 14 project companies

As of the end of 2017, 26 funds were formed with the participation of RVC capital, the total size of which was about 35.1 billion rubles. At the end of 2017, the main sectoral areas of investment of funds formed with the participation of RVC capital were medical technologies and pharmaceuticals (30%), information technology and the Internet (29%), energy (10%).

During the year, 11 project companies were approved for investment for a total amount of 438.4 million rubles. In general, in the area of ​​investment activity, RVC funds in 2017 approved the provision of investments to 14 project companies for a total amount of 507.82 million rubles. The total amount of funds approved for investment reached 17.1 billion rubles.

In 2017, 6 exits from portfolio companies of funds with the participation of RVC capital took place.

In addition, in 2017, the RVC development strategy for 2017-2030 was approved, which defines the mission, strategic goal and tools that ensure the work of the company's key areas of activity: the development and implementation of financial and non-financial instruments for the development of the venture capital market and technological entrepreneurship, stimulation creation in Russia of its own venture investment industry and acting as the Project Office of the National Technology Initiative (NTI).

The strategic goal of RVC is planned to be realized mainly through the creation of new funds with the involvement of professional investors, investments in existing funds, technology companies, and work with portfolio companies of funds.

RVC's international activities in 2017 were aimed at creating a positive attitude towards Russian innovations on the global market, the integration of technology companies into global technological chains and the globalization of the Russian venture capital market. The geography included developed markets in Europe and North America, as well as technology hubs - Singapore, South Korea, Israel and others.

At the end of 2017, the network of RVC foreign partners consisted of 1,500 organizations of the innovation ecosystem from 40 countries of the world and included government agencies, corporations interested in new technologies, universities and tech transfer centers, government development institutions and venture funds. The export revenue of portfolio companies of RVC funds for the three quarters of 2017 amounted to 1.88 billion rubles.

Agreement with the Venture Committee of the All China Association for Financial Promotion of Science and Technology

As part of the partnership, a Russian-Chinese working group will be created. Its main tasks will be joint preparation and implementation of programs and projects, as well as monitoring and analysis of cooperation activities.

RVC and Skolkovo create three venture capital funds with a volume of at least 6.6 billion rubles

According to the terms of the June 2017 agreement, RVC's investments in each fund will amount to RUB 1.5 billion. The attracted external co-investment will amount to at least RUB 0.5 billion. during the first 12 months of operation of each fund, as well as an additional 0.2 billion rubles. over the next 6 months. Thus, the total volume of funds will reach at least 6.6 billion rubles.

Foundations are created in three industry areas: information technology, biomedicine and industrial technology. Investment priorities were developed taking into account the interests of implementing the roadmaps of the National Technology Initiative, as well as stimulating the commercialization of research and development results of the companies participating in the Skolkovo Foundation.

The funds intend to invest in Russian technology companies capable of becoming world leaders in their market segments. The share of such investments must be at least 50%. It is planned that the total number of companies invested by each fund will be at least eight, including early stage projects and mature companies. At the same time, the volume of investments in each company will not exceed 10% of the total volume of investment obligations. The management company of the funds was Skolkovo - Venture Investments LLC, a joint company of RVC and Skolkovo.

2016: Alexander Povalko is appointed the CEO of RVC

Cooperation was to be carried out in several directions:

• educational programs for entrepreneurs engaged in high technology and innovation;
• programs aimed at supporting and accelerating the development of small innovative companies, including - joint organization and holding investment competitions and other events that contribute to the implementation of this task;
• cooperation in the creation and development of a system for collecting and preparing analytical information on investment activity in the Russian venture capital market (similar to the MoneyTree ™ study published by PwC jointly with the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters in the USA);
• rendering consulting support small innovative and technology companies, as well as Russian and foreign venture funds investing in innovative and technological projects.

To implement the Memorandum of Understanding, PwC and RVC created a working group that will prepare recommendations on joint events, programs and projects, their implementation, as well as monitor and analyze cooperation under the Memorandum.

Igor Rubenovich Agamirzyan, CEO of the Russian Venture Company, noted:

“When transferring the country to an innovative path of development, we are in dire need of mastering the best practices of the international venture capital market and innovative technological entrepreneurship, access to the know-how of this business. In Russia, in a short time, all the necessary competencies and tools should be concentrated both to attract venture capital investments and to conduct them independently. However, this is not all. We also urgently need the emergence of high-quality and affordable - at a price and throughout the country - consulting services of the widest range for Russian innovative companies. This is where interacting with colleagues at PricewaterhouseCoopers can be very helpful. We are confident that the Memorandum signed with PwC is only the first step in our long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation. "

Audit of the Accounts Chamber

As a result of consideration of the results of the control event "Comprehensive verification of the effectiveness of managing property contributions in the Russian Federation" on July 16, 2010, the Board of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation chaired by Sergey Stepashin identified a number of systemic problems that directly affect the efficiency of RVC's functioning in the field of innovation economy and the formation of a venture capital environment.

As stated in the message on the official website of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation, the planned control and indicative indicators of RVC activities for 2009-2010. are not balanced with the goals and related targets of social economic development Russia, as defined in the Concept of long-term socio-economic development of the Russian Federation until 2020 and other strategic planning documents, including the Strategy for the development of science and innovation in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2015.

In particular, there is no system of indicators characterizing the effectiveness of the use of property contributions of the Russian Federation to the authorized capital of innovative companies. As established by verification, the main part financial resources RVC is not invested in venture projects or innovative enterprises, and placed on deposits in banks. As a result, the Collegium decided to send the submission of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation to the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, as well as the report on the results of the audit to the chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

BrightSource Energy Investment

The British RVC fund - Russian Venture Capital I LP - has invested $ 10 million in BrightSource Energy, a solar energy company.

Joining the IVP XIII venture fund

In September 2010, RVC announced that it had closed the deal to join the late-stage Institutional Venture Partners XIII (IVP XIII) venture fund. IVP formed a new fund in the amount of $ 750 million with a focus on technology innovative companies of late stage of development in August 2010. RVC's investments in fund IVP XIII amounted to $ 10 million.The transaction was made through the Russian Venture Capital II LP fund, which was registered on June 25, 2010. v .

“The joining of RVC to a late-stage international fund will allow achieving several strategically important goals at once,” said Yan Ryazantsev, Director of the RVC Investment and Expertise Department. - Obtaining information on the methods and techniques for the formation of late stage venture funds; access to extensive information about the most relevant ("hot") deals on the venture capital market; development of a partner network by building relationships with other investors in the formed venture fund; attracting fund partners to the Russian technology market as strategic co-investors and much more. "

Joining an international venture fund is a popular way to improve investment qualifications, says Yuri Ammosov, scientific director of the Innovation Institute at MIPT. Singapore, he said, has invested venture money in this way for 15 years and "it helped him." "IVP is one of the largest venture capital funds and getting there is quite difficult, so this is a great achievement for RVC," the expert adds.

Resigned. Together with him, the financial director Olga Golikova and the executive director Oksana Artyukhova left the company. Alexey Vladimirovich Kuzmin was appointed the new general director of RVC, who had been in this position for several days.

Russia Moscow

Agamirzyan Igor Rubenovich (General Director, Chairman of the Board of RVC OJSC)

RVC OJSC (RVC) - the state fund of funds and the development institute of the Russian Federation, one of the key instruments of the state in building a national innovation system. The headquarters is in Moscow.

RVC was established in accordance with the order of the Government of the Russian Federation dated June 7, 2006 No. 838-r.

Owners and management

RVC is 100% owned by the Russian Federation, the size of the authorized capital is 30 billion rubles.

Chairman of the Board of Directors:

• Vardanyan Ruben Karlenovich - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Troika Dialog Group of Companies (independent director).

Members of the Board of Directors:

• Agamirzyan Igor Rubenovich - General Director of RVC OJSC;
• Guriev Sergey Maratovich - rector of the non-state educational institution Russian School of Economics (independent director);
• Yigal Erlikh - Head of the Yozma Venture Program (independent director);
• Oskolkov Ivan Valerievich - Director of the Department of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia;
• Alexey Sitnikov - Head of the International Cooperation Department Non-profit organization Development Fund for the Center for the Development and Commercialization of New Technologies (Skolkovo Fund);
• Udaltsov Yuri Arkadievich - Member of the Management Board, Director for Innovative Development of JSC RUSNANO.

Management Board of RVC OJSC

The board consists of seven people:

• Agamirzyan Igor Rubenovich, General Director - Chairman of the Management Board;
• Potapov Alexander Evgenievich, Deputy General Director - Executive Director;
• Nikolay Lvovich Korolev, Deputy General Director - Operations Director;
• Andrey Vvedensky, Director of the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development;
• Kuznetsov Evgeniy Borisovich, Director of the Department for Promotion of Innovations and Social Programs;
• Ryazantsev Yan Vladimirovich, Director of the Investment Department;
• Tsygankov Mikhail Arnoldovich, Chief Investment Portfolio Manager.

Activity

RVC invests funds through private venture funds created in conjunction with private investors. The total number of funds formed by RVC has reached twelve (including 2 funds in foreign jurisdictions), their size - 26.1 billion rubles. The share of RVC OJSC is over RUB 16 billion.

The priority areas for investment of venture funds formed with the participation of RVC are determined in accordance with the List of Critical Technologies approved by the President of the Russian Federation, which includes:

• security and counter terrorism;
• living systems (understood as biotechnology, medical technology and medical equipment);
• industry of nanosystems and materials;
• information and telecommunication systems;
• rational nature management;
• transport, aviation and space systems;
• energy and energy saving.

• ZPIF OR (V) and VTB - Venture Fund (3.061 billion rubles);
• ZPIF OR (V) and Bioprocess Capital Ventures (RUB 3 billion);
• ZPIF OR (V) And Maxwell Biotech (3.061 billion rubles);
• ZPIF OR (V) And "Leader - Innovations" (3 billion rubles);
• ZPIF OR (V) And Tamir Fishman Si I Ji Venture Fund (2 billion rubles);
• ZPIF OR (V) and S-Group Ventures (1.8 billion rubles);
• ZPIF OR (V) I "New Technologies" (3.061 billion rubles);
• ZPIF OR (V) and "RVC Seed Investment Fund" (2 billion rubles),
• LLC Infrastructural Investments of RVC (500 million rubles, it is planned to increase the authorized capital to 2 billion rubles);
• LLC Biopharmaceutical Investments of RVC (500 million rubles, it is planned to increase the authorized capital to 1.5 billion rubles);

Foundations in foreign jurisdictions

• Russian Venture Capital I LP;
• RVC IVFRT LP.

At the beginning of June 2012, RVC funds had invested 118 innovative companies, including the manufacturer of solar energy stations BrightSource, the IP-telephony project "Symbiotel", "inertial navigation systems" by Innalabs, manufacturer and integrator of satellite monitoring and transport management systems OJSC " Russian navigation technologies ", equipment for seismic exploration of the company" Seismoshelf ", biotechnology company OncoMax and others. The total amount of invested funds is 10.2 billion rubles.

In 2012, RVC, together with the Fund for Assistance to the Development of Small Forms of Enterprises, the Fund for Infrastructure and Educational Programs Rusnano and the Russian Bank for Support of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses (SME Bank), established Russia's first rating of innovative companies, TechUspech.

RVC signed 27 cooperation agreements with the regions of the Russian Federation.

Criticism

In July 2010, the Board of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation reviewed the results of a comprehensive audit of the effectiveness of the management of property contributions in the Russian Federation. The press release of the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation on the meeting of the board says:

“In general, the planned control and indicative performance indicators of RVC OJSC for 2009-2010 are not balanced with the goals and corresponding target indicators of the socio-economic development of the Russian Federation, defined in the Concept of long-term socio-economic development of the Russian Federation until 2020 and other strategic documents. planning, including in the Strategy for the Development of Science and Innovation in the Russian Federation for the period up to 2015. There is no system of indicators characterizing the effectiveness of the use of property contributions of the Russian Federation to the authorized capital of innovative companies. The main part of the financial resources of RVC OJSC is not invested in venture projects or innovative enterprises, but is placed on deposits with banks. "

According to the supervisory authority, RVC preferred to direct funds not to core activities, but to deposits in banks: over the specified period, 5.45 billion rubles were invested in venture projects. from the authorized capital of RVC, and the remaining funds, more than 25 billion rubles, remained in bank deposits.

see also

Notes (edit)

Links

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

The head of the Russian Venture Company (RVC) Igor Agamirzyan stepped onto the huge stage of the Open Innovations Forum, one of the main technology shows in Russia, and began to talk casually and slightly imposingly about how to develop innovations. “While we are doing something for the day after tomorrow, there are still hopes for success. It's like shooting at a moving target - if we don't shoot ahead of the curve, we are guaranteed to miss, ”Agamirzyan reasoned. Six months later, he himself was at gunpoint, and in June 2016, seven years after his appointment, he resigned.

Why did Agamirzyan have to leave his post, while the government was thinking about liquidating the oldest laboratory of venture capitalists?

Sowing stage

At a State Council meeting in February 2006, a controversy erupted over the future of venture capital investment in Russia. The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economic Development Andrei Sharonov and the Minister of Communications Leonid Reiman argued. Sharonov believed that the state venture fund should be universal, Reiman defended his position: focus only on information technology. Vladimir Putin put an end to the dispute: “I don't care: either IT (industry-specific) or general. But this year. " So the decision was made to create a Russian Venture Company.

RVC was conceived as a fund of funds, with the task of creating 10-15 venture capital funds to invest in startups. RVC invested money together with private investors, receiving 50% minus 1 share in funds, it did not invest directly in the company. The idea did not arise from scratch. For example, in Israel, a similar state fund Yozma with a volume of $ 100 million was already operating.At the time of Yozma's creation in 1993, there was practically no venture market in the country, and 10 years later there were already 60 venture funds with a total volume of $ 10 billion, large corporations Cisco, IBM came , Intel, Microsoft. The state fund itself was privatized back in 1997 and successfully exited most of the projects.

In Russia, they hoped for the same success and even invited one of the founders of Yozma, Yigal Ehrlich, to the RVC board of directors. The Russian state fund received 30 billion rubles ($ 1.1 billion) under management. The new structure was headed by Alexei Korobov, who previously headed the staff of the State Duma Committee on Budget and Taxes and worked as the first deputy chairman of the RFBR. Korobov held his post for only two years. “I see no support either from the Ministry of Economic Development or from the [RVC] board of directors,” Korobov explained the decision to resign. His departure was provoked, among other things, by the claims of the Prosecutor General's Office.

By the beginning of 2009, RVC invested only 15% of its money in funds, the overwhelming part of the funds lay on deposits in banks - RVC earned about 3 billion rubles on interest, Korobov said. The Prosecutor General's Office considered such activities ineffective: the funds are dead weight, not invested. Moreover, law enforcement agencies have complaints against several funds. And it was decided to adjust the operating principles of the venture state fund.

Deposits stage

In April 2009, a new CEO appeared at RVC - Igor Agamirzyan. He managed to work both in Russian science and in large Western IT companies Microsoft and EMC. “He came to RVC from world business with the idea to head the headquarters of the technological revolution, to build a venture economy in Russia,” says one of Agamirzyan's acquaintances. With his arrival, the concept changed: RVC began not only to invest in funds, but also began to popularize investments in innovative projects. “Startups do not grow in an open field: they need to be fertilized, watered, and looked after. It is quite clear where this topic of popularization comes from, ”says Alexei Soloviev, managing director of the venture capital fund Prostor Capital.

Agamirzyan has repeatedly said that there are many ideas in Russia, but it is impossible to turn them into business. “Investments of the development institute in business development ultimately bring more profit to everyone in the venture capital market,” he says in an interview with Forbes. The team, led by the new CEO, got down to business with enthusiasm: they began to work on the development of the legislative framework, created their own network of private investors and companies, held conferences and competitions for startups. “We still lacked competencies, management teams, and a regulatory framework,” says Oleg Fomichev, deputy minister of the Ministry of Economic Development.

At the same time, RVC continued to invest in funds, but after the claims of the Prosecutor General's Office, a clause appeared in the contracts on providing complete information on the movement of funds. In total, in 2010, funds with the participation of RVC invested 2.7 billion rubles. However, the investments of the state-owned company lagged behind the business plan. For example, in 2010, at the seed stage, 20 companies were invested instead of the planned 25, at later - 38 instead of 53. This raised questions from the Accounts Chamber: according to the calculations of auditors, over the entire period of its existence, RVC has invested in funds only 23% of the authorized capital - about 7 billion rubles, the rest of the money was on long-term deposits. In the next two years, the rate of investment increased slightly: in 2011, funds with the participation of RVC invested 2.3 billion rubles, in 2012 - 2.9 billion rubles.

Why did RVC keep funds on deposits? As Agamirzyan explains, the money was reserved for funds, but was transferred to them only as projects were prepared. “This is how LP works all over the world. Deposits in banks cannot be considered free funds, ”Agamirzyan said. According to him, the money was placed in banks on condition that it will be used for loans to small and medium-sized businesses. “RVC earned on this and redistributed money to promote the technology business,” explains Agamirzyan. However, Forbes' interlocutor, close to the RVC board of directors, says that only half of the amount was placed on such conditions.

Growth and shrinkage stage

In 2013, there was a peak in venture capital investment in Russia: by the end of the year, the Russian market moved into second place in Europe and fifth in the world. “When RVC was created, its money was half of the market, and by 2013 a lot of money came in, and RVC funds began to occupy about 5% of the market,” says Fomichev. According to RVC, at that time there were 173 venture capital funds in Russia, which managed capital of about $ 5.2 billion. In Russia, the first deals were closed by the famous American fund Accel Partners, and Intel was actively investing.

Has RVC fulfilled its function? As sources in RVC and several venture funds told Forbes, the government had the idea to change the CEO of RVC just in 2013. “He didn’t suit many. Little did real business, a lot of events and PR. At the same time, the company had huge amounts of money in its accounts, which gave no peace to anyone, ”says a partner of one of the venture funds, who was offered to head the state-owned company. The claims against Agamirzyan were the same: RVC is too small and invests slowly.

It is customary for venture funds to conduct transactions in the jurisdictions of Cyprus, British Virgin Islands, Delaware. RVC adhered to the general rules and even invested in foreign funds itself. Back in 2010, she created management company Russian Venture Asset Management Ltd for investments in the UK and RVC Usa Inc in the USA. During 2012-2013, RVC invested through them in three startups and four funds in Silicon Valley. “We have invested in foreign companies to organize a technology transfer to Russia. And in financial plan these were the most profitable investments of RVC, ”says Agamirzyan. However, in 2013, the government took the path of deoffshorization. “Until 2013, it was almost impossible to create venture funds in the Russian jurisdiction - not a single foreign or Russian investor felt protected,” says Fomichev. According to him, the creation of new funds in 2013 and early 2014 was practically frozen: negotiations began anew even on those transactions where due diligence had already been carried out. As a result, several funds in 2014 were nevertheless registered in Russia under a new scheme - as joint stock partnerships. The legal framework for this was created back in 2011, but transactions were not practiced.

The venture capital boom in Russia was short-lived. Already in 2014, after the annexation of Crimea and the ensuing sanctions, many Western funds stopped investing in Russia, and Russian funds were increasingly choosing to invest in foreign companies. The situation was aggravated by the developing economic crisis. At the end of 2014, the volume of the Russian venture capital ecosystem amounted to $ 1.69 billion, although in 2013 the volume reached $ 2.89 billion.

RVC forecasts indicated that the funds created in 2007-2008 will receive a return on investment no earlier than 2017. RVC needed a reserve of funds for additional tranches to existing funds and projects. But the money in her accounts still haunted many. “At first, the state seemed to agree that money in the venture capital market should work, but during the crisis they forgot about it and asked for money back,” says an interlocutor close to RVC. According to another source, Rusnano and Skolkovo allocated 60 million rubles each to hold the Open Innovations forum in 2015, and RVC - 110 million rubles. “It's like planting potatoes in the morning and digging them out in the evening because you feel like eating,” Agamirzyan is indignant.

Merger stage

In December 2014, the problem of the lack of innovation in Russia again sounded from the highest stands. In his message to the Federal Assembly, President Vladimir Putin announced a new program to support technological developments, which was called the National Technology Initiative (NTI). “On the basis of long-term forecasting, it is necessary to understand what tasks Russia will face in 10-15 years,” the president said. An ideologist new program became the Agency for Strategic Initiatives, but the task of implementing and managing money was entrusted to RVC.

“There was not much money in the budget, but NTI had to be launched,” explains a federal official. RVC then refused to invest in IT projects and looked closely at promising industries like biotechnology, where there was not enough private funding. “For RVC, the project has become a lifesaver. After all, clouds were already gathering over RVC against the backdrop of dissatisfaction with the fact that they were more involved in PR, ”adds a Forbes interlocutor. The project was agreed with the presidential aide Andrei Belousov, Pavel Bulavin, who worked in international consulting and managed several projects in the organizing committee of the Sochi Olympics, became the director of the NTI project office. But problems arose again.

Formally, Bulavin was subordinate to Agamirzyan and had to coordinate all decisions with him. But, as several people told Forbes, they had a personal conflict. “I found a scythe on a stone, both sides are roughly to blame,” says one of Forbes' interlocutors. The problem was solved by separating the powers of Agamirzyan and Bulavin, but the creation of the project office was delayed for two months. This caused a harsh reaction from both Belousov and Arkady Dvorkovich, who since January 2016 became the curator of the project in the government apparatus, according to the source of Forbes. A spokesman for Dvorkovich declined to comment for this article. “There was no personal conflict, Bulavin's subordination to me was initially purely formal, the division of powers was agreed from the very beginning,” Agamirzyan says.

At the same time, the struggle for RVC money resumed - at the end of 2015, there were 20.1 billion rubles on deposits. The Skolkovo management proposed to send money to the state company to finance residents, the initiative was supported by the Ministry of Finance. Skolkovo representatives declined to comment; the Ministry of Finance did not respond to Forbes' request. “Agamirzyan and his team have completely gone into“ higher matters ”. The Ministry of Finance did not like their “castles in the air,” which wanted to know what the budget allocated for the sums were spent on, ”says a Forbes interlocutor at one of the development institutions. In 2015, RVC held tenders for almost 700 million rubles: most of them related to conferences, speeches, competitions (for comparison: in 2013, the volume of tenders was half as much). At the same time, RVC transferred about 651.2 million rubles to the funds, most of the money went to the additional capitalization of the American fund.

According to an RVC employee, Agamirzyan wanted the state-owned company to be perceived on the market as one of the venture capital funds, and not an instrument of the state. “No one liked the fact that RVC adopted a strategy at an internal meeting, and did not gather a strategic session with representatives of other development institutions and members of the government,” says a Forbes source. At the same time, RVC, on the one hand, was supposed to earn money, and on the other hand, to develop the venture market free of charge. “All this time, all the discussions were, in fact, about how to combine these two areas, how to streamline the work,” says economist Alexander Auzan, member of the board of directors of RVC.

The Ministry of Economic Development had to defend the independence of RVC before the Ministry of Finance. “In the event of a merger with Skolkovo, RVC would become just a money bag, because Skolkovo’s mandate does not contain anything about supporting the venture market,” explains the position of the Ministry of Economic Development, an interlocutor of Forbes, who is familiar with the negotiations. There is still no final decision on the merger of Skolkovo and RVC, says the Minister of the Open Government Mikhail Abyzov. “All proposals on the reform of development institutions have been sent to the government, the working process is underway,” he assures. Nevertheless, a decision has already been made to move RVC to Skolkovo. “But this does not mean that the company will be managed by Skolkovo,” says Fomichev. “In the context of budgetary funding cuts, the curtailment of the functions of one or several development institutions is inevitable,” says Andrey Trapeznikov, Deputy Chairman of the Board for External Communications of Rusnano.

Against the background of negotiations on the future of RVC, Agamirzyan wrote a letter of resignation. “We 'parted' with Agamirzyan, a dull discontent has accumulated,” says a top manager of one of the development institutions. However, according to him, it is impossible to formally say that RVC did something wrong. “The state-owned company, in fact, did not have specific tasks, therefore, the market simply did not notice everything that they were doing at RVC,” the Forbes interlocutor adds. As an acquaintance of Agamirzyan says, he could not create a team focused on practical results: “They became hostages of their isolation from life, their desire to reason beautifully”.

By the end of 2015, according to Agamirzyan, 23 funds were created with the participation of RVC with a total volume of 33.7 billion rubles. For 10 years, the state-owned company participated in financing 200 projects and made about 20 “exits”. “In total, during this time, we have earned more than 10 billion rubles, paid the state several billion in taxes and dividends,” Agamirzyan says. Now his duties are temporarily performed by his deputy Yevgeny Kuznetsov, but the ASI and the Ministry of Economic Development are conducting open competition for the post of CEO of RVC. “I hope there will be about 100 candidates. The task is also for the new person to look at everything with a fresh eye, - says Fomichev. “By the end of September we will have a new CEO, and in November we will move to Skolkovo, and a new life will begin.” In mid-August, 134 applications were received for the post of general director of RVC.

Alexander Povalko

According to the order of the general meeting of shareholders, Alexander Povalko, who worked in the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation and was a member of the Board of Directors of RVC, has been appointed the new CEO of Russian Venture Company (RVC) and Chairman of the Board of the company, according to the website of the Ministry of Economic Development.

“RVC is faced with the task of developing a new development strategy, taking into account the following key points. First, as a project office, RVC must bring the support and implementation mechanisms to full-scale deployment and operational capacity. Secondly, it is necessary to continue the integration of RVC and the Skolkovo Foundation, especially in terms of organizing venture financing for Skolkovo projects, ”said Oleg Fomichev, Chairman of the Board of Directors of RVC - Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.

At the end of June, the board of directors of RVC Igor Agamirzyan, who served as CEO and chairman of the board of the company since April 2009.

An open competition was announced to fill the position of the General Director of RVC. The selection of a new candidate was handled by the Ministry of Economic Development, in charge of RVC. Three main applicants participated in the competition - Deputy Prime Minister of the Samara Region, Minister of Economic Development, Investments and Trade of the Samara Region Alexander Kobenko, Deputy General Director of the Innovation Promotion Fund Pavel Gudkov and Deputy General Director of RVC Evgeny Kuznetsov. The competition was won by Kobenko, and in October Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, as reported by news agencies, "gave instructions to prepare a directive to the board of directors for the appointment of Deputy Prime Minister - Minister of Economic Development, Investments and Trade of the Samara Region Alexander Kobenko."

reference

Alexander Povalko from 2012 to 2016 served as Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, oversaw the development and implementation state strategy in scientific, technical and innovation spheres and the education system. 2008 to 2012 was deputy head State Committee RF for Youth Affairs, Deputy Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs. 2007 to 2008 served as Director of the Strategic Planning Department of CJSC RENOVA-StroyGroup.

Graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute. Ordzhonikidze with a degree in radio engineer, as well as the State University. Maimonides with a degree in Applied Mathematics.

RVC established in 2006 on the initiative of the Ministry of Economic Development, which oversees the company, the only shareholder is the state. The authorized capital of the company is 30 billion rubles, and its goals are to form a venture investment industry and help the state in the development of the Russian innovation industry. RVC is a fund of funds, that is, it is not invested directly in projects, but in funds, in which it always attracts private co-investors.

In 2015, the creation of a project office for the National Technology Initiative (NTI), a long-term strategy for the country's technological development, aimed at creating new global markets by 2035.