Moscow, June 4, 2012 – The Skolkovo Foundation and Frontier Ventures today announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in which Frontier Ventures committed to investing $20 million into Skolkovo resident companies. The $50 million venture capital fund works with entrepreneurs in the consumer Internet service industry and its principals have a strong track record in launching and operating leading companies in the sector. The key focus for Skolkovo Foundation as a development agency is to bridge the gap between seed rounds and A rounds for high-tech companies coming from Russia – and partnerships such as this one are essential for achieving this goal. With the signing of today’s MOU, Skolkovo now partners with more than 30 Russian and international venture companies.
The partnership is a natural fit for Frontier Ventures says founding partner Dmitry Alimov, whose focus today is to actively identify and support Russian-language Internet businesses in the consumer services sector, ‘we fully support the aims and initiatives of the Skolkovo Foundation in nurturing new businesses in the technology sector in Russia, we share a commitment to supporting entrepreneurs who are already creating new and vibrant economic models’.
“Frontier Ventures is a natural partner for us in terms of their vision and their commitment to the technology sector in Russia”, says President of the Skolkovo Foundation Viktor Vekselberg, ‘we look forward to a long and profitable collaboration in supporting new industries.”
Key details of the MOU include:
- Frontier Ventures sets a target of $20 million for investments in Skolkovo resident companies
- Frontier Ventures will receive priority access to the Skolkovo Foundation project pipeline, and can select the most promising projects in which to invest
- Frontier Ventures will have the opportunity to refer its existing portfolio companies to register in Skolkovo and receive Skolkovo Foundation’s support
Follow the activities on this announcement through Skolkovo’s Twitter account: https://twitter.com/#!/sk_en and Facebook page: http://facebook.com/skolkovofoundation.
About the Skolkovo Foundation
The Skolkovo Foundation has the mandate from the Russian Government to help accelerate the transformation of Russia from a resource-intensive to an innovation-based economy through strategic partnerships with leading scientists and corporations (currently numbering over 350 companies and start-ups). The Foundation aims to strengthen the links between Russian and international science, technology, education, entrepreneurship and investment communities. To achieve this objective it is overseeing the creation of the Skolkovo Innovation Centre composed of five R&D clusters, a Technopark, the Skolkovo Institute of Technology (a new graduate research University established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Skolkovo city, located near Moscow. Together these entities will establish a vibrant eco-system of technology innovation and entrepreneurship. The Foundation is a non-profit organization founded in September 2010 by the Russian Government. For more information: http://www.sk.ru/en
About Frontier Ventures
Frontier Ventures is a $50 million venture capital fund founded in 2011. Its partners have a strong track record in investing in and building some of the most successful consumer internet services business in the Russian-language markets including biglion.ru and ivi.ru. The venture capital fund works closely with entrepreneurs to build leading Internet businesses in the Russian speaking Internet. For more information: http://www.frontier.ru/en
This document is not intended to be, nor should it be construed or used as, an offer to sell, or a solicitation of any offer to buy, limited partner interests in any funds managed by Frontier Ventures.