The Russia-China Investment Fund for Regional Development (IFRD) will invest 1.5 billion rubles (about $23 billion) in three funds of Russian investment platform Skolkovo Ventures, and will also act as an anchor investor in Skolkovo Ventures' two prospective funds, with the investment amounting to 300 million rubles, Skolkovo Ventures said in a statement.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th October, 2018) The Russia-China Investment Fund for Regional Development (IFRD) will invest 1.5 billion rubles (about $23 billion) in three funds of Russian investment platform Skolkovo Ventures, and will also act as an anchor investor in Skolkovo Ventures' two prospective funds, with the investment amounting to 300 million rubles, Skolkovo Ventures said in a statement.
The IFRD and Skolkovo Ventures signed a strategic partnership agreement at the Open Innovations Forum, which is currently underway in Moscow.
"The strategic partnership agreement is aimed at creating new business opportunities both for the Russian and the Chinese high technology companies. Within this agreement, the sides plan both mutual engagement in the existing venture projects of the organizations and funds under management, as well as a joint launch of new funds," the statement read.
The strategic partnership will be implemented in two stages. At the first stage, the sides will exchange their minority shareholdings in the holding companies' assets, with the companies' executive boards including representatives of both sides. The IFRD will also pour investment into three Skolkovo Ventures' funds � Skolkovo Digital, Skolkovo Industral-1, and Skolkovo Agrotechnological-1. In 2018, the IFRD and Skolkovo Ventures are set to attract a new partner and exchange the shareholdings with him by the end of the first quarter of 2019.
The second stage of the strategic partnership envisages the creation of two new investment funds by the end of 2019 � Special Situations and High-Technology Vertically Integrated Companies.
"The attraction of international investors and the provision of access for Russian venture companies is a planned stage of Skolkovo Ventures development, as well as of the development of the entire eco-system of the Skolkovo Innovation Center. We are sure that this stage of cooperation with our Chinese partners is just the first step toward the two countries' partnership within the venture investment market," Skolkovo Ventures CEO Vasily Belov said, as quoted in the statement.
The seventh edition of the Open Innovations Forum started on Monday and will last through Wednesday at the Skolkovo Innovation Center.
