Projects in the early stages of fria. Oil and gas venture: how the Internet Initiatives Development Fund works

Internet Initiatives Development Foundation (IIDF) was created by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives in March 2013 at the suggestion of President Vladimir Putin. The key tasks of the IIDF are financial and expert support for projects on the Internet at all stages of development, the search and selection of start-ups and their subsequent bringing to a high degree of maturity.

As of February 2019, the fund itself estimates the value of the IIDF's shares in portfolio projects at 5.5 billion rubles. In total, there are about 350 operating IT startups in the portfolio, according to IIDF, their capitalization exceeds 20 billion rubles, and by the end of 2019 it can reach 30 billion.

2019

Completion of active investment - new investments only from the sale of shares of portfolio projects. Downsizing

The Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF) is completing the investment phase and is focusing on the development of portfolio IT startups, the fund reported to TASS in February 2019.

IIDF will cut about 35 people out of 150 working in the fund. Investments in new companies are still possible, but with the proceeds from the sale of current projects, the IIDF calls the model an "endless loop fund."

IIDF invests 31.1 million rubles in 13 startups

Startups of the 17th IIDF Accelerator set by industry:

Business Solutions

• Worker (Tomsk)- service helps customers find qualified contractors for various construction and installation works. The customer interacts only with the Worker, and the service itself calculates the cost of work, searches for performers, interacts with them and controls the timing.

• DeskAlerts (Novosibirsk)- software that allows companies to deliver critical information to their employees on any corporate device: PCs, phones, tablets, etc. For example, missing information about updated details or rules for working with clients can lead to financial losses. DeskAlerts ensures that the message is not ignored.

• BID (Yaroslavl) - artificial intelligence for industry. The company develops software and hardware systems for large industrial companies that can reduce the cost of diagnosing and monitoring products, equipment or infrastructure by 30-50% by automating manual data processing processes using artificial intelligence.

• TOscan (Moscow)- B2B service that allows companies with a fleet to find out the cost of routine maintenance of cars from official dealers online, get a discount and sign up for maintenance. The service selects the most advantageous offer by price and location, and also maintains a service history in your personal account.

• Rustrans.info (Chelyabinsk)- a marketplace in the field of transport services that allows companies and individuals to find vehicles to transport goods or people. Additional services are available to clients (for example, ordering loaders, translators, guides), and transport companies can use marketing services, call center, get business intelligence.

Finance and insurance

• "Joint Business" (Krasnodar)- the service helps banking and insurance agents, realtors, car repair shops and other b2c entrepreneurs to sell additional services and interact with customers. For example, with the help of the service, a realtor can issue not only mortgage insurance, but also OSAGO for a client’s car. This expands the scope of activities and increases the average check. At the same time, users of the service receive cashbacks from each operation of their clients.

• Insurewesell (St. Petersburg)- a marketing automation service aimed at attracting the target audience in insurance, finance and medicine. It allows you to track the behavior of site visitors, group them according to similar parameters and make an individual offer for each group, thereby increasing the conversion into a paying client.

Educational technologies

• Hello World (St. Petersburg)- online programming school for children aged 8-16. A feature of the service is only individual lessons with a teacher, which increases the effectiveness of classes. Moreover, training takes place remotely via Skype, so children can study from anywhere in the world. The school has clients in five countries - Russia, Germany, India, Lithuania, Finland.

• "The Genius of Online Negotiations" (Krasnoyarsk)- a training game-simulator, which makes it possible in practice to resolve any difficult situations of employees in communicating with customers. Training takes place on the job, from any device and takes 30 minutes a day. The modular principle of the game allows you to adapt the product to the needs of any company.

• "Online Education Development Fund"(Moscow) - the project deals with online education: from the implementation of online content with leading companies, experts and universities to the promotion of courses on educational platforms. FROO teaches the professions of the future, helps in organizing corporate universities for business, creating online master's programs and specializations for universities.

• Bartello (Moscow)- a mobile service for instant ordering and paying for drinks and food in bars, clubs and restaurants in Moscow. Now you do not need to catch the waiter or shout over the music, but place an order using the application. For example, only 4-6 minutes will pass from the moment of ordering for a bar counter to its readiness. Service on transactions from completed orders.

• SweetClub (Moscow)- global confectionery marketplace. The project has the rights to create, produce and sell sweets with images of the heroes of international animation studios.

• "ART-MOST" (Samara) is a global online art hypermarket. The peculiarity of the service is that there is no narrow specialization, the paintings are sold without extra charge, at prices from the artists' studios. As of February 2019, tens of thousands of paintings by over a thousand artists are available. Thanks to ART-MOST, paintings become affordable both in terms of price and ease of choice.

• GetSmart (Khabarovsk)- B2B service that helps solve the problem of accepting cryptocurrency. In the case of online stores, GetSmart allows you to accept cryptocurrency as payment and converts it into fiat money. ICO projects can automatically accrue the required number of tokens, confirm the identity of the investor, and accrue bonuses.

• HOMMYN (Moscow)- the company offers all the components to make a smart home without wires. Heating, climate, lighting control, multimedia, integrated security and video surveillance. Everything can be controlled from your smartphone. Devices can be purchased and installed one at a time, in kits or as a turnkey system. HOMMYN manufactures both the equipment and the necessary software to manage it.

Lifestyle

• Bbsit (Moscow)- a service that provides babysitter services (a nanny for an hour) and allows parents to free up time for any of their activities. Nannies go through a multi-stage interview and further training. They can sit with the children, take them to school / garden, meet them from sports.

• Fitstarter(Moscow)- a service for booking tennis courts and searching for location partners. Fitstarter allows tennis clubs to reduce losses from unsold free hours up to 100 thousand rubles. per month, and for tennis players to book a suitable free court at a convenient time and find the nearest sparring partner.

2017

RUB 3.18 billion invested in 367 startups

Since the beginning of its operations, IIDF has invested 3.18 billion rubles. in 367 startups. The value of the portfolio, as of May 2017, is 41% higher than the amount of invested funds and is estimated at 4.36 billion rubles. IIDF is the most active venture fund in Russia, accounting for 43% of venture deals in 2017.

Slightly more than half of the companies in the fund's portfolio - 187 startups from Moscow, 39 - from St. Petersburg. The top 5 regions in terms of the number of companies included in the portfolio also include startups from the Sverdlovsk, Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions - together their share is almost 13%. In terms of invested funds, Moscow and St. Petersburg are also leading (55% and 19% respectively), followed by the Perm Territory, Novosibirsk and Voronezh Regions, the start-ups of which together attracted almost 14% of investments from IIDF.

In the sectoral context, most of the Fund's investments fell on companies that work in the field of artificial intelligence and machine learning: the share of such technologies in the portfolio was 13%. Approximately the same amount of money was attracted by companies working in the field of e-commerce. The industry top 5 also includes HealthTech and FinTech.

Among the largest startups in terms of revenue in the IIDF portfolio (data for 2017):

• "Button of Life" (240 million rubles),
• Cinemood (207 million rubles),
• FlowWow (290 million rubles),
• UBIC Technologies (almost 100 million rubles),
• Aldis (32 million rubles).

The turnover of the leader of the crowdinvesting market, StartTrack (a subsidiary of IIDF), exceeded 800 million rubles in 2017, and the total turnover of the site over the entire period exceeded 1.5 billion rubles.

More than 95% of the portfolio companies have passed the IIDF face-to-face accelerator. Those who were able to achieve the set KPIs at the exit attracted the next round of seed investments - up to 25 million rubles. Such companies include, for example:

• Stafory ("Robot Vera"),
• hot wifi,
• brandquad,
• UNIM,
• holo group,
• Sticker.Place,
• "Pharmacy"
• kids way,
• docsInBox,
• zigzag,
• UseDesk,
• "Aldis",
• talkbank,
• convead,
• MMOGuard and others.

More than 80% of startups from the IIDF portfolio continue to work. 63 companies actually ceased their activities, another 15 applied for the liquidation of the company to the tax office: in total, 111.3 million rubles were invested in them, or 3% of the total investment. The revenue of almost 25 companies in the IIDF portfolio is growing by 20% or more every month: the total value of the fund's share in such "star" startups is approaching 3 billion rubles. (as of May 2017).

Industry track (VR track)

Startups with ready-made VR products or prototypes for solving applied problems in industry in general and oil production in particular can apply to participate in the track on virtual and augmented reality (VR / AR). The most successful graduate projects of the accelerator, which have shown the best growth results, will be able to qualify for IIDF investments in the amount of up to 30 million rubles and the integration of their solutions into real production processes Gazprom Neft.

The priority tasks for Gazprom Neft that can be solved with the help of VR technologies are staff training, preliminary testing of engineering solutions and holding remote meetings in real time.

As part of the partnership, startup participants will be able to work at the sites of two Gazprom Neft technoparks in St. Petersburg and Omsk, learn from the experience of colleagues who have already implemented VR projects in production. After startups pass acceleration at IIDF and prove themselves by working on the basis of the technopark, Gazprom Neft will decide on the use of the most promising products in the company.

“VR and AR technologies are one of the priority investment areas for IIDF. According to Goldman Sachs, by 2025 the global market for solutions based on VR and AR technologies will be more than $13 billion, and by 2020 it will reach $25 billion. Large businesses in the Russian Federation are already introducing virtual and augmented reality solutions into production, and in the foreseeable future these solutions will become available for small and medium-sized businesses, ”said Evgeny Borisov, Deputy Development Director of IIDF.

2016

IIDF and Innopolis launch the first IoT test site

Otkritie will become a partner of the IIDF in the technological stack on the Internet of Things

Launch of an accelerator of startups in the field of information security

In October, 2015 IIDF announced start-up accelerator in the field of information security (IS) together with partners RT-Inform (IT subsidiary of Rostec) and I-Teco with support of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications. The project will be implemented as one of the tracks of the already existing IIDF accelerator. According to IIDF director Kirill Varlamov, within its framework it is planned to select up to 10 start-ups leading developments in the core industry and provide them with funding and expert support.

In the development of information security startups, partners plan to invest a total of about 1 billion rubles. during two years. Varlamov notes that the indicated amount is not the limit: if some projects turn out to be particularly successful, then the issue of investing additional funds in them will be considered.

At the same time, it is planned to finance not only startups that will fall into the accelerator from the specified amount. At the same time, the IIDF is considering several separate large transactions worth 300-400 million rubles each, which are planned to be carried out over the next few months. One of them is an investment of more than 200 million rubles. at GroupIB.

Startups selected for the accelerator will receive an initial investment of 2 million rubles, of which some will receive cash, and some will receive accelerator services. Those that show good growth at the initial stage will be able to receive further funding, the amount of which and the share of participation of partners in it will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

IIDF and I-Teco will directly finance startups, while RT-Inform plans to act as a strategist and provide expert support to teams. Kamil Gazizov, general director of RT-Inform, said that his company is also ready to provide selected teams with the opportunity to develop on his company's pilot projects.

At the same time, RT-Inform does not exclude financial participation in some startups with the subsequent acquisition of a stake in them. Gazizov connects this with the fact that Rostec has serious plans to develop the area of ​​information security, and it is important for him to be sure that the technologies that are being introduced are either the decisions of Rostec itself, or Rostec has some kind of rights: "We don't want to depend on anyone for security," he said.

In turn, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications will be able to support the project in terms of regulatory legal regulation. Varlamov explained that there are good ideas and start-ups whose technologies could help people, but are often missing. regulations governing the use of these technologies. According to Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov, his agency is ready for a dialogue in this area, since it sees its task in constantly improving regulation in the interests of the industry and citizens and creating new niches for technology development.

IIDF notes that their strategy does not involve the acquisition of control in funded companies: as in the case of its other tracks, the fund is considering acquiring a stake in startups in the amount of 25-50%, says Varlamov.

150 projects financed

As of April 2015, the fund has financed 150 projects, including 104 transactions in 2014. Until 2017, IIDF planned to invest about 6 billion rubles. in 400 companies.

In 2015, the fund identified the following priority areas for investment:

• technologies and solutions in the field of telecommunications,
• platform and corporate software for large businesses,
• monetization and distribution of digital content,
• protection of intellectual property on the Internet.

Among the strategic partners of IIDF - mobile operator Yota, Rambler & Co, Rostelecom, "

2013: Creation of a fund headed by K. Varlamov and connection of financing from Sberbank

- What should be the volume of this fund? - asked the president. - How much money should be there, in short?

- We thought ... - Kirill Varlamov said, a little hesitant. - It turns out an amount of about six billion rubles ... For three years.

- For three years? Mr. Putin asked kindly.

This amount did not make a shocking impression on him. Rather, he even liked her. That is, he could see that the young people from the ASI are serious and do not exchange for trifles.

However, the figure made an impression on German Gref. He just grunted - primarily, apparently, to attract attention.

He succeeded.

- Oh, I see that German Oskarovich wants ... - somehow even the president was delighted.

He apparently intended to finish with the word "speak out." But Alexander Shokhin finished for him:

- This is a lot of money, - said the head of Sberbank. - We are also engaged in this kind of work. So this is not your blue ocean... You are going to invest other people's money in startups. This is not your money... This is very big money... The scale is very serious...

And he repeated two more times that it was a lot of money.

Some members of the Supervisory Board were surprised to see German Gref in Novo-Ogaryovo that day. The fact is that he was only at the first meeting of the council. Then, apparently, he became uninterested. And then he suddenly appeared on the fifth in a row. Only now it became clear why.

- I'll try to cope, - said Kirill Varlamov.

This young man was at a meeting at the same table with the president for the first time, and it was, of course, not easy for him. And after such a person as German Gref spoke out against him, it became very difficult for him.

- I understand what it is about, - continued Mr. Varlamov. - Last year I received an award as the best IT entrepreneur...

He didn't seem to have many arguments.

- That is, German Oskarovich didn’t scare you?! the president asked him.

“Big tasks do not frighten us,” Mr. Varlamov replied.

The position of the head of Sberbank did not frighten Mr. Putin either. Moreover, he came up with, it seems, a punishment for the fact that he tried to offend his wards.

- Let's combine the experience and caution of German Oskarovich with your optimism and pressure, - he suggested.

Enthusiasm German Gref, apparently, did not experience.

- German Oskarovich, so will you take part? - said the President without a smile.

2012: Vladimir Putin voices the idea of ​​creating a fund

Vladimir Putin expressed the initiative to create such a fund in November 2012. Then, as examples of projects that could count on investments, he cited "various communities, digital libraries, sites for civic and charitable initiatives, distance learning portals, after all, are just useful games that instantly acquire hundreds of thousands and even millions of users around the world."

The Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF), invented by Vladimir Putin and created with money similar to the funds of Gazprom and Rosneft, has become a key player in the Russian venture capital market in three years

Kirill Varlamov, Head of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (Photo: Artem Goloshchapov for RBC)

Devaluation, the economic crisis and the closure of international capital markets reduced the already low interest of private investors in the Russian venture capital market. According to J "son & Partners, over the past three years, the volume of new venture investments has decreased by 2.5 times - from $ 347 million in 2013 to $ 135 million in 2015, the number of transactions - by 1.5 times, to 187 in The Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF) has remained the absolute leader of the Russian market in terms of the number of transactions since its inception in 2013. In the first quarter of 2014, the IIDF became the most active venture fund not only in Russia, but also in Europe, ahead of international Index Ventures and German High-Tech Grüenderfonds, according to Dow Jones Venture Source research data. In 2014, according to J "son & Partners, IIDF financed 104 projects and closed three syndicated transactions, in 2015 - made 74 investments (the next pursuer, a group of funds Altair Capital, according to the Firrma.ru portal, made only 22 transactions). In total, during the existence of IIDF has invested more than 600 million rubles. almost 200 projects. Where does the fund get this money from and why does it continue to actively invest, despite the fact that so far it cannot boast of a single full-fledged “exit”?

Workplaces for the creative class

At the highest levels of power, the topic of innovation and modernization in Russia has traditionally been associated more with Dmitry Medvedev than with Vladimir Putin. The Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), created in 2011, about a year before Putin's return to the presidency, was called upon to remedy the situation. For the 2012 campaign, ASI prepared " road maps” to improve the business climate and retained the status of a business think tank, a “think tank” under Putin after the elections.

At a meeting of the ASI Supervisory Board in November 2012, Vladimir Putin voiced the idea of ​​creating a special fund through which Internet initiatives would be selected and financed. “We need a financial source in order to provide jobs for that creative class of young people who are willing and able to work in new environments and do it effectively and talentedly,” Putin said, adding that he was ready to help with finding money for such a fund.

The FRII model was devised by the ASI by March 2013: representatives of the presidential administration under the patronage of Putin's aide Andrei Belousov and the general director of the TASS agency Sergei Mikhailov participated in its creation, says a source in the ASI leadership. Mikhailov told RBC that he joined the work already at the stage of launching the fund, and after its registration he headed the supervisory board of the organization. Belousov did not answer questions from RBC.

Kirill Varlamov, the founder of the Yekaterinburg IT company Naumen, became the director of IIDF. In 2011, he embarked on a political career, becoming almost the only IT specialist out of 499 Putin confidants in the presidential campaign and curator of the middle class in the All-Russian Popular Front (ONF). In 2011, Varlamov participated in the competition for the positions of directors of the ASI. A source in the agency’s leadership says that the ASI also hoped to find a director for IIDF through open competition, but "the right candidate was brought down from above."

Varlamov denies that he was a political creature, but who exactly invited him to work at the IIDF does not specify. The presidential administration had nothing to do with the appointment of the director of the fund, says RBC's interlocutor in the Kremlin. According to him, Varlamov was one of the candidates for the post of director of ASI in 2011, and the only applicant from the field of IT technologies. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov did not answer RBC's questions about IIDF.

The ASI wanted to create a new type of development institution - as opposed to structures operating in this area, such as the Bortnik Foundation, which distributes grants to start-up projects. At that time, teams were walking around the market that had enough to “fix” the presentation and receive funds for development at competitions for three years without burdening themselves with responsibility, says Varlamov. The founders of IIDF decided to invest for a share in the business.

But neither political will nor understanding of the mistakes of predecessors solved the problem of the lack of projects that could be “driven” through such a support model, says a source in the ASI leadership and confirms Varlamov. This is how the idea of ​​a “startup institute”, or accelerator, was born at ASI, following the model of American analogues, from which many stellar Internet projects came out. The models of the leading Silicon Valley accelerators were studied, for example, Y Combinator, whose total value of “graduates” in 2015 reached $65 billion, and 500 Startups, which financed more than 152 thousand projects around the world in five years.

As a result, its creators chose the Techstars accelerator as the IIDF role model. Founded in 2006 in Colorado, the project has an extensive network of branches in different states and organizes traveling sessions abroad. IIDF also from the very beginning began to build an ecosystem of Internet entrepreneurship in the regions. Now the fund has more than 100 partners - development institutions, incubators, technology parks, it is present in 30 regions, says IIDF representative Sergei Skripnikov. More than 60% of investment applications come from the regions (see infographic for details).

"Not your blue ocean"

Varlamov likes to emphasize: IIDF does not spend budget money. After the fund was registered as an NPO in July 2013, its founder ASI allocated 6 billion rubles to the fund. (about $190 million at the rate of 2013). Neither the IIDF nor the ASI have ever disclosed the source of these funds: it was only reported that the money was allocated by Russian state-owned companies.

Exactly the same amount, 6 billion rubles, in the reporting for 2013, was designated as a “voluntary donation” by the ASI by the state holding Rosneftegaz. This company accumulates dividends from state-owned stakes in Rosneft and Gazprom, the board of directors of the holding is headed by the president of Rosneft, Igor Sechin.

RBC's interlocutor in the ASI leadership did not comment on the assumption that the same 6 billion rubles were invested in IIDF, but former employee Fund confirmed: “The money that the IIDF works for is the same tranche [of Rosneftegaz].” The version is shared by participants of the venture capital market surveyed by RBC. Rosneftegaz has previously had the opportunity to finance Russian innovations: in 2012, the holding allocated 1.9 billion rubles. to support Skoltech. The press service of Rosneft did not answer questions about the financing of the IIDF by Rosneftegaz, the ASI did the same.

Varlamov and a source in the ASI leadership explain: the refusal to disclose the sources of funding for the IIDF is the decision of the state-owned donor companies themselves, and the preservation of their anonymity is stipulated in the agreement on the provision of funds. The director of the fund claims that he has repeatedly suggested that sponsors "come out of the shadows", but they still do not seek publicity.

The IIDF budget was first announced at a regular meeting of the ASI Supervisory Board chaired by Putin in March 2013, and at the same meeting the fund was publicly criticized by Sberbank President German Gref. “This is a lot of money... There are already people like you on the market, this is not your blue ocean... 6 billion is other people's money, not yours. And you want to invest them, ”Gref was indignant.

A source in the leadership of the ASI claims that, although the head of Sberbank was the main opponent of the idea of ​​creating the IIDF, over time he began to treat the project "more loyally." The press service of Sberbank told RBC that the bank did not participate in the financing of the IIDF, but refused to answer questions about the position of the head of the bank. RBC could not get Gref's comment.

Initially, the fund was going to invest 6 billion rubles. in 400 startups in three years and profit from successful exits from projects. The pace of investment was comparable to the largest Western accelerators: if Y Combinator invests in 85 companies on average per year, then the IIDF was going to take the bar at 133.

In the fall of 2013, at a meeting with representatives of the Internet industry, Putin admitted that he was ready to “make” “a lot more money” in the IIDF, but “colleagues” then told the president that “the guys don’t demand more.” Although there is an opportunity to add funding to the fund, Putin said at the meeting.

IIDF Supervisory Board Chairman Sergei Mikhailov and a source in the ASI management confirm that Varlamov and his team have refused additional funding and have committed themselves to making a profit within a three-year horizon. “It was not a decision from above. The authorities, on the contrary, have always said: “We will give you money,” says Mikhailov.

Varlamov clarifies: the fund has adopted a new concept, according to which it will invest 6 billion rubles. for not three, but nine years, and during this time will finance 735 startups. At the same time, he did not refuse the task of getting into the IIDF plus. The IIDF investment strategy with an investment cycle from 2013 to 2021 was approved at a meeting of the fund's council on June 29, 2015, a representative of the Skripnikov fund explained to RBC. A copy was sent to all members of the board, he insists, although the current and former members of the board of the foundation do not remember this.

The director of the IIDF says that he is not afraid to repeat the fate of the Skolkovo and Rosnano foundations, against which law enforcement agencies have raised claims in connection with the inefficient use of budgetary funds, since the sources of funding for the fund are extrabudgetary. IIDF reports only to the Ministry of Justice and ASI as a founder, he clarifies. ASI representative Igor Karachin says that 6 billion rubles. were allocated by the “donor” on the basis of a target agreement, which imposes on the IIDF the obligation to use the funds for the intended purpose and quarterly report to the ASI on their spending, including the fund must provide a register of agreements and copies of bank statements.

“In order to control [IIDF], it is not necessary to send the prosecutor's office, investigators and the Accounts Chamber. It is difficult to imagine the conditions of control by the Supervisory Board to be tougher,” says Mikhailov.

"Grown for the market"

By the beginning of March 2016, the IIDF portfolio had 199 projects that fit into the accelerator's seven “sets” (the eighth of 28 more projects was recruited in February), says the IIDF representative. The fund invests in startups at three stages: pre-seed (investment amount - 1.4 million rubles - for a fixed share of 7%), seed (from 15 million to 30 million rubles) and funding round A (up to 320 million rubles). At the second and third stages, IIDF has 13 and three projects, respectively. The total investment of the fund for two years and eight months of work, according to the fund itself, amounted to about 615 million rubles.

IIDF accelerator is a spacious open space in a modern business center on Serebryanicheskaya embankment in the center of Moscow. Once selected, startup teams are placed at the disposal of consultants (accountants and lawyers) and a “tracker”, a business coach who helps five or six projects package themselves for sale to investors for three months. Startups are also getting jobs in co-working spaces, with spaces for meetings, sleeping, and even showering.

Initially, IIDF invested 1.4 million rubles in each project, with the depreciation of the ruble since the beginning of 2016, this amount increased to 2.1 million. Of this, 900 thousand rubles. goes to study in the accelerator, the team receives another 1.2 million in two tranches at the beginning and middle of the three-month program. If the project "does not pull" IIDF standards, they can part with it in a month and a half, says Varlamov. Upon completion of the program, the best graduates, about 70% of the recruitment of 25-30 startups, are invited to a demo day for potential investors.

In order to invest in 735 startups in nine years, IIDF decided to prepare new projects itself. To do this, the fund, in parallel with the creation of a face-to-face accelerator, launched a correspondence accelerator, in which young entrepreneurs take a two-month online training course and do not receive money from IIDF. For those who do not yet have a business, but have an idea, the fund has developed a detailed questionnaire of 400 questions and training videos - this is how projects at the earliest stages enter the IIDF "ecosystem", explains Varlamov. According to him, about 40 Russian development institutions and technology parks use the IIDF methodology to determine the prospects of startups: 5.5 thousand projects passed through the survey in 2015 alone. There is an adaptation of the methodology for universities, as a course of technological entrepreneurship, it is already taught in 74 universities, says the director of IIDF.

“The whole of 2015 we invested in new projects grown by ourselves, but they were grown for the entire market,” he concludes. According to Varlamov, early “diagnosis” of startups allows IIDF to invest in those “who have the best growth prospects” earlier than other market players. All 14 projects that the fund invested in at the seed stage went through the accelerator, “so the success rate at this stage will be higher than the market average,” he promises.

One of the few examples so far that confirms the optimism of the director of the IIDF is the application for learning foreign languages ​​Easy Ten. In January 2016, it was selected by the American accelerator 500 Startups and received $125,000 in investments (in exchange for a 5% share, the company was valued at $2.5 million).

IIDF is also going to make money on investments in round A. So far, there are only three such projects: the Babadu children's online store, the Life Button alert system for the elderly and disabled, and Ubic Technologies, a traffic filtering software developer. According to Varlamov, preliminary investment agreements for this round have been concluded with 14 more companies. Among them is Group-IB involved in cybersecurity, in which IIDF plans to invest 210 million rubles in early 2017. (Group-IB founder Ilya Sachkov declined to comment). The Fund does not disclose other projects.

The investment strategy - a document that describes the plan for the IIDF to become profitable - Varlamov refused to show RBC. According to him, in order to “recapture” 6 billion rubles, the “mortality” of projects should be no more than 89% at the pre-seed stage, 78% at the seed stage and 60% at the A round. 25% made it to the next round, which Varlamov calls a success, while another 50% remain in the gray zone, retaining a chance to save the business. For the other two stages, statistics can be collected only after 2.5 years, sums up the head of the fund.

RBC analyzed data on IIDF projects in the SPARK-Interfax database. Of the legal entities whose co-founders include IIDF and its structures - RBC found 191 such - 37% are unprofitable, 53% do not show financial results, and only about 10% are profitable.

"Money left"

“We try to do all this activity as economically as possible,” Varlamov answers in response to a question about spending IIDF funds. Most experts work with startups for free, mentors work on an hourly basis, he lists.

How many of the 6 billion rubles. spent at the moment, the director of the fund does not say, assuring only that "the money remains." The financial and accounting statements of the IIDF must be disclosed as part of the annual report, however, these data are not available in the reports for 2013 and 2014 presented on the website. A representative of the IIDF, Skripnikov, told RBC that the fund discloses such reports only to the council of the fund, the Ministry of Justice and the ASI.

At the disposal of RBC was full version annual report for 2013 and financial statements of the fund for 2014. It follows from the first document that during the first six months of the IIDF’s work, it spent 30 million rubles on investments, 51 million on the accelerator, 43 million on administrative expenses, and 20 million on promoting its activities; from the second - that in 2014 the fund acquired shares in other companies for 200.4 million rubles, spent 370.7 million rubles. for the maintenance of the management apparatus, 177.9 million rubles. - for wages and, as a result, received a net profit of 282 million rubles. Stack up this financial results could from the fact that the IIDF keeps most of the money on a bank deposit and receives interest on them: at the end of 2014, the balance of funds was about 5.8 billion rubles, follows from the financial statements. The Foundation did not comment on this information.

“IIDF lives on the interest of the deposit, not on the return on investment - this is their biggest sin today,” says an official who regulates the Internet industry. “They are afraid to invest. What then is the meaning of such an institution of development?” he wonders. For comparison, the Bortnik Foundation, which distributes grants to startups also in the early stages of development, has financed more than 6,600 projects at the pre-seed stage for 2.7 billion rubles in three years. within the framework of only one of its programs, a representative of the organization's press service told RBC.

While the FRII is being cautious with investments, it is much more daring when it comes to real estate rental costs. In the spring of 2014, the fund moved into the current office in the class A business center Silver City. The total area of ​​leased premises exceeds 3 thousand square meters. m, the lease agreement was concluded for five years. It is most likely denominated in dollars, says Nikolai Kazansky, managing partner of Colliers International. The cost of renting an office of this class on the upper floors at that time was $850 per 1 sq. m. m, that is, the premises, according to the expert, cost IIDF $ 2.6 million annually, or $ 5.2 million over two years. The IIDF confirms that the contract was concluded in foreign currency, but notes that the landlord fixed the “preferential” dollar rate in it. The fund refused to disclose it and the rental rate.

"Is this innovation?"

“The fund does little to help the state: the projects that are funded have little to do with “ national economy”, one of the former members the supervisory board of the fund. As an example, he cites one of the three IIDF investments in Round A, the Babadu online store: “E-commerce is developing well in itself. Is this innovation?

Babadu was the first major deal of IIDF: in 2014, the fund invested 110 million rubles in the project. (revenue of "Babadu" in 2014 - 172 million rubles, loss - about 98 million rubles). After that, the supervisory board of the fund demanded that the management explain why the money was invested in a structure registered in Cyprus. “The fact that the first major transaction was not only executed in a foreign jurisdiction, but also led to an offshore, seemed irrational,” recalls Chief Editor PolitRussia, member of the IIDF Supervisory Board Roman Ostashko. As a result, "Babad" was hastily transferred to Russia. “We decided that IIDF should not invest in companies that have foreign jurisdiction and offshore owners,” says Ostashko.

Varlamov says that the IIDF does not have a formal ban on investments in foreign jurisdictions, and he explains the desire to conduct all transactions in Russia with the “task of developing the legal field”: the fund actively lobbies for legislative initiatives that simplify venture investments in the country.

IIDF is periodically accused of excessive control over startups, which prevents them from attracting new investors and scaling their business abroad. According to the IIDF corporate agreement with a startup (RBC has a sample), the fund approves the company's CEO and receives one of three seats on the board of directors, as well as control over the dilution and alienation of the share for just 7% of the share, says a partner of one of the Russian venture funds. Commercial funds, according to the interlocutor of RBC, usually do not interfere in the operational management of a portfolio company.

The director of the seed investment fund The Untitled Venture Company, Konstantin Sinyushin, calls the rumors about the excessive rigidity of the IIDF agreement a myth. “If you enter the project at the pre-seed stage together with the IIDF, you get the same conditions as the IIDF. And yes, they are very tough, and rightly so: you should secure your money as much as possible,” he explains.

Sergei Mikhailov acknowledges that the IIDF's success cannot be guaranteed. “We do not expect that 500 Facebooks and Instagrams will grow from all investments,” he says. Turning into a plus is a systemic problem for all accelerators, even Y Combinator took six years to achieve this, says Vitaly Polekhin, head of the Investor Club of the Skolkovo Management School.

And in the market there is only talk about money… Having had enough rest during the New Year holidays and gaining strength, with new brilliant ideas and breakthrough products, the founders returned to the investment field in search of new opportunities for the development of their startups. Therefore, today we will talk about just one of these possibilities, namely, Russian Foundation development of Internet initiatives and its Accelerator (IIDF).

The fund is one of the most successful venture structures not only in the Russian Federation, but throughout the post-Soviet space. We are talking about the principles of the IIDF, as well as how and for how much you can get into the Accelerator of the main venture fund of Russia with its representative Maria Lyubimtseva:

Maria, tell us a little about yourself and your role in IIDF.

I have been working at IIDF for the third year and am engaged in content marketing: together with colleagues I write and edit articles about startups and the venture market for a blog on the IIDF website, blogs on external sites (Habrahabr, Spark), I conduct a weekly newsletter for IT entrepreneurs with useful materials and events, I help Accelerator startups with texts and publications, I collect successful cases of Accelerator startups. In addition to promoting the Fund and the Accelerator in external communications

How and when was IIDF established?

IIDF (Internet Initiatives Development Fund) was established in 2013 by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives at the suggestion of Vladimir Putin. The Fund provides investments to technology companies in the early stages of development, conducts acceleration programs and participates in the development of methods for legal regulation of the venture capital industry.

The volume of the fund amounted to 6 billion rubles and was formed from the funds of large Russian companies. According to the Dow Jones report, IIDF ranked first in Europe in terms of the number of transactions in the first quarter of 2014. IIDF concludes more than half of all venture deals in Russia at the pre-seed stage (67% in 2014, 52% in 2015) and invests in IT startups at the pre-seed, seed, Round A stages from 2.1 to 324 million rubles.

What projects is the accelerator focused on and under what conditions can startups get there?

IIDF focuses on IT and Internet companies, mobile applications, as well as startups from the Internet of things. In order to take part in the selection for receiving pre-seed investments from the IIDF and participation in the Accelerator, a company must meet the profile of the fund, have a minimum product and a team of at least 2 key participants ready to work full-time at the Accelerator site in Moscow. The achievable turnover of the company should be 300 million rubles. per year after 3-5 years. That is, the team must justify that the really achievable market volume is not less than this amount. In addition, more than 50% of the company must be owned by citizens of the Russian Federation.

Startups can get into the Accelerator as a portfolio company of IIDF - having received 2.1 million rubles. pre-seed investments from IIDF for a 7% share of the company, 900 thousand of which will go to pay for the acceleration program, or by giving a 3% share of the company - then the team receives only 900 thousand rubles. pre-seed investments from IIDF and this money goes to the Acceleration program. To participate as a portfolio company, you must leave an application on the website and pass a competitive selection. For companies from other countries, as well as those who did not qualify, there is an option to participate in the program at their own expense, in which case the cost of the program will be 1.2 million rubles. Such teams do not need to fill out an application, it is enough to pass an interview. Now we are recruiting startups for the 12th Accelerator, which starts in June, and the acceptance of applications will end on March 6th.

How long is the program? How often are sets held?

The program lasts three months and takes place in Moscow three times a year. It ends with a Demo Day, where graduates present the results of acceleration to invited investors - representatives of venture funds and large partner companies of the IIDF, business angels. Recruitment to the Accelerator is held three times a year, about 30 teams from 700+ applications go to each intake.

What does an entrepreneur get during the program and “on the way out”?

The goal of the program is to help pre-seed companies grow faster to the next investment rounds and build a scalable business. For three months, the founders, with the help of a pool of experts, validate the value proposition, check the viability of the business model, and build up sales processes. The most successful Accelerator graduates can receive seed investments from the IIDF in the amount of up to 25 million rubles and Round A investments of up to 325 million rubles.

The acceleration program includes: jobs in an office in the center of Moscow; consulting program up to 170 hours (including group workshops and individual consultations with more than 160 business practitioners in marketing, sales, teamwork, product, economics and other areas of business development); a dedicated expert (tracker) who works with the team on an individual growth plan and helps keep the focus on the result; Saturday traction meetings with a group of experts, where the team compares the results and adjusts the work plan for the week and for three months.

This is if we talk about the formal components of the program. The founders themselves say that three months in the Accelerator is equal to one and a half to two years of independent work on their business. The result may be different. It happens that the company closes the business as a result, as it realizes that it has no prospects. This is also useful, according to entrepreneurs: the founder stops wasting his time and money on a startup. A positive result is when teams find business growth points.

This happens under the influence of several factors: methodology, external expertise of the market and a network of business contacts, the “collective mind” of the thirty best teams, work with the awareness of the founders, goal setting, and focus. Teams do customer development (study their customers) and identify new market segments, focus on the most profitable segments, reduce the unit economy in channels - find profitable ones, shorten the transaction cycle by 3 or more times, increase the average check per client, grow in revenue in repeatedly.

How many graduations have there been since the accelerator has been running, and what have your most successful graduates achieved?

At the time of January 2017, 10 streams were released - these are more than 300 IT companies, now the 11th enrollment is under the program in the Accelerator. One of the most successful graduate companies is Easy Ten, mobile app to learn foreign words. The company's revenue is about $1.7 million per year, it is the #3 mobile app for iOS in the language learning category in the world. With the help of the service, more than 3 million users in 140 countries learn words in 7 languages, the application is localized into 12 languages ​​of the world. Graduate of IIDF accelerators and 500 Startups. Another graduate of the VisionLabs Accelerator (formerly known as ReAction) was invested 350 million rubles by the venture fund of the AFK Sistema group of companies last year. As part of the deal, IIDF left the project with a coefficient of "several tens of X". VisionLabs specializes in creating solutions and services in the field of computer vision and machine learning. About other successful cases of graduates, you can read on our blog .

What are the plans for the future?

IIDF operates according to the "evergreen" model ("endless cycle fund"). Since the beginning of last year, we have launched several partnerships with big companies-strategists in various industries - medicine, fintech, media and others. These are companies such as Microsoft, Bayer, Stada, Rambler&Co, Sberbank and its Digital Ventures fund, Raiffeisen Bank and Otkritie Bank, Saint Petersburg Bank and many others. As part of the accelerator with these companies, we are launching industry tracks. Startups that have been selected for the industry track additionally work with large companies: they launch pilot projects, receive expert support and access to resources. We will continue to develop this direction this year as well: one of these days announced a partnership with X5 Retail Group .

Since 2013 IIDF has been the most active investment fund in Russia. According to the Dow Jones report IIDF ranked first in Europe in terms of the number of transactions in the first quarter of 2014. As of December 12, 2016 IIDF has invested in 267 early stage companies. IIDF operates according to the "evergreen" model ("endless cycle fund").

Story

The idea of ​​creating a fund to support socially significant initiatives was first voiced in a speech by Vladimir Putin at a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives in the Kremlin November 22, 2012 of the year . The proposal of the president involved the creation of a public-private partnership tool for the development of Internet projects exactly in Russia, a new priority in the work of the Agency. At the next meeting of the Supervisory Board March 5, 2013 2009, the Agency presented to the President a project of a fund to support entrepreneurial initiatives on the Internet and its future director. The goal of the fund was to create an infrastructure to provide expert and financial support for startups in the early stages of development - during the development of a prototype and entering the market.

The volume of the fund named Internet Initiatives Development Fund, amounted to 6 billion rubles and was formed from the funds of large Russian companies.

Acceleration program

Educational programs

Internet entrepreneurship

IIDF, together with experts from the start-up market, has developed a training course "Internet Entrepreneurship" for senior students of higher educational institutions. The course has been implemented in more than 157 universities in 53 cities of Russia, more than 8 thousand people have passed it. The course covers the entire process of creating an Internet project from finding an idea to bringing a product to market. Education is based on the model of a flipped classroom: students listen to video lectures at home, perform tasks on each topic in teams, and present the results in the classroom and receive feedback from the teacher. The result of this training course is the preparation by students of a real Internet project and its defense. The program develops entrepreneurial initiatives among students of Russian universities. The objective of the project is to give students and those who wish a practical course and experience in creating a business in conditions close to the realities of the market. IIDF provides training for the teaching staff of educational institutions free of charge with further consulting. 253 teachers from Russian universities have already received special training to teach the course. Any higher educational institution of Russia and countries of the Eurasian Economic Community can take part in the project.

Investments

A feature of the Russian venture capital market is a small number of business angels, private investors working with startups at the earliest stages of development. Angels not only finance companies at the stage of developing a business idea and developing a prototype, but also act as experts and advisors. IIDF acts in this role, creating conditions for the development of new Internet companies. At the same time, the fund trains new investors to invest in Internet startups. Within the framework of the fund, there is a business angel club that provides private investors with preferences when working with teams passing through the accelerator.

The fund is engaged in mass investment at the pre-seed stage, investing in more than 80 companies per year. Every year, the fund makes 2-3 large transactions with companies in the growth stage.

Startup presentations

Internet Initiatives Development Fund three times - in November 2013, June 2014 and March 2015 - presented projects from the accelerator to Vladimir Putin. The participants of the first presentation in Novo-Ogaryovo were the teams from the first accelerator. During the meeting, the president made recommendations to several startups and sent them to the relevant departments. Facial recognition system ReAction was recommended to the Federal Migration Service, Appendix "All evacuators of Russia"- Ministry of Emergency Situations, an application for accounting for expenses for mobile communication Dr. Tariff- To the Ministry of Communications, the system of electronic reporting of organizations of housing and communal services "Elpas"- the newly created Ministry of Construction and Housing and Communal Services. Presidential Approval Also Receives App for Diabetes "Norm sugar", and the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Vyacheslav Volodin, was instructed to provide a website builder municipalities "My Okrug.rf" heads of subjects.

The second presentation took place during the forum "Internet Entrepreneurship in Russia", organized by the Foundation for the Development of Internet Initiatives . Startups IIDF were presented not only to Vladimir Putin, but also to other main guests of the event - Arkady Volozh from Yandex, Dmitry Grishin, head of Mail.ru, German Klimenko, founder of LiveInternet, and Mael Gavet, head of Ozon.ru (English) Russian. Directly during the speech, the President used the tree planting service "Passionfruit". Vladimir Putin promised to support the system of quick communication with doctors "Button of Life" and gave a number of instructions on the integration of projects IIDF into existing government mechanisms. These instructions related to the system for processing citizens' appeals "Angry Citizen", system of remote diagnostics of oncological diseases Unim Histology, an application to study of English language Easy Ten and the system of accounting and systematization of data on the consumption of communal resources "Micronet".

At the third meeting at the President's residence in Novo-Ogaryovo, startups asked for support for the development of their regions. Copyright related project Oppty made a proposal to include the fight against piracy among public spending. CEO Unim Histology requested that the concept of remote diagnostics- as a result, this will make it possible to include startup services in the list of services provided under compulsory health insurance. Putin sent a startup Poiskstroek, connecting suppliers of materials with construction companies, to the head of Surgutneftegaz Vladimir Bogdanov, accounting service warehouse stock Forecast NOW- to the Minister of Economic Development Alexei Ulyukaev, promised to connect a tourism startup "Turbazar" with the Federal Agency for Tourism, and a service for filling out a tax return NDFLka.ru- with the Federal Tax Service. Project re-participated in the meeting with the President "All evacuators of Russia" received a recommendation to attend the forum of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Interaction with the state

Internet Development Institute

Internet of Things Association

In July 2016, IIDF took the initiative to create the Association of the Internet of Things, which was supported by telecom operators, industrial enterprises, developers software and scientific institutions. Its founders are IIDF and Moscow State Technical University (MSTU) named after M.V. N.E. Bauman. The purpose of the Association is to create a platform that will bring together companies, enterprises, experts involved in IoT. The Association will become an integrator of the interests of all participants. The association included: holding GS Group, MTS, MegaFon, VimpelCom,. The Association will create a Russian secure protocol for industrial and civil segments. Anyone can be a member of the Association Russian, foreign) entity or a citizen who fulfills the conditions of membership in the Association and pays annual fees.

Evaluation of the fund's activities

Ratings

To December 2013 of the year IIDF topped the list of active funds less than a year old in a study of the venture industry conducted by firrma.ru with the support of the Russian Venture Company and PwC. In the rating of the largest participants in the venture investment market, compiled by the Public Opinion Foundation based on interviews in January 2014 of the year, IIDF and RVC came in third after Runa Capital and Almaz Capital. Magazine "Business Environment" named appearance IIDF one of the top 10 events of 2013.

In December 2014, the fund won the nomination "Seed Investor of the Year" at the Venture Awards Russia 2014. By this time, the fund has invested about $ 13 million in 122 projects.

Awards

In 2014 Foundation for the Development of Internet Initiatives won the Runet Prize in the Technology and Innovation category.

Criticism

Many market participants reacted positively to the establishment of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund. The founder of Almaz Capital Alexander Galitsky and the managing partner of Bright Capital Boris Ryabov approved the emergence of an alternative to the existing institutions for the development of technology companies - Rosnano, Skolkovo and RVC. Compared state structures development of business, one of the authors of the online publication Zuckerberg will call, described IIDF as the most useful institution that understands the needs of the market. Magazine and analytical center "Expert-Ural" celebrated the opening of accelerators IIDF as the main step of recent years towards the formation of infrastructure for the development of IT companies.

Others in the venture capital industry were apprehensive about the emergence of state fund. The founder and managing partner of the Runa Capital fund, Dmitry Chikhachev, questioned the ability of the state to effectively invest in private business. Aleksey Solovyov, Managing Partner of Prostor Capital Fund, accepted the creation IIDF as the risk of a state-owned monopoly appearing in the venture industry.

Chairman of the investment committee of the fund Warde Capital Vladimir Gromovsky, in columns in Expert magazine, called the behind-the-scenes way of creating IIDF, has criticized its focus on Internet technology instead of other technology industries in need of investment. He characterized the startups he invests in IIDF, as non-format, and the volume of the fund - as redundant to support projects in which other venture funds have not shown interest.

Notes

Comments

Lists

1. Participants of the second intramural IIDF accelerator: Amplifr, CleverBear, Command Spot, easy ten, Eleven, geneGuard, Hot-WiFi, HRmarker, iFamous.Me, iRET, Kassa, KeyCAPTCHA, LookMedBook, Maenwhile, MailTrig.ru, medkompas.ru,Promoatlas, Query Agent, Smart- FOOD, SmartFox, SoFits.Me, SQBA, Stock-Talk, Swarm, SWIPE, ETtransport, EFTSh, Medical Information Solutions, NormaSakhar, Open Housing and Public Utilities, Got in an Accident, Timeliner, " TransInfoService, Chabuka.
2. Participants of the third intramural IIDF accelerator: +Voice, AppCoins, Flowwow, Funfrom.me, GoandStudy, ImageAiry, LetMart, MoneyHero, Oppty, PetsFerma, PocketDJ, Rentmania, Shoppilot, SiteSecure, Unim Histology, VeeRoute, Wowworks, Youmely, Antiquarus, Vseveda, " GavBox", "First Online Accounting", "Servicephone", "Smart Abroad".
3. Participants of the fourth intramural IIDF accelerator: Advk.me, Backly, Barrinews, Bitcalm, Datamonkey, Forecast Now!, Generate.club, GetNewCar.ru, GloberLand, iPictory, Kudarom, Laoshi, Merku, ParkApp, Poiskstroek.ru, QUIZART, Quizly, Rus-a-porte , StartExam, Takebus.ru, Vexor, Avtostekloff, Wikium, Where Now, Nurse, Holiday in Cuba, Growth Systems, TUTZDUT, Yaklass, League of Quality, Easy Law, Fingerpost, Sitery, Depo.fm, Diagnostic System, Test.tv, RuHealth, Travel.ru.
4. Participants of the fifth full-time IIDF accelerator: Autotablet, ACS ATMs, AFK, NDFLka, BezDust, Apartment Buying Instructor, My Mechanic, Teledacha, Personality Lab, Appfollow, Dreamroomer, HappyCart, Petshotel , Promarket, Scrut, WebSemantics, Gifted Children, Qubequ, PressIndex, Strizh, Rentcar, Robolanding, Kartadom, CERAmarketing, Good Trade, Teslawatch, IIS Aldis, Fair Price.
5. Participants of the sixth intramural IIDF accelerator: A2 Leasing System, Bikedefend, Dooglys, CloudStats, ComfortWay, Iatra, inHome, Inwion, LinguaChat, NitrosBase.js, SlideVision, Supl.biz, Teamkey, Tvil.ru, Aksicredit, Advokat.ru, Beguchka , Kurierra, Labrik, Open Cemetery, Fitness-Clubs.Pro, SponsorBureau #1, Teleport, Technovizor, Turbodealer.
6. Participants of the seventh intramural IIDF accelerator: Clicktex, "I need dinner", "Scriptology", "Nospovetru", STATERA, "City of Masters", KADNET, HABITEK, "Arbitros", Vkusnadom, Scorista.ru, "Barter card", "Washing-ironing", LifeStyle Marketing, Online Driving School, MyGenetics, GAPFINDERS, Sinteka. Complete set”, Zooprofi, YURBURO.RU, Vinteo, Finboard, SweetCard, Convead.
7. Participants of the eighth intramural IIDF accelerator: Actor, ANgift, Brainify.ru, Encom, FBQ, gnk.bz, LeaderTask, Leadza, Smetus.com, Stafory, Advoklik, Cardiorhythm, Quicker, Cat, Maistro, Multichat , PoPuti, Imec, ProfKontur, UMKI, go2all.ru, AsiaOptom, EcoVolt, SyncCloud, RostPartnerstvo, iMolniya, BotScanner, WorldVirtualBank.
8. Participants of the ninth intramural IIDF accelerator: MoyGrafik, Dokkur, izitherm.ru, Speedy Hoods, Maroom, Click-Storm.com, Successful Realtor, qapsula, Privet, YaEnergetik.rf, HPC HUB, web2print.pro, School Wallet, Netax, Choicy, Expeditor .pro, CyberGame.tv, СontextGen, Codesign.io, CouponsClub, To the Point, Mobile Agent, Verme, Momchecked.ru, Zoom TV, DressBook, Pre-Interview, Negotraining, Combot, Quick Call, Proomer.
9. Participants of the tenth intramural IIDF accelerator: AdWoW, BestDoctor, Brandquad, CastWeek, Chibbis.ru, Callmart, DocsInBox, Eczo.bike, iCanDesign, InGenium, INTRA, Kidsway, Myguru, Pricereporter, RuHoReCa, TalkBank, TimConnect, Vremonte.tv, Entrant.pro, " Bonalitic, Unified Medical Portal, Idealist, 4brain, Clientomer, UslugBuro, IISCI, Auto Wallet, Kitchen Exchange, Wachanga, CargoVIG System, YoTask, Mandarinbank, Freedom24.ru.

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TryTopic project leader's story

Aleksey Kravets, head of the TryTopic sports project, wrote a column for the site about how his team got into the IIDF full-time accelerator and why they decided to abandon the program - with a detailed description of the process and recommendations for the fund's employees.

Last Sunday I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and noticed an interesting publication Taisiya Kudashkina. Taisiya is a fairly well-known entrepreneur in the market. I remember how five years ago my colleagues and I were just starting to cut our previous, rather modest project, and the startup press already wrote that Taisiya had attracted $3 million in investments.

In the post, Taisiya writes that she was not accepted into the IIDF accelerator, but they (IIDF) will regret it (I also think that all the time when they refuse me). In numerous comments, friends and acquaintances reassure her. Some - actively throw at the fan, arguing that IIDF is a cut; it's not worth it; Does not help. Throwing activity from individual well-known entrepreneurs even looks somehow painful.

Why we decided to apply

Based on the experience of interacting with government agencies (which everyone has), we never wanted to go to a government accelerator.

Once I interviewed a candidate, asked what services he uses in his work. He spoke enthusiastically about one of the services, noting that they are so cool that they even received investments from the IIDF. It was a revelation to me that someone wants to get there.

The second discovery was the words of one of the seed investors. He complained that the state, instead of supporting startups at later stages, was engaged in seed investments, and it became problematic for him to compete with the state in this niche. This added more pluses to the IIDF karma. The same 3–5 years ago, there were many angels on the market, but most were either very far from the technology business, or with very strict conditions, they were guided by what they would get 40–45% of your company right at the seed stage.

Finally, the turning point that made me apply was the product management lecture. There was an announcement in one of the mailing lists of startup events, the topic was interesting, I decided to go in the evening. The lecture itself turned out to be nonsense, but immediately after it, a girl from IIDF spoke and invited everyone to apply for the accelerator.

She said that for all residents of the accelerator, they are looking for any of the most powerful experts for free. And I just was in search of experts in the organization of communities. In addition to the full-time accelerator, there is a correspondence accelerator, participation in which does not require any obligations from the team, you do not need to give a share, you need to sign papers, and they can also help with experts. And I decided to apply immediately, focusing on the correspondence accelerator.

How to qualify

1. The first stage of selection is electronic application. There are a lot of sections and fields in the application. If you watch educational and explaining videos, carefully prepare answers to questions, then it can take several days to fill it out. The basic concepts from the training videos were familiar to us, so the questionnaire took about an hour and a half.

I recommend that you immediately identify the distinct advantages that your team / product has and focus on them. Fill in the rest of the fields as briefly as possible. Applications are read by real people, they scan the text in search of “suitable” / “not suitable” signals. To better understand what is better to focus on, on the official website there is a list of fund employees and experts, read their publications.

Using our example, I will tell you what positive signals our experts could notice.

We help people go in for sports, simplify the search for a place where and with whom to play football, volleyball, basketball, and other sports. While we were dealing with this problem, we realized that all the money in this market is in sports equipment and concentrated our efforts on the section that helps to choose it.

• Team. I think the main advantage for us was that we had already gained some experience, grown the previous project alimero.ru from 0 to 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
• The size of the market that the project will be able to grow in the chosen market into a large company. We have a huge sportswear market with $63 billion in sportswear sales in the US alone.
• Low product risks that there is a first version of the product that people are already using. We already have a product, so far with a lot of jambs, but it is already working, and 35,000 unique visitors a month use it.
• Revenue. It is very important that there is revenue and an understanding of how you can increase it to at least hundreds of millions of rubles a year. We already had a small revenue and understandable dynamics of its growth.
• Perhaps an additional positive role was played by the fact that we deal specifically with sports topics. I think projects that have social significance are more likely.

2. After the initial selection was passed, we were assigned a Skype interview with the fund's expert. We immediately asked to be sent to the distance accelerator, talked for 15 minutes, and a few weeks later received a letter in the mail that the company was accepted into the distance accelerator.

Looking ahead, I’ll say that after the distance accelerator, we decided to apply for the face-to-face accelerator. The selection into it is structured similarly. But after a Skype interview with an expert, the third stage was a phone interview with an analyst from the investment department.

After remote interviews, in both cases, it was necessary to come to the initial training and expert session. During the expert session, the fund's employees, trekkers and representatives of other companies sit at separate tables in the large hall, and the teams take turns sitting at them. Teams communicate for 15 minutes with 4-6 experts, each of which evaluates the potential of the project and the level of the team. Based on the results of the conversation, they either recommend the project to the accelerator or not.

All stages of selection related to communication with experts are very similar to an exam at a university. The expert needs to determine in a very short period of time whether you are suitable or not. In addition to the essence of your application, the subjective opinion of the expert, what impression you will make on him, is very important. It is necessary to show general adequacy, a positive attitude, high level energy, competence, ability to listen to the interlocutor and willingness to learn.

To be honest, we did not know that the expert session had any effect on the selection, so we did not try to please. I thought that this procedure should help distribute teams to large two-hour diagnostic meetings with relevant fund experts who are already influencing the selection.

Therefore, he did not hesitate to argue and prove his point of view (it is worth talking about this in separate article). But when I saw from the outside what a similar heated argument of another team looks like, I doubted whether I was doing the right thing. In the evening I received a letter that, according to the results of expert assessments, the fund is most likely not interested in our team, but we were offered to come to a control meeting to check that the experts were not mistaken. And as a result of this meeting, we were still called to the face-to-face accelerator. It turned out that about 60 teams are usually called for initial training, and in the end about 30 take place.

Why we refused to participate in the face-to-face accelerator

We asked almost all the experts with whom we talked during the diagnostic sessions why we should go to the face-to-face accelerator. Following the results of their answers, a list was formulated:

1. Investments from the fund;
2. Acceleration using the methodology used by trekkers;
3. Possible lobbying support;
4. Access to experts;
5. Seal of quality that the team has been selected.

1. IIDF's offer is much better than the offer of the average Russian business angel. For a young startup focused only on the Russian market, this is excellent. But if you have other sources of funding or the ability to raise money in another market, then it's worth considering.
2. It is good to understand what you will get from participating in the program, Evgeny Kalinin's blog helps. In principle, you can also order consultations from him, if it doesn’t grow together, you can always interrupt cooperation. In the accelerator, you cannot choose a trekker. But the amount of added value that you get from participating in the program depends on your trekker.
3. For us, it's completely irrelevant.
4. It turned out that not all experts are equally useful. Still, this is not the main expertise of IIDF, most likely, you yourself will be able to more effectively find the people you need and ask them for specific advice or advice for money.
5. In fact, this is the main function of any accelerator in the venture economy, it sifts through thousands of applications, selecting from them dozens of noteworthy investors and employees who want to work in a startup. We have already passed the selection, we can brag to both potential employees and potential investors.

As a result, having thought it over well, we decided that for our company the value that we will receive from participation does not cover the cost that needs to be paid for it. Both in terms of the time and effort spent on legal issues, reporting, the need to operate in Russian jurisdiction (we primarily focus on the US market), and in terms of assessing the value of the company.

What FRI can do better

The head of the accelerator Dmitry Kalaev and his team are super-well done. This was immediately evident in the quality of the interface for applying for participation - an excellent product, and in terms of the level of initial training, and at the next stages of selection. Many times I saw how he resolves difficult situations, patiently explains and tries to help aspiring entrepreneurs.

As a taxpayer, I am very pleased with what they are doing. If everything state institutions we worked like that, we would live in another country. To anyone who is going to create their first company focused on the Russian market, I warmly recommend applying to the IIDF accelerator.

1. Now the main added value from participation in the accelerator is generated by trekkers. This is risky as it is difficult to attract and retain a good trekker. It is necessary to shift the value towards access to the network of accelerator graduates (as in American universities), so that successful graduates are more involved in working with the current recruitment.

2. As a KPI, choose not the ROI of investments, and not the multiplication of indicators of specific companies as a result of participation in the accelerator. The task of the state fund and the accelerator is rather not rapid growth, but maximizing the long-term positive effect on the economy. Drawing an analogy with sports, the task of state structures is not to grow Olympic champions, but to develop mass sports. An adequate KPI could be an increase in tax revenues from businesses opened by graduates. Not from companies that have directly passed the accelerator, but from companies opened by graduates. It follows that we should try to educate entrepreneurs on a scalable basis, develop a correspondence accelerator, and make it easier for graduates to communicate with each other so that they can help each other.

3. Talk more about the value that you bring, show cases “before and became” more clearly, many cases, explain why they turned out.

4. Extremely soften bureaucratic requirements for companies.