Take-off - from startup to IPO

2024

Launch of soft credit program for ICT startups

Ministry of Economic Development of Russia launched a concessional lending program for startups in the field. information and communication technologies (ICT) The program is aimed at supporting small technology companies actively developing innovative technologies, and is designed to stimulate their growth and development. This was announced in October 2024 by the director of the department of strategic development and innovation Ministry of Economic Development Russia Valeria Vorobyova.

According to the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia, the program provides startups with access to loans on preferential terms, which can be used to finance both investment and current purposes. Particular attention is paid to enterprises operating in priority industries such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, communication technologies, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, as well as new production and genetic technologies.

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The conditions for participation in the program are determined by the procedure for providing a subsidy dated October 10, 2024 No. 22-62194-00645-R, which was adopted in accordance with the rules for the provision of subsidies from the budgets of the budget system of the Russian Federation, including grants in the form of subsidies, legal entities, individual entrepreneurs, as well as individuals - producers of goods, works, services, approved by the government decree of 25.10.2023 No. 1780.

Valeria Vorobyova stressed that the goal of the program is to create favorable conditions for the development of small technological businesses in Russia.

Based on the register model, companies included in the register of the Ministry of Economic Development can receive preferential loans without the need to provide additional documents and confirmations. Inclusion in the register and further support allow enterprises to quickly adapt to market conditions and ensure the growth of their revenue and employment, - explained Vorobyova.

Andrei Zhizhin, Deputy General Director of the Innovation Assistance Fund, noted that about 40% of companies registered in the register of the Ministry of Economic Development received this status thanks to the expert support of the fund. According to him, many of these enterprises are actively participating in competitions and grant programs. In particular, according to the results of the Business Start competition, among startups ready to launch production, more than half of the winners have the status of small technology companies (MTK).^[1]

A state grant program for technological startups has been launched in Russia. They will be given 8 million rubles each

In June 2024, a state grant program for technology startups was launched in Russia, under which small innovative enterprises can receive funding in the amount of up to ₽8 million. The program is implemented by the Innovation Assistance Fund together with the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia as part of the federal project "Take-off - from a startup to an IPO."

According to the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Kolesnikov, the Start-2 competition is the second stage of the program to support early-stage startups. Innovative companies that have already received funding for basic developments and are ready to implement them into production can apply for participation in it. Enterprises with the status of a small technology company will receive an additional point when considering an application.

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The Start program is aimed at supporting small enterprises that are in the early stages of development and are striving to develop and master the production of new products, technologies or services using the results of their own scientific and technical research with significant commercialization potential.

The amount of co-financing at the expense of the company's own or attracted funds should be at least 15% of the grant amount. The planned time for research and development (R&D) can vary from 12 to 24 months.

Projects are accepted in six key areas: digital technologies, medicine and health saving technologies, new materials and chemical technologies, new devices and intelligent production technologies, biotechnology, resource-saving power.

The Director General of the Innovation Assistance Fund Sergei Polyakov noted that the participants in the Start-2 competition are companies that already have experience in interacting with the Fund. The support received will allow them to bring the previously funded project to the level of the finished product. Grant funds can be used to pay employees, pay for third parties, purchase equipment and various related costs.^[2]

Appointment of Denis Manturov as curator of the project

First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov will oversee the federal projects "Electric car and hydrogen car," "Takeoff - from startup to IPO," "Digital ecosystem" One window 'exporter, "" Development of production of new materials. " Within the framework of these fedrojects, initiatives of socio-economic development in the direction of "Technological Breakthrough" are being implemented, the press service of the Government of the Russian Federation reported on July 13, 2024. Read more here.

The Russian government allocates 1 billion rubles to support IT startups

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin gave instructions following a strategic session held on February 13, 2024 on the implementation of socio-economic development initiatives in the direction of "Technological Breakthrough" from 2025 to 2030. One of the instructions concerns the financing of IT startups, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers said on March 27, 2024.

We are talking about the federal project "Take-off - from a startup to an IPO," within the framework of which, according to the instructions of the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Finance will have to work out the issue of additional allocation of 1 billion rubles for high-tech projects in 2024. The corresponding report should be prepared no later than April 5, 2024.

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It is noted that the state program for the development of high-tech startups involves comprehensive financial and non-financial support from the moment a promising idea is grown to the stage of the company's entry into the capital market. Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses involved in a number of priority areas can count on support measures within the framework of the project "Take-off - from a startup to an IPO": artificial intelligence, communication Internet technologies, the Internet of things, new production technologies, technologies of new materials and substances, genetic technologies, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

At the end of March 2024, the Innovation Promotion Fund jointly began accepting applications for the Start-Take-Off competition, which is being implemented as part of the Take-Off - From a Startup to IPO project. Projects are selected in six thematic areas: digital technologies, medicine, new materials and chemical technologies, new devices and intelligent production technologies, biotechnology and resource-saving power. The volume of support will be 3 million rubles without co-financing the project.^[3]

Mishustin increased the volume of concessional lending to small technology companies to 1 billion rubles

The volume of the program of concessional lending to high-tech, innovative small and medium-sized businesses at 3% per annum within the framework of the federal project "Take-off - from startup to IPO" has grown to 1 billion rubles for small technology companies (MTK). Such a resolution was signed on March 12, 2024 by the Prime Minister of the RFMikhail Mishustin.

For high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises, the amount of support remained the same - at the level of 500 million rubles. Changes in the program were prepared by the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia together with the SME Corporation on behalf of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Belousov. Small technology companies eligible for the support program must apply for a concessional loan through the МСП.РФ digital platform within a month and a half.

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The expansion of support measures for small technology companies meets the task of ensuring the technological sovereignty of the country and the exchange rate for import substitution indicated by the President. Small companies producing high-tech products, preferential loans from the state in the amount of up to 1 billion rubles will allow them to actively implement projects and reach a new level of development and production. Based on this measure of support, such companies will have the opportunity to become national leaders in their industries - commented on the changes by the Minister of Economic Development of Russia Maxim Reshetnikov.

In addition, MTK is not required to undergo an examination and confirm documents to confirm innovation to receive support. At the moment, the status of MTK is assigned automatically or according to the results of the examination of 1700 companies.^[4]

2023

The Ministry of Economic Development allocates 786 million rubles for the "growth" of IT companies

The Ministry of Economic Development allocates additional funds for the "growth" of IT companies. This was reported in the press service of the department on November 28, 2023.

The next committee supported five projects under the "growing up" program in the amount of 785.9 million rubles. Collectively, 21 technology companies were supported in 2023, - said the chairman of the grant committee, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Maxim Kolesnikov at the end of November 2023.

The Ministry of Economic Development allocates additional funds for the "growth" of IT companies

Support will be directed to the development of the energy, engineering, telecommunications, chemical and nuclear industries. The funds will be St. Petersburg Tatarstan Udmurtia Kemerovo region received by technological enterprises, and, as well as Kuzbass.

One of the startups that will receive the grant is a project to develop an intelligent electricity metering device with the function of diagnosing the site of a single-phase earth fault in medium-voltage networks. Another company received funding for the production of high-load elements and structures of forests for the construction of high-rise structures that have no analogues in the Russian Federation, the press service of the ministry said.

The Ministry of Economic Development at the end of November 2023 noted that the need for technological products for supported projects from large corporations amounted to more than 45 billion rubles for the next six years. Since the beginning of the program, the grant committee has supported 53 technology companies in the amount of more than 8.1 billion rubles.

The department recalled that the purpose of the "growing up" program is to support projects of technology companies related to the development (refinement), creation (expansion) of production and the introduction of new products for the tasks of Russian corporations.^[5]

Ministry of Economic Development expands the program of "growing up" IT companies

On February 13, 2023, it became known that the Ministry of Economic Development was expanding the grant program for "growing up" IT companies within the framework of the federal project "Takeoff - from a startup to an IPO." It involves 18 largest corporations, including Gazprom, Rosneft, Russian Railways and Rosatom.

According to the draft government decree developed by the department, which Kommersant refers to, technology companies with annual revenues of 300 million rubles will be able to count on receiving grants (the previous threshold is 500 million rubles). The changes will also affect customers: the lower revenue limit for them decreases from 100 billion to 40 billion rubles.

Ministry of Economic Development expands grant program for "growing up" IT companies

The explanatory note to the project states that this will attract up to 30 new customers to the program, primarily large engineering enterprises. The approach to revenue accounting is also changing - it is proposed to count it for the entire group of enterprises of the customer corporation.

As a result, in 2022, 103 applications were submitted for the competition for the distribution of grants within the framework of the project - 32 winners received 4.75 billion rubles (in total, 10 billion rubles were allocated for this in the budget for 2022-2024). It is noted that about 30% of applicants could not participate in the selection due to the high level of extrabudgetary co-financing (at least 100% of the amount of the requested grant). As it became known in mid-February 2023, now it is proposed to link the threshold with the revenue of the enterprise: with a fork from 300 million to 2 billion rubles, it decreases to 50%, from 2 billion to 4 billion rubles - to 70%. For large enterprises with revenues from 4 billion to 10 billion rubles, it is proposed not to change the threshold.

The Ministry of Economic Development hopes that grants will allow companies to integrate into corporate supply chains and squeeze or completely replace foreign manufacturers.^[6]

2022: Russian startups received soft loans worth 15 billion rubles for the year

In 2022, Russian startups received soft loans worth 15 billion rubles as part of the federal project "Take-off - from a startup to an IPO." They were issued by SME Bank, the press service of the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation reported on February 14, 2023.

Preferential loans totaling 2.4 billion rubles were received in 2022, including residents Skolkovo within the framework of the federal project "Take-off - from a startup to an IPO." In total, 25 companies of the innovation center used the financial support of the subsidiary of the SME Corporation. As the Deputy Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation noted, by Maxim Kolesnikov 2024, within the framework of the federal project "Take-off - from a startup to an IPO," it is planned to create about 1.5 thousand new startups and support technology companies and entrepreneurs for a total of 55 billion rubles.

Building "Skolkovo"

One of the borrowers of SME Bank under the concessional lending program in 2022 was Bimeister Holding. It is engaged in the development, engineering and implementation of digital solutions for industry, creates and develops a flexible digital ecosystem based on Russian Bimeister software products.

Another borrower, Gorserv Innovations (brand) Gorserv , is implementing a project for digital platforms for managing service and repair masters for retail HOUSING AND PUBLIC UTILITIES and telecom. The companies received financing from SME Bank in the amount of 30 million rubles each.

The Ministry of Economic Development recalled that SME Bank became the operator of a program of concessional lending to high-tech innovative companies within the framework of the federal project of the Government "Take-off - from a startup to an IPO" in April 2022. The maximum loan for investment purposes or to replenish working capital is up to 500 million rubles for a period of up to three years.^[7]

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