Russian venture funds began to invest more actively and significantly increased the number of transactions in 2013. The portal Firrma.ru and the consulting company PwC conducted an analysis of the activities of domestic funds and identified the most interesting trends in this market sector.
Researchers used data provided by the foundations themselves and information published in open sources. The rating was compiled for old and new funds that appeared on the market less than a year ago.
The authors of the rating say that they wanted to select the highest quality venture funds that showed the best return on investment (ROI) and were active in 2013.
After analyzing the Russian venture capital market, PwC experts note that the market structure remains isolated and closed. Fund managers know each other well and regularly hold joint events, but they are little known in other areas of business. In 2013, innovative startups attracted 18 percent more investments, their volume amounted to 142 million dollars. At the same time, the number of investment transactions increased by 45 percent and amounted to 98. In 2013, Russian venture funds focused on working with portfolio companies and debugging internal processes. The transparency indicator of the Russian market is 60-70 percent, and investment is unevenly distributed over time, which is typical for developing countries.
The absolute leader in the number of concluded investment transactions was Runa Capital. Representatives of Runa Capital believe that the expansion of the market and the high interest of investors in new projects in Russia helped them to achieve such indicators.
Among the funds working for less than a year, the leader was the Internet Initiatives Development Fund, which supported 34 projects. ImpulseVC and Genezis Capital venture funds, which have 15 and 9 projects in their portfolio, respectively, also showed good performance.
Researchers note that 70 venture funds work in the Russian market, among which 25 percent are new players. New funds have different stories and are created by people with financial experience or IT specialists. The model of venture capital funds in Russia follows the structure of similar funds in the United States. Project selection criteria and work with portfolio teams have an international basis. However, Western funds invest more than $ 1 million in startups in a single transaction and therefore successfully compete with venture capitalists. Russian funds work more with seed projects and more often invest in startups that have come out at the start of sales or testing a business model.
