Russia's largest bank state-controlled Sberbank and Russian Venture Company (part of the sovereign Russian Direct Investment Fund) have announced they are launching a $100mn joint fund for investment in technological and science-intensive start-ups.
The fund will invest in Russia-based start-ups planning to enter the Russian market soon, also aiming for synergies with projects that are part of the Sber ecosystem.
As followed by bne IntelliNews, according to its corporate strategy, Sberbank intends to earn 5% of its net operating income from non-bank services from its digital Sber ecosystem by 2023 and 20-30% by 2030.
"No such element for the support and development of small innovative businesses existed in Russia previously," the CEO of Sberbank, German Gref, commented in a press release, adding that "together with RDIF, we aim to establish a culture of technological and science-intensive entrepreneurship in Russia to cultivate unicorn start-ups that will be competitive in the international arena."
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