A. Aideldinov: “Foreign partners’s interest in Tatarstan companies is high”

The Second Russian Tech Tour has been held in Moscow, Kazan and Tomsk. At present, measures aimed to attract investments, to implement projects presented by the finalist companies, are being implemented.

The total amount of investment requested by the companies is 87.76 million euros, including 17.9 million euros for the companies who reached the Second Russian Tech Tour’s finals, and 69.86 million euros for the companies qualified for the finals based on presentations held in Tatarstan. The statement was made by the Tatarstan Venture Investment Fund’s director Ainur Aideldinov at a briefing at the Cabinet of Ministers.

He said the European Tech Tour Association is an independent non-profit nonpolitical organisation that aims to create conditions for cooperation between businesses, concerned parties and venture investors, which eventually helps provide financing for local companies engaged in the IT industry and facilitate their entrance to the global market.

Tech Tour is an effective platform for establishing direct contacts and facilitating communication between international and local venture funds and technology companies. It has been held annually since 1998 by the European Tech Tour Association, set up in Geneva and representing the interests of venture funds, with the total capital of $10 billion. ETT annually holds tech tours in various countries across Europe. Over the recent two years, tech tours have been held in Israel, Denmark, Italy, Switzerland and Norway. The association presents potentially successful innovative companies to large international investors, representatives from leading corporations and consultants.

The Russian Tech Tour for a few days was an effective venue for expanding investment and technology partnership between representatives from potentially successful Russian firms seeking support to enter the international market and venture investors and industry experts. This time, one of the Tech Tour’s organisers is Tatarstan, represented by the Venture Investment Fund.

“The three-day tour has allowed to attract attention from international investors to Russia’s and Tatarstan’s innovative potential, as well as to enhance the competitiveness of Russian IT industry where the projects presented within the tech tour are mostly concentrated.

The tech tour’s Kazan stage included three presentation sessions, conducted at the Kazan City Hall, Kazan University and Idea technology park. During the tech tour delegates’s stay in Kazan, they were given a broad picture of the local innovative potential, innovative infrastructure and investment attractiveness of industry branches,” noted Ainur Aideldinov. He went on to say that a total of 15 companies had been presented in Kazan, which had allowed them to substantially decrease research costs and engage highly-qualified specialists from Kazan and 6 other Russian regions. Companies presented in Kazan are among 24 private Russian innovative companies, selected to participate in the event by Russian and international experts among over 250 firms.

The finalists were selected within two stages. At the first stage, the selection committee examined applications filed by all candidates and selected 50 firms to compete in semi-finals. For the semi-finals, each of the contestants prepared a 5-minute presentation and answered questions from the committee. The selection committee includes over 20 specialists from active venture investors and representatives from Russian and Europe’s innovative infrastructure.

During the negotiations, tech tour delegates displayed an interest in the presented projects and exchanged contact information with companies, to later provide more detailed information on the projects.

The Second Tech Tour’s finalists are the Tatarstan-based Evernote and Iiko. Evernote is a new project presented by the globally famous Russian businessman, founder of the Paragraph company Stepan Pachikov. The project is based on a unique recognition technology and is dedicated to a mobile application for Apple’s iPhone communicator, as well as for the HTC, Motorola and other communicators operating on the Google Android platform. The requested investment is 8 million euros.

The Iiko company presents an integrated business management system for traditional restaurants and fast food outlets. The company set up an office at the Idea technology park in Kazan. Several projects on implementing the Iiko system in restaurants in Kazan and other Tatarstan cities are being elaborated on. The company took part in the Second Tech Tour with the purpose of finding a strategic partner.

“The Tech Tour delegates were interested in projects compliant with the IT and telecommunications industry. They are new technology, new devices and new material markets. We deliberately offer to investors projects developed in the depths of our educational establishments. We have for the past two years gained an extensive experience of dealing with foreign partners. The foreign partners’s interest in our products has over the recent years been quite high,” enhanced Ainur Aideldinov.

He said, that a long period ensues after a project is presented and before financing commences. “There are some Tatarstan projects that are of serious interest for delegates. An interest has been displayed in some companies, particularly Energolesprom, from representatives from America, Sweden and the Arkhangelsk region. The project involves thermo-chemical processing of low-quality wood and subsequent waste disposal. The interest in Tatarstan companies from foreign partners is quite high,” concluded Aideldinov.