The Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian), a venture fund launched in 2013 following a presidential initiative, will soon launch a special program to support virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) startups, reports Russian tech blog Firrma.ru.
The program is intended for startups with a VR/AR product or prototype in such fields as cinema, video games, sales, education, real estate, medicine, engineering and military-industrial complex.
The most promising startups may secure up to 30 million rubles (a little more than $500,000 at the current exchange rate) in investment from the IIDF. They also may have their solutions used by major companies.
To run this program, the IIDF has agreed partnerships with Samsung, Mail.ru Group and Gazprom Neft, the fourth largest oil producer in Russia. Gazprom Neft will host startups in its two technoparks located in Saint Petersburg and Omsk and may implement the most promising solutions for its own operations.
Mail.ru Group and Samsung, on their side, will provide an assessment of the commercial potential of the VR and AR projects.
Last year Mail.ru Group launched its first VR game, VR Invaders.
The IIDF previoulsy announced the launch of a VR laboratory. Opened to the fund’s portfolio companies and to non-affiliated companies, the laboratory will provide access to special equipment to develop and test prototypes, Firrma reported.
Recently the fund launched acceleration programs or other initiatives in such other fields as Big Data, financial technologies, educational technologies and IoT.
From government strategy to hidden investment
According to the Augmented and Virtual Reality Association (AVRA), investment in this segment amounted to 700 million rubles last year (around $105 million at the average exchange rate), up from 200 million rubles ($32 million) in 2015.
No fewer than 183 AR/VR companies operated in Russia (including 103 in Moscow) in 2016, according to the association, which has published a map of this market segment.
VR/AR technologies have drawn government attention at the highest level. “This market is being discussed within the National Technology Initiative,” a state project that aims to create the conditions necessary for Russia to become a global tech leader by 2035, said Yevgeny Kuznetsov of RVC, the Russian fund of funds for innovation, in September last year.
In 2015, the Advanced Research Fund (FPI in Russian), a state-run organization which some compare to the DARPA in the USA, announced plans to develop a national augmented reality technology.
In 2013 Wayray, a startup developing a navigation system that is projected onto the windscreen, was praised by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev — in whom Alexey Navalny, a fierce opponent of the Russian regime, sees a hidden investor in the company.
On a more standard venture note, last year saw the launch of a $5 million venture fund dedicated to VR projects. Dubbed ‘VRTech,’ the new fund announced that it will target startups from Russia, Asia and Europe.
