Investments in numbers. How ICOs and cryptocurrencies are changing the venture capital market. Encyclopedia of Marketing Types of Venture Investments

09.11.2021

Venture investment is a relatively young concept for Russian investors. The tool is just entering our lives and is gaining momentum. It is intended for the development of promising areas of activity, the implementation of innovative and innovative ideas, the authors of which do not have their own funds for their implementation. That is, in essence, this is the contribution of personal capital to the business of another person in the hope of receiving income in the future.

concept

Venture investments are a kind of investment in a company, which involves investments at the beginning of its formation. For the most part, these are risky investments when there is no way to calculate the potential profit. In this case, business is innovation, innovative ideas, completely new technologies, for the implementation of which no bank will provide a loan.

Bottom line: An investor invests in a promising entrepreneur who has an innovative idea and wants to bring it to life. In this case, the investor receives a share in the new enterprise, real value which cannot be determined, since, in fact, there is no business yet. For example, if you buy shares of an existing company, then at any time you can sell them, seeing that its activities are becoming unprofitable. And this will return at least part of the investment.

In the case of venture investments, it is impossible to sell shares, since they are worth nothing, because, we repeat, the company does not yet conduct any activity and business. The entrepreneur in whom the funds are invested can either create a profitable company or go bust without realizing their ideas.

Also, the volume of venture investments cannot be fully calculated exactly, because in most cases the market for products manufactured by an entrepreneur often does not yet exist, or there is, but in its infancy.

Peculiarities

Let us single out the distinctive features of the considered type of investments:

They are carried out both in new and existing companies.
Investments go to those enterprises and innovators who release or want to launch a unique product on the market, thereby forming a new niche. These entrepreneurs and companies are called venture capital.
The experience of managers is the main criterion in determining the prospects for the possibility of obtaining funding.
An entrepreneur gives a stake in a business to a venture investor.
Return on investment occurs over a long period.
Having reached the minimum profitability, in most cases the company switches to other types of financing. Often through an IPO (share issue), sale of a business, etc.
The venture investment market makes it possible to receive up to 50% profit by the time the company reaches normal liquidity.

That is, this is a highly profitable type of investment, but it is necessary to keep in mind the maximum level of risk in the form of non-return of investments in principle.

Differences from other types

Strategic investments (or corporatization) are investments in already operating enterprises, the purchase of a share of shares, replenishment authorized capital. Despite the apparent similarities, there are differences:

Direct venture investments are made at the initial stages of the company's formation, in fact, it is created with these funds. Strategic investment is an entrance to an already operating company.
Venture investments have an increased level of risk, one might say, the maximum. Shares can lose a little in value, but there is practically no chance of their total depreciation. A venture project, on the contrary, can fail completely.
Strategic financing involves the purchase of a controlling stake in order to control the company. Venture investors only buy a share of the income in the created.
The amount of venture capital investment is often significantly greater than corporatization, since a completely new product is launched on the market, for which it is necessary to create its own niche and demand.
The potential profit margin of venture capital companies is an order of magnitude higher than that of strategic financing. For example, the most successful company cannot give more than 25% of the price of the entire package per year, while a successful startup can significantly increase the amount of invested funds.

The benefits of such investments

For an aspiring entrepreneur with an innovative idea, venture capital investments are ideal. With the receipt of funds for the implementation of his ideas, he does not have any obligations to the investor: the business is conducted on the basis of mutual assistance, the implementation of a common project. Of course, an entrepreneur gives away a share in his business, but this is a better option than not implementing the idea at all, moreover, if you understand its benefits and potential profits.

For an investor, by and large, startups are profitable. With their help, he gets a lot of opportunities. However, as with anything, it has its pros and cons.

Advantages of such investments

Let's list the main points:

1. In case of successful implementation of the project, the income from investments is maximum. If you find a successful project with real prospects, there is every chance to earn a large amount and become a co-owner of a large successful company in the future. There are examples when investments in innovations brought about 1000% profit per year in comparison with initial investments.

2. To get a tangible part in the company, there is no need to invest tens of thousands of dollars. A small amount is enough to start a company. For some investors, it is better to own 50% in a startup than 0.05% in a large corporation.

3. This kind of investment provides tremendous management experience that can be useful in the implementation of new ideas.

Cons for the investor

Here are the following:

Investments are associated with a high level of risk. Not every entrepreneur brings the implementation of his idea to the end. Having decided to invest in innovation, it is better to mentally prepare that there will be no return of funds, as well as income.
It happens that in the role of entrepreneurs there were scammers who did not have any innovative ideas. In order not to become a victim, before transferring funds, it is important to conclude an agreement where it is necessary to prescribe all the details of cooperation.

Types of venture investments

Allocate:

seed capital. The idea and business concept is fully developed, which means additional costs for research and prototyping.
A new company just launching its product on the market. Investments go to the subsequent development and refinement of the product, sometimes - to the initial marketing.
Expansion of activities. Investments are made in companies at the stage of rapid growth, but which need additional capital to increase productivity.
Acquisition of a controlling stake. The limited funds force the managers of their company to resort to a venture capitalist.
Acquisition of shares by outside investors. External managers join an existing team with the intention of acquiring the business.
Adjustment of the status of the enterprise. The top management of the company moves the company from open to closed so that venture investors can buy back its shares.

Who conducts such activities

The most common investors of such investments are - individuals, in the business community they are called business angels because they are willing to risk their savings and invest in a very risky project. In most cases, they are not interested in profit, because they have a regular source of income, investing in startups for them is for the sake of business prospects.

There is also a venture capital fund. Their professional activity is investing in startups, but at the same time they are more scrupulous about their money. To receive investments, an entrepreneur needs to write a detailed business plan for the implementation of his idea and prove it. It is not enough for the Fund to have just an idea, it needs guarantees.

Often, such funds choose those projects that entrepreneurs offer, having already successfully implemented their ideas and projects.

Sometimes venture investments are made by large concerns, joint-stock companies, or large corporations with different activities.

The state also has the opportunity to invest in innovative projects, but to get them you need to go through bureaucratic formalities.

The development of the military-industrial complex is the first venture investment in Russia. The first venture fund appeared about 20 years ago.

Today they are developing, but for certain reasons at a slow pace. Only a culture of investments and legislation is being created.

Results

Venture capital investment is a type of investment that involves huge prospects with a very high level of risk. In general, such investments are made by individuals (or companies) who are willing to part with a large amount of money, with only vague prospects of potentially high profits.

For the last three years, the development of the classic venture capital market in Russia has been determined by the growth of the economy as a whole. The size of the market did not exceed $150 million, and the number of transactions was at the level of 200. The share of venture investments in Russia in relation to GDP significantly loses to the world average at all stages of the venture cycle. Thus, at the Seed/Round A stage, the Russian market is eight times behind, and at the later stages (B/C/D) it is already 47 times behind. Russia holds a 1.5% share of the global venture market in terms of the number of projects funded, which corresponds to only 0.1% in dollar terms.

Unlike other markets, Russia has a very low share of late-stage investment, with a third of early-stage investment coming from state-owned venture capital funds. If corporate venture funds become the main growth driver in the world, then in Russia there has been a reverse trend and “ specific gravity» corporate funds among venture capital transactions is slowly declining. If in 2012 they accounted for about 13% of transactions, by 2016 this figure had dropped to 9%.

The market for venture "exits" in Russia also leaves much to be desired. According to various estimates, the volume of exits from projects in 2016 amounted to $50-60 million, while $30 million came from the sale of mobile game developer Pixonic to Mail.ru Group. Most of the "successful" exits are write-offs or so-called distressed sales (urgent sales to pay off debt), which greatly distorts the statistics. Today, successful funds are starting to either look at foreign companies or prepare Russian startups for sale to a foreign investor.

In this situation, can classical venture investments stimulate the development of the digital economy? We see several opportunities and preconditions for the market to revive. One of the most interesting is the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) phenomenon, which can significantly change the vector of development of the digital economy in Russia and bring blockchain technologies into the everyday life of citizens.

ICO vs. venture

It is hard to underestimate the scope of the growing crypto economy and the opportunities it creates. Over the past year, the market capitalization of the seven largest cryptocurrencies has increased more than eight times, exceeding $100 billion. Currently, there are more than 800 cryptocurrencies in the world, nine of which have a capitalization of more than $1 billion. funds, and classic venture players are actively investing in blockchain, having invested about $232 million in projects based on this technology in the second quarter of 2017 alone.

Of course, the ICO market, like the blockchain technology itself, is quite young, and the number of offers on it still prevails over the quality. But the crypto market has serious fundamental reasons for growth, which should not be discounted. It does not carry significant transaction costs, unlike the classic foreign exchange market. Its volume now amounts to about 2% of the value of all gold mined in the world, and the number of cryptocurrency wallets ranges from 6-12 million. Given the high profitability of digital assets and the transparency of blockchain operations, in the future, more and more people will store money in cryptocurrencies and carry out in them payments.

The ICO market fuels the growth of the crypto-economy and is gradually becoming an effective mechanism for financing projects on the blockchain, making little but very effective competition in the early stages of the classic venture capital market.

Over the past year, the global ICO market has raised more than $1 billion. In June and July 2017, the volume of funds raised through ICOs exceeded the global investment venture funds at an early stage. Professional investors are actively entering the crypto market, who are starting to set the rules of the game and determine the development of the industry. In this regard, the first unicorns began to appear on the cryptocurrency market. For example, crypto broker Coinbase was valued at $1.6 billion. In August of this year, he managed to raise $100 million from such venerable venture capital funds as IVP, Greylock and Battery Ventures.

If you look at the distribution of crypto investments by sector, then projects aimed at creating a blockchain infrastructure and using this technology in fintech still prevail. It is fintech that will most likely be the first industry to switch to funding primarily through ICOs in the coming year. As the cryptocurrency market develops, the ICO industry will spread its mandate to more industries that are in demand in the development of the digital economy.

Volume Russian market By the end of 2017, ICOs will exceed the volume of closed deals conducted by classical venture funds. Thus, in the course of the five largest ICOs with Russian roots alone, $190 million was raised this year, which is already more than the result of the entire Russian venture capital market in 2016 (MobileGo - $53 million, Russian Mining Center - $43 million, SONM - $42 million). , BlackMoon Cpypto - $30M, KICKICO - $21M).

It can already be stated that blockchain-based projects receive much more funding than the rest of the venture capital market. Unfortunately, while 99% of projects are hosted outside of Russia.

What's next

In the coming years, key centers of cryptoeconomics will be formed in the world, which will concentrate most of the operations and assets in this market, giving a significant impetus to their own digital economy through the introduction of blockchain technologies. The pace of change in the industry is astonishing right now. Each of the countries is trying to find the most effective model for regulating transactions with cryptocurrencies, including ICOs. For example, from April 1, 2017, Japan allowed cryptocurrency exchanges to operate on its territory and exempted exchange operations with cryptocurrencies from taxes.

Singapore not only legalized cryptocurrency platforms, but also formed a fairly liberal position on regulating the issue and sale of digital currencies. Many countries, such as the USA, Switzerland, Estonia, are developing more and more understandable rules of the game, on the basis of which projects will be able to conduct ICOs. Changes are happening every day. In fact, we are witnessing a global competitive war of jurisdictions. Russia could take a leading position in this fight by offering effective crypto-tools and a regulatory ecosystem, but for this it is necessary to act extremely quickly.

Article based on the materials of the forthcoming collection on the digital economy, prepared by the Skolkovo Foundation.

The vast majority of new funds that entered the market in 2016 are venture funds, among which the share of funds with state participation is still no more than 15% (against 30% in 2015). At the same time, the distribution of industry preferences of existing venture funds has not changed significantly: almost two-thirds of the funds are focused on the ICT sector, which is also confirmed by the statistics of investments of venture funds in 2016 - more than 80% of investments, both in volume and number, were made in the sector ICT. We can also state the persistence of regional disproportions in the distribution of venture investments - over 90% of the volume of investments of venture funds is directed to companies located in the Central federal district.

Now, perhaps, it is premature to say that the Russian venture capital market has overcome all the consequences of economic and political instability - the last time after the crisis of 2008-2009. it took the market two years to win back lost positions and reach pre-crisis levels. And it is also impossible to talk about long-term stability and predictable certainty in the economy and politics.

However, even under these conditions, the Russian venture capital market traditionally demonstrates enviable resilience. In 2015, we could observe a significant drawdown of the VC capital market — by almost $0.5 billion, which was caused primarily by the impact of the devaluation of the national currency, due to the fact that the capital of funds denominated in rubles in 2014 accounted for more than a third in the venture capital sector. But only in the first half of 2016, to use exchange terminology, the fall was partially won back: $36 million came to the market due to the emergence of new players, including private ones. According to preliminary data for the first half of 2016, the total capital of all venture funds operating in Russia amounted to $4.1 billion. 4 billion dollars and continuing to lose ground in 2016 - here, in addition to the devaluation already mentioned above, the forced withdrawal of foreign capital from the market also played a role (Fig. 1).

The role of the state in the venture capital market

A feature of the Russian venture investment market is the active involvement of the state in the formation and development of the venture ecosystem. Whether this is good or bad is a rhetorical question, but it should be noted that the state contributes to the development of infrastructure and saturates the market with money in those segments in which it is interested, but where private investment is not yet ready. More than a quarter of the volume of the Russian venture capital market belongs to funds with participation state capital(Fig. 2, 3).

Industry agenda

In addition, the influence of the state can be traced in the formation of the industry investment agenda: if the vast majority of private venture funds are focused on the ICT sector, then funds with state participation for the most part prefer the sector of real or mixed technologies. This position "puts" the state in the role of an industry regulator - it contributes to the formation of demand for projects in related technology industries such as the Internet of Things, the sphere of "big data", electronics, and new materials. In the future, this will ensure that the sectoral investment imbalance is corrected away from the ICT sector.

More and more attractive, for example, has recently become for investors the sector of medicine and biotechnology. This area provides interest in itself with long-term consumer demand and a large market capacity. The largest portfolio of funds investing in biotechnologies was formed with the participation of RVC.

This year, for example, on the Russian venture capital market, several notable deals have already been concluded in the biotech sector: the Seed Fund in the field of living systems, created by KSI Ventures and the RVC Seed Investment Fund, sent to the design of the device for the correction of insomnia "SONYA" and the project "Brain Beat" to develop a non-invasive glucometer. And the biomedical company Viriom attracted 300 million rubles. for further development and promotion of a domestic innovative drug for the treatment of patients with HIV infection. The investors were the Skolkovo Foundation, which provided half of the investment in the form of a grant, the foreign venture fund Torrey Pines Investment and the ChemRar company.

However, the ICT sector is still the most attractive in terms of funds. A low entry threshold and a high rate of "return" have undoubtedly been and will be more interesting to investors than the prospects for serious investments in projects that require a long process of bringing a real product to the market. In fairness, we note: no one expects that the industry real sector in the foreseeable future will lead the list of aggregate investment preferences of market players. However, the trend towards correcting the disproportionate preponderance of the ICT sector is already very clear. This, in addition to the activity of the state investment and institutional sectors in this direction, is also explained by the fact that investors are persistently trying to find new growth points (Fig. 4, 5).

As already mentioned, the echoes of the crisis are still introducing an element of instability into Russian economy, so investors are in no hurry to “open their wallets”. The fall purchasing power and poorly predictable market conditions are not the best allies in the search for portfolio companies. The presence of predictable and long-term consumer demand for investors is a very important factor. The crisis, no doubt, made adjustments to the investment strategy of funds: on the one hand, investors and companies began to take a more sober approach to estimating the value of businesses, which made it possible to significantly reduce the price of entering a project, and on the other hand, the current market situation requires a more careful approach to the selection companies in the portfolio, since not every company that is ready to show dynamic growth in the conditions of “economic prosperity” is able to survive in turbulent times. The bar for the qualitative assessment of projects seeking investment is being raised (Fig. 6, 7).

Regional projects and investments

There is money on the market, there is nowhere to invest — such is the mood of venture industry experts today. From the technical side, there are no big complaints about the projects - the level of scientific training of domestic specialists has always been at its best. But the business component is lame. The layer of serial entrepreneurs is relatively thin.

The current regional distribution of investments very eloquently speaks of another disproportion typical for the Russian venture capital market: over 90% of the volume of investments of venture funds goes to companies located in the Central Federal District (Fig. 8, 9).

And if we talk about what needs to be done to develop venture investment in the regions, then special attention in this situation should be paid to the orientation of entrepreneurs to enter global markets - even with promising developments, companies often do not see a market outside of Russia. And this is at best: they can build a development strategy based on regional limits, and such “ambitions” are not the best ally when trying to attract a venture capital investor. The development of infrastructure and the removal of unnecessary administrative barriers should be accompanied by the establishment of international scientific and technical cooperation, the active involvement of institutions, big business and industry.

The formation of a “critical mass” of technology entrepreneurs aimed at developing a competitive, rapidly growing and globally oriented business, and most importantly, having the appropriate competencies and mentality, is a long-term task. However, the situation that is already taking shape today makes it possible to look into the future with confident optimism, which is probably the most important quality of entrepreneurs and venture investors.

Greetings, dear readers of the blog!

Today we are considering such concepts as venture investments and a venture investor, the advantages and disadvantages of such investments.

Venture investment is a kind of investment intended as an investment Money in start-up or growing organizations where the activity is caused by a high or moderate level of risk. Usually, financial instruments implemented in organizational structures, where they specialize in innovative, engineering and research and development, technology development in need of the market.

Investments are divided into certain stages:

early
stages of growth and expansion

Venture investments are predominantly invested in the early stages, where they fall into three subcategories:

Presowing. A significant amount is allocated here for the development of concepts for the future business.
Sowing. Funding is provided to complete product development and initial marketing.
First. Funding is provided to start commercial production and sales.

Risk is the main difference from more traditional investing I. After all, banking organizations, due to high risks, will not provide direct credit assistance, and private investors or venture funds will become the main source of financing.

What is a venture fund?

Venture fund is an investment direction fund focused on interaction with “new generation” companies, or with start-ups. By the word startup, we mean a project. Venture funds have found their niche for a long time, because the legislation of most countries allows such risky investments.

Both individuals and companies can become participants in such a fund, pension funds, banking organizations. As a rule, the founders of a venture company often contribute their share of the money.

Initially, the fund's portfolio can include from 8-13 companies. For a long time (5-8 years) objects develop and grow. After organizations become successful in their activities, the venture fund sells its shares through shares, or sells it to a private investor.

On the basis of cooperation with the fund, there is a contract (agreement) on partnership on limited rights. Investors who invest in the fund are called "LPs - limited partners" - limited partners, and persons who invest the accumulated funds of the fund in developing organizations are called "GPs - general partners" - main partners.

In 2005, venture capital funds completed a record 5,000 deals in the US, with a total investment of around $7 million.

Venture investor

Venture investor is a common face
company invests with
high potential opportunities. Such investors are called "Business Angels". As a rule, such “angels” are the main source of funding and assistance for a startup, but if the project is not successful and fails, the venture investor will not be able to return his spent money.

The subject for investment can be not only projects, but also unrealized ideas. At the same time, business angels at a professional level try to control their risks as much as possible and take part in the project in every possible way, namely:

determine an effective startup strategy;
personal vision and accumulated experience;
apply all kinds of connections;
attract partners and future customers (users);

Often, investors act together, pooling their resources. Thanks to cohesion, the risks of venture investments will be reduced significantly.

In our country, such investments are not as developed as in the USA or in Europe, where about 50,000 transactions with a total volume of $500,000 are carried out annually.

According to Igor Gladkikh, in Russia, angel investors try not to advertise themselves and often execute grant programs. But there are some associations of venture investors in the Moscow region and in the eastern regions. Thanks to statistics conducted in 2015, the majority of business angels invested in projects in the information technology industry. Well, we hope that they fully justify themselves.

Advantages and disadvantages

Probably, initially it is necessary to focus on the fact that venture investors are people who have not a small income, an average of 150-250 thousand dollars. The venture investment market attracts, first of all, with high profitability, compared to the stock exchange or real estate. It is worth considering in more detail what advantages and disadvantages "angel" investments have.

Advantages:

Venture investors give impetus to the development of new technologies, scientific discoveries and
inventions.
They can act both individually and together with several venture investors
They expect their money back in 3-4 years. This gives a definite plus, since the object will have enough time to realize itself during this time.
For their investments, they claim only a part of the shares of the company with voting rights
The financial market is so wide that it allows you to find a business angel on any continent if a startup manages to interest him.

Disadvantages:

Financing occurs only at the initial stage of the organization (project).
Lack of wide reputation. Subsequently, they may not turn out to be angels, but “devils”.
Careful study of the object and making the final decision take a lot of time. This can take anywhere from six months to six months.

As a rule, business angels are people with suggestible capital: successful businessmen and investors. Most of them have already gained professional experience, they can clearly analyze and make forecasts. But no one excludes the possibility of becoming a venture investor and investing small amounts in the projects of people we know or are close to us.

And finally, an interview with a venture investor from Ukraine:

(IIDF) collected statistics of all venture transactions in the Russian market for 2016 and the first half of 2017. The data obtained clearly shows who in Russia is now investing in startups and in which areas they are investing most actively. Based on the numbers, we made an infographic - it will help aspiring entrepreneurs understand who they can turn to for money for their business.

We divided all investors into five types:

Accelerators

Private investors

(can invest individually, in syndicates or through specialized crowdinvesting platforms)

Private foundations

State funds

Companies

(corporate investments of both the companies themselves and the funds created with their participation)

Accelerators (first of all, IIDF) and business angels showed the highest activity during the period under review - 119 and 104 transactions, respectively. Private funds closed 80 deals, and corporate investors - 66. Funds and accelerators with state participation financed 24 startups. Another six investments were made by foreign state funds. However, in terms of project financing, the picture is diametrically opposite.

Most of the money in the Russian venture market was spent by companies and funds affiliated with them (about 27.8 billion rubles) and private funds (19 billion). They are followed by private investors (6.6 billion) and accelerators (about 1.1 billion). The reason for this is simple: accelerators and private investors usually invest in small amounts in the early stages of startup development, while funds and corporations invest in later stages and in larger checks. The list is closed by state funds, which have invested only 724 million rubles. The small state funding is due to the fact that most state funds - such as the Bortnik Fund - invest money in science-intensive projects in the form of grants, not counting on a return on investment.

How we thought

When calculating the volume of financing for venture projects, transactions were not taken into account, the amounts of which were not disclosed. At the same time, we considered all investments in Russian startups, including from foreign funds and investors. For example, transactions with the participation of the American accelerator 500 Startups and the Chinese Internet giant Alibaba were included in the calculations - he invested $ 15 million in the Russian startup Way Ray (develops augmented reality technologies for car navigation - Inc.).

The volume of money in the corporate segment was also affected by several large transactions for the purchase of already successful Internet projects: for example, the purchase of the Delivery Club food delivery service by the Mail.Ru Group holding for 5.8 billion rubles.

The patient is more likely to be alive Interviewed Inc. investors agree that some kind of "life" in the Russian market is "glimmering". However, the direction of movement of the Russian venture remains unclear.

Statistics and comments of market participants show that the mood is still rather pessimistic. Thus, a study by MoneyTree (conducted annually by PwC) showed that the total size of the Russian market for high-risk investments in 2016 decreased by 29% - from $232.6 million to $165.2 million, while the number of transactions concluded increased very slightly - from 180 to 184 This did not take into account transactions, the size of which amounted to less than $50,000 - they are reflected in the IIDF statistics. It is "angel" transactions that now make up the bulk of all activity in the venture capital market.

According to the annual Venture Barometer survey, in 2016 the optimism of Russian investors decreased. As part of the study, respondents were asked how the number of transactions in Russia would increase by 2022. In 2016, 34% of Russian investors predicted a significant growth (in 2015 they were 40%), and a slight increase - 43% (in 2015 - 13%). On the other hand, in 2015, 25% of respondents expected a “significant decrease” in the number of transactions, while in 2016 only 6% shared this opinion.

partner of the iTech Capital fund:

Market sentiment is now ambivalent. On the one hand, there seem to be deals, some kind of “movement” is taking place ... But all this resembles Brownian movement - there is no single vector and understanding of where it all is heading.

Inc. learned from the representatives of the Russian venture market - what they consider the trends of these one and a half years.

Trend #1: New Investors

According to Alexey Solovyov from iTech Capital, recently more and more deals on the market are concluded by those who came to the venture industry for the first time. These are, as a rule, wealthy people and their family offices, who now directly invest in startups. In the Venture Barometer survey of Russian investors (Soloviev does it annually), 56% of respondents named this as one of the trends of the past year.

The liquidity crisis pushed people with free money to look for new investment strategies, says Vitaly Polekhin, head of the National Association of Business Angels. According to him, over the past year, many medium-sized entrepreneurs and top managers of corporations have joined the "angels". Traditional investment instruments (deposits and stock market) they have already tested - now it's the turn of startups.

IIDF data also illustrates the activity of "new" investors. One of them, Alexander Rumyantsev, used to work in the stock market, and about a year ago he began investing in startups. Now he is the most active business angel in Russia (he has already invested in 30 projects). “Russian venture is still young and is at the same stage as the stock market was 15 years ago,” Rumyantsev said. In his opinion, most investors are still afraid to take risks and play by the still unformed rules.