Startup Studio TechnoSpark:
facts and figures
facts and figures
Startup studio TechnoSpark was created in 2012 as a partnership between a team of entrepreneurs and the Rusnano Fund, Russia's most significant public technology investor.
For ten years, 51% of equity belonged to private partners with all the business responsibilities (I was one of the shareholders and, from 2013 to 2020, acted as a CEO).
In 2022, TechnoSpark was nationalized: 100% of the equity was taken by the government vehicle.
For ten years, 51% of equity belonged to private partners with all the business responsibilities (I was one of the shareholders and, from 2013 to 2020, acted as a CEO).
In 2022, TechnoSpark was nationalized: 100% of the equity was taken by the government vehicle.
This article was written by Denis Kovalevich.
Prepared for publishing by Max Pog.
Prepared for publishing by Max Pog.
Achievements and operations
In 2012-2021, the studio launched 120 new technology companies. Each year, the studio's venture builders launched 10-15 new startups (approximately one in a month).
110 startups, including:
80% of the startups were created by the studio without external founders.
20% of the startups had co-founders with 25 to 75% equity.
10 contract and service companies, including:
All of them were created from scratch by the studio.
Development timeline: Due to the studio's hardware and deep tech specialization, the average length of ideation, creation, pre-seed, and seed stage was 5 to 8 years.
Investment strategy: Studio opened its startups for corporate investors and VCs as soon as it passed the essential milestones and radically reduced technology and market risks.
Studio started to exit from its startups with the first external investments, keeping the relatively small part of equity for the future "pure upside."
Technology sourcing: Studio was searching for new technologies in R&D centers and universities, e.g., IMEC and KU Leuven (Belgium), Solliance, Holst, TNO (Netherlands), and Academy of Science (Russia).
Collaborative network: TechnoSpark played a leading role and shared its experience within the network of studios created in Saint-Petersburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, etc., in the form of creating joint startups, boards, and training teams.
110 startups, including:
- Plastic and flexible ICs and tags
- Solar roofs
- Energy storage systems
- EUV light sources for chip production
- Robots for non-destructive inspection of tubes
- Warehouse robots, merchandising robots
- Advanced lasers for micromachining and ablation
- Medical implants as intervertebral cages
- Composite sports equipment
- Medical equipment as ophthalmology treatment and diagnostic systems
- Artificial diamonds, etc.
80% of the startups were created by the studio without external founders.
20% of the startups had co-founders with 25 to 75% equity.
10 contract and service companies, including:
- Industrial design
- Engineering
- Metal and mechatronics fabrication
- Composite braiding
- Optical coatings
- Industrial microbiology
- Medical genomics, etc.
All of them were created from scratch by the studio.
Development timeline: Due to the studio's hardware and deep tech specialization, the average length of ideation, creation, pre-seed, and seed stage was 5 to 8 years.
Investment strategy: Studio opened its startups for corporate investors and VCs as soon as it passed the essential milestones and radically reduced technology and market risks.
Studio started to exit from its startups with the first external investments, keeping the relatively small part of equity for the future "pure upside."
Technology sourcing: Studio was searching for new technologies in R&D centers and universities, e.g., IMEC and KU Leuven (Belgium), Solliance, Holst, TNO (Netherlands), and Academy of Science (Russia).
Collaborative network: TechnoSpark played a leading role and shared its experience within the network of studios created in Saint-Petersburg, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Tomsk, Irkutsk, Vladivostok, etc., in the form of creating joint startups, boards, and training teams.
Impact and international presence
Startups and contract companies of the studio through the ten years created from scratch more than 600 high-tech working places directly and 4000 indirectly. For the studios's startups and contract companies, a new private technology park was built near Moscow. The park was nominated as the most efficient one in Russia in 2016-22.
Studio has two international HQs: in High-Tech Campus (Eindhoven, Netherlands) and Tsinghua Science Park (Beijing, China)
Studio has two international HQs: in High-Tech Campus (Eindhoven, Netherlands) and Tsinghua Science Park (Beijing, China)
Funding
The studio gathered investments from its private and public shareholders in two ways: direct investments in the capital of the startup studio (5%) and long-term convertible loans (95%).
The total amount of investments attracted and uninvested in companies by TechnoSpark, exceeded €100M.
The total amount of investments attracted and uninvested in companies by TechnoSpark, exceeded €100M.
Hi, this is Max Pog, we've recorded a podcast episode with Denis Kovalevich. Watch it:
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