Alexei Lossan — Russia extends credit to new businesses

Misleading headline and lede. Loans are to existing companies with proven markets. Innovation is limited to new product development rather than start-ups. These are targeted bridge loans.

To stimulate new enterprises, Russia has created a separate organization, the Industry Development Fund, which provides soft loans to promising projects, including those with foreign participation. In an interview with RBTH, the head of the fund, Alexei Komissarov, explained which projects are eligible for funding.…

RBTH: Do you fund projects only at an early stage?

AK: Not necessarily. The fund was created to solve the problem of obtaining financing when creating new or expanding existing production, but we are not talking about seed or even preseed funding. We are considering projects from existing companies with clear sales markets and customers, where the price is clear and the risk is minimal; that is, we are not talking about venture capital investment.

The aim of the fund is to help fund financing in three stages when banks do not give loans: pilot-plant stage, design work, engineering, etc. Our fund provides them with debt financing at 5% per year in rubles for a period of 5-7 years and for 700 million rubles.…

Getting around the high policy rate.

Russia Beyond the Headlines
Russia extends credit to new businessesAlexei Lossan