Russian venture funds Runa Capital and Almaz Capital, Ukrainian fund TA Venture, and Kiev-based technology-park BionicHill announce the establishment of the Global Technology Foundation, which will offer grants to Ukrainian startups. The new foundation intends to supports about 10-12 startups annually with grants of approximately $30,000.
The foundation has only just been announced, but of interest for visitors to the foundation’s site will be a real-time list of startups which have applied for grants. Next to this list will be a list of startups and ratings from experts associated with the foundation. Of primary interest to the committee are startups which operate in IT, cloud services, mobile games, e-commerce, media, etc. This foundation is being promoted as the only foundation in Ukraine offering grants to promising startups in the early stages or pre-seed level. There are funding alternatives in Ukraine, of course, but this may be an option for startups who are not interested in ceding some control of the management of their operations.
Sergei Beloussov, Viktoriya Tigipko, Viktor Kryvenko, and Jeff Bayer of Almaz Capital serve on the foundation’s executive committee and a number of associates from each of the member-funds will assist in managing the foundation and rating startups.
The fund is already accepting applications.
