MTS StartUp Hub Center for Innovation and Investment is opening a Venture Studio to launch new technology businesses that are valuable to users of the MTS ecosystem. The new division will develop and prepare projects, created by the MTS employees and by entrepreneurs not associated with the company, for seed investment.
Any team with a technology product that has the potential for rapid growth and scaling the number of MTS ecosystem clients will become a resident of the Venture Studio. The best solutions of the studio members will receive seed funding of up to $2 million, access to resources and expertise of MTS, help from external mentors, as well as an option in launched companies of up to 20% for key team members. The model of the Venture Studio operation assumes the attraction of co-investors from among the partners of MTS and a gradual decrease in the corporation's share in the new businesses to a minority one.
Mikhail Erman is going to be the head of the studio. He moved to MTS from the Higher School of Economics, where he was leading the business incubator since 2015. The project was many times recognized as the best in Russia, and in 2020 recognized as the best in the world, according to the UBI Global AG, an independent Swedish company.
“The Venture Studio will attract talented entrepreneurs and develop the ecosystem of the company’s products. This model of cooperation will give us the opportunity to manage product development at an early stage, share expertise, and broadcast entrepreneurial experience. The company will take over all the internal processes of the project: from legal support to marketing. As a result, a startup will test product hypotheses, demand in the market, prepare business for seed financing and attract venture capitalists. This model gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to launch a business with the support of a large corporation, which reduces the risk of failure,” said Dmitry Kurin, Director of the MTS StartUp Hub Center for Innovation and Investment.
