Дагестан приблизился к Кремниевой долине

Dagestan can now boast playing host to a seed accelerator established by the well-known Plug & Play start-up incubator network and Summa Group owned by Ziyavudin Magomedov.

 

A seed accelerator for start-ups based on the large international network of Plug & Play business incubators has opened as part of the Dagestan State Technical University in Makhachkala. Plug & Play is one of the most well-known venture incubators of the Silicon Valley. Once it was the first office of the social network site Facebook, and now there are about 300 start-ups that have received investments from 180 investors.

 

The first Plug & Play incubator in Russia opened in Moscow in 2012. Makhachkala is now home to the second, it appeared here under the personal initiative of the owner of Summa Group, Ziyavudin Magomedov, who ultimately convinced the owners of Plug & Play who were interested in the project at the time, so reported a representative of Summa to Vedmosti.

 

Makhachkala is the birthplace of Magomedov: in an interview with Vedomosti he stated that he had lived there up until the age of 16, until, that is, he moved to Moscow to study economics at the Moscow State University. Currently, the following fall under the control of Summa – 25% of NCSP, 50% of the United Grain Company, 82% of Yakutsk Fuel and Energy Company, 32.5% of the FESCO transport group, 75% of the terminal operator at the port of Rotterdam – Shtandart TT B.V., engineering companies GlobalElectroService, Intex, Stroynovatsiya, telecommunications operator Total Telecom.

 

Now Summa manages the Plug & Play Dagestan seed accelerator: it will choose up to six start-ups once every six months and set them targets, says its representative. And six months later, Summa, together with other investors, set out to invest in the most successful projects, he says – a small venture fund can be established for investment, through which investors will invest up to one million roubles in each project. Potential returns of Summa Group shall go directly into the development of the incubator.

 

Magomedov informed Vedmosti that the target capital within the Plug & Play Dagestan project has already been realized. This is the first experience that Summa Group has undertaken in the venture capital market, but they placed a great deal of effort into it and wanted to kick on right from the start, he added.

 

A system of education and technical higher education institutions is needed for the emergence of successful innovative companies, says the CEO of Fast Lane Ventures Marina Treshchova. She couldn't recall whether there was any such institutions in Dagestan. In the words of the Head of Plug & Play Dagestan Michael Blank, Dagestan has a great foundation, when it comes to good specialists, for preparing electronics. Plug & Play Dagestan has already received applications from interesting, really innovative projects, assures Blank.