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bne Tech
April 26, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 26
MTS launches corporate fund to invest $15mn in startups
Gunter Deuber of Raiffeisen Research in Vienna
Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), one of Russia’s main mobile operators, has launched a corporate venture fund targeting startups across Russia and neighbouring countries. The fund expects to invest around RUB1bn (approximately $15mn at the current exchange rate) in early-stage startups over the next two years, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
Last year the corporation launched an in-house accelerator, MTS StartUp Hub, but startups may receive funding from the new corporate fund inde- pendently from their participation, or not, in this accelerator.
Through its accelerator, equity investments and acquisitions, MTS aims to develop an ecosystem of services and products that go beyond the tra-
ditional telecom sector. Last year, for example, the operator acquired two online event ticketing companies as well as an international eSports club. It also has stakes in Ozon, one of the largest Russian e-commerce companies.
As a result, MTS offers a variety of mobile appli- cations (MTS Taxi, MTS Music, MTS Books, etc.), B2B cloud solutions, data analysis based on Big Data, cybersecurity systems and telemedicine services.
MTS aims to support its startups in Russia and beyond: “We are developing a network across the world’s key centres of innovation, opening repre- sentation office there,” MTS Innovation Center’s director Vladimir Khrenkov was quoted as saying.