Startups secure $20 million from Silicon Valley

An 11-week ABRT-Mangrove CEO Camp wrapped up on June 21, 2014 with several startup companies securing $20 million in funding from venture capitalists and IT investors in Silicon Valley. Hosted by ITMO University, the Camp brought together top technology experts, venture capitalists and innovative startups that worked together to kick-start cutting-edge projects.

Over 150 startups from Russia, CIS, Lithuania and Israel presented their ideas and benefited from coaching by some of the top industry experts during the 2 014 ABRT-Mangrove CEO Camp. Most of the projects involved SaaS, online services and platforms, as well as mobile services.

During the first stage that took place in St. Petersburg, the participants attended lectures and seminars, got hands on experience in workshops and worked one on one with mentors from the leading IT companies. At the end of the first stage, three projects were selected for the Deep Dive that took place in the Silicon Valley in the U.S. There they had a rare opportunity to meet face-to-face with Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital, the names behind Facebook and Google.

At the final stage, the finalists presented their projects at the Startup CEO Day to over 20 investors that included ABRT Venture Fund, Mangrove Capital Partners, Almaz Capital, Fastlane Ventures, Ru-Net, Target Ventures, MaxField Capital and others. Preliminary contracts for over $20 million were negotiated as the result of the event.

Hosting the Camp is an important step for ITMO University towards creating one of the largest high-tech platforms. Currently it already is home to a business incubator QD, SUMIT startup school and startup accelerator iDealMachine. Expanding cooperation between business and science and developing the IT sector as a whole continues to one of the top priorities for the University.