According to the NAFI Analytical Center, 53% of entrepreneurs

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These data were presented by Ekaterina Gavrilova, head of communications support for the national project "Digital Economy" (ANO "National Priorities"), at the Forum of Advanced Technologies on December 5.

are aware of preferential ivory coast whatsapp number database lending for IT companies, 48% are aware of grant support for IT companies and startups from the Russian Foundation for Information Technology Development (RFRIT), the Foundation for Assistance to Innovations (FAI) and the Skolkovo Foundation, and 16% of IT entrepreneurs know about the Sprint business acceleration program from the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF).

According to the research, it is preferential lending that has become the most well-known support measure: 40% of microbusiness representatives know about it, 50% of small businesses, and 64% of medium businesses. NAFI conducted the research in the summer of 2023.

As Ekaterina Gavrilova noted, developers received preferential loans in the amount of 125 billion rubles in 2023, more than 3.5 thousand IT companies received grants or underwent acceleration since 2019, and the growth in the volume of sales of solutions and services of Russian IT companies in 2022 amounted to 2.17 trillion rubles.

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Credit with a surprise. Sberbank inflated rates on preferential loans issued to IT companies
Dozens of IT companies received letters from Sberbank and, presumably, VTB Bank about increasing the interest rate on preferential loans issued under government decree No. 1598. The loan rate soared from 3% to 18.5% per annum. Sberbank claims that the Russian Ministry of Digital Development refused to provide it with subsidies for preferential lending, but the ministry denies this.

"In 2023, RFRIT supported nine particularly significant projects worth 5.3 billion rubles. The work on selecting IT companies within the framework of the ICC will continue. When the software being developed has a functional customer, this guarantees that the project will be developed, implemented and supported at all stages of its work, and subsequently scaled up. The budget for 2024 provides for the allocation of 7.2 billion rubles to the fund for grant support in the areas of development and implementation of domestic IT solutions," said Alexander Pavlov, CEO of RFRIT.

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Grants will be awarded only to IT projects selected by industrial competence centers
In 2024, the amount of grants that the Russian Information Technology Development Fund will allocate to support Russian IT solutions, including in the "smart city" direction, will amount to 7.2 billion rubles. The fund will allocate all grants only to projects selected by industrial competence centers.

According to Tatyana Soyuznova, Head of the Department of National Projects and State Programs of the Foundation for Assistance to Innovations, in 2024, support for startups under the Start program for digital solutions and Start for artificial intelligence will continue. "These are grants of up to 50 million rubles for those who already have a finished product with artificial intelligence and experience in selling this product," said Tatyana Soyuznova. According to her, funding has not yet been allocated for the Development and Commercialization programs in 2024.

For seed-level startups, there is an option to receive, if not a grant, then venture investments - acceleration programs. PJSC Rostelecom and the Internet Initiatives Development Fund have launched an investment conveyor - this program will last until the end of 2024. The total investment from Rostelecom is up to 1 billion rubles. Up to 300 million rubles can be invested in a company at a mid-stage, and no more than 50 million in startups at an early stage.

According to Denis Ryabchenkov, Vice President and Director for Development of New Digital Products at Rostelecom, the company is focused on the technological development of venture products in digital markets. "The areas that interest us include fintech, everything related to travel (trips, hotels, restaurants, leisure), creative economy, e-commerce, AgroTech, big data, industrial Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, EdTech, etc.", he noted.

In startups, Rostelecom acquires 20-25% of the authorized capital. "We leave the business we invest in its identity, its DNA of success, its culture, while helping it develop with resources and competencies. We are interested in preserving the team of founders who know the business and the product as well as possible," Denis Ryabchenkov emphasized.

The Internet Initiatives Development Fund also implements other programs, including those that do not involve investments, but help IT companies refine their products and increase sales. Since 2021, IIDF has been the operator of non-financial state support for the federal project "Digital Technologies" of the national project "Digital Economy", and within the framework of this program, IIDF conducted the "Sprint" accelerator. According to the results for 2021-2023, IIDF conducted seven "Sprint" accelerators, graduated 352 participants, whose projects showed an increase in new sales by 437 million rubles and an increase in new users of IT products by 99 thousand.

In 2022, the ComNews portal launched a special information project "IT as a priority" , the purpose of which is to inform market participants about new measures of support for the IT industry, details of their receipt and the dynamics of their provision. In 2023, in the updated project "IT as a priority 2.0", ComNews focused on studying and visually presenting the practical results of government support measures for the IT industry that its participants received in 2022.