OREANDA-NEWS  In the first half of 2023, investments in Russian startups collapsed. In annual terms, the venture capital market has declined by more than 10 times, with reference to the data of the Dsight platform, Kommersant reports.

The decline began in 2022, and by the beginning of the second half of 2023, the market had shrunk from $287 to a record $27 million. The number of transactions decreased by 21 percent, from 84 to 66. Most of the investments ($11 million) came from private funds, which is almost nine times less than in 2022. Investments of "business angels" decreased to 6.6, and corporations and corporate funds — to $ 6 million. The volume of state investments decreased to $ 2.5 million, and foreign investments — to $ 0.6 million. Venture investors have become extremely cautious and have begun to prefer mature startups, reducing support for projects at early stages. "In the current economic situation, venture investments are not a priority: some funds that invested in projects with a focus on the Russian market preferred to buy foreign companies leaving the market at a large discount," Dsight experts noted.

At the plenary session of the export forum "Made in Russia", Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov doubted that the classification of "unicorns" (startups with a market value of one billion dollars or more) is applicable for Russian realities.