In Irkutsk, the startup school Taiga was presented, which should help young innovative companies gain knowledge, connections and access to venture investment. As part of the presentation, the first Startup Battle was held, where students from ISU and ISTU showed three projects from an information distribution service and a geolocation app to production of the composite material oil pitch. Interest in the developments was high, one project received an award from a business angel, and another a prize from the Baikal business angels community.

The director of the start-up school “Taiga,” Yevgeny Semenov, presented the school to the community of Irkutsk business angels. Its main task is to provide employees of young innovative companies with the necessary connections and knowledge to attract venture capital investment into their projects. The head of the Department for Strategic Development and Investment Policy of the Irkutsk city administration, Andrey Surkov, noted that students of the start-up school “Taiga” will later be able to come to the Irkutsk city administration for support, as well as take part in the next Baikal Venture Fair.
As part of the presentation of the start-up school at the venture café, the first “Start-up Battle” was held, in which 3 projects were presented by students of ISU and ISTU. The first is the At content information distribution system, which increases the audience reach of information messages from 30% to 300%. The project requires 300 thousand dollars, of which a strategic investor is ready to contribute 225 thousand. The creators of the geolocation app EnterMap offer users the ability to view menus, call a waiter, and even pay the bill via their phone. For the young developers, the most important thing is to create a prototype, which requires one million rubles. These funds are what two students from the physics department of ISU are asking potential investors for.
The project to produce a composite material called “oil pitch” was presented by students of ISTU. This innovative component can be used in the construction of buildings and road surfaces, in the energy sector, and in non-ferrous metallurgy. It can be produced at ANHK, with which the company has signed an agreement to build an industrial complex using money from attracted investors, which will later be bought out by Rosneft.
Irkutsk business angel Konstantin Lagutin awarded two students from the physics department of ISU (the EnterMap app) with one thousand dollars. Other Irkutsk business angels decided to give the prize of the “Baikal Business Angels Community” to the production startup “oil pitch,” which by that time had already become a nominee of the federal “Start” competition, received a subsidy from the Irkutsk mayor’s office, and took part in the Kazan Venture Fair.