How we started helping startups and what is happening now. We are talking about a new investment experience for us.
For a long time, the corporate cloud provider Cloud4Y and startups practically did not intersect in any way. But one day we realized that we could benefit in this market, also having received something necessary in return. This understanding came thanks to participation in the Web Summit 2019 conference in Portugal (we wrote about this earlier), where the Cloud4Y team received a tremendous boost of energy, as well as several investment proposals.
We were amazed at how easy it is for foreign business accelerators and private investors to invest in startups that seem promising to them. Comfortable conditions for growth are created for young companies, and the investments often pay off. In Russia with worse investments, the requirements are tough and the selection is more severe. So starting a new business is not easy here.
Therefore, Cloud4Y decided to support startups that are able to offer a product that is useful to our customers and partners. But not just invest in them, demanding your interest, but allocate a specific amount of money for the development of the project, without requiring a share in the capital and return of funds. In total, it was decided to allocate 30,000,000 rubles to support startups. We immediately decided that we were ready to cooperate not only with Russian companies; applications from foreign companies are also considered.
The Cloud4Y program aims to accelerate the growth of growth stage startups. We provide information resources for starting a business, creating a product, launching sales, etc., we offer all the benefits of working in an already created ecosystem of Cloud4Y partners and clients. We are also training participants to more effectively use the capabilities of the cloud infrastructure.
All the basic requirements for a start-up support program participant can be found in our profile ( ru / eng ). We understand that it should be as simple as possible, but at the same time provide the data necessary to evaluate a startup. Therefore, we ask companies for a minimum of data.
In short, the company is required to:
- An innovative technical solution that helps customers in digital transformation
- Age not older than 3 years
- Does not belong to the state
As you can see, it is not difficult to get a grant. It is important for us to have an MVP (minimum viable product), thanks to which the idea of a startup could be “touched” and evaluated.
How did the startup support project develop?
We announced the launch of the program at the end of November. We launched an advertisement, published a press release, and made a mailing list. And ... there was silence for two weeks. But then the calls came. Basically, these were people who did not understand exactly what we were offering, but wanted to get it here and now, because "For free!". But there were also some very interesting projects. Want an example? Easy!
One of the first companies we signed a contract with was an interesting startup dealing with speech recognition technologies and working with voice data - Fonemica. This is a Russian company providing speech technology tools and speech analytics service, founded in 2018 by Igor Basco. The team is developing technologies for speech recognition and synthesis, speech analytics, voice robots. The company also develops technologies for moderating audio and video streams online and offline, offering business intelligence and hardware solutions based on artificial intelligence. Since 2019, Fonemica is a member of the Association of Artificial Intelligence Development Laboratories, and is also included in the National Strategy for the Support and Development of Artificial Intelligence in the Russian Federation.
In one month, the Fonemica team deployed on the VMware platform provided by Cloud4Y, a cloud-based infrastructure model of their own services, configured according to the individual parameters of the company under their own administration. During the implementation phase, Cloud4Y also provided Fonemica with GPU cloud computing.
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Cloud technologies have become an excellent catalyst for business, helping a Russian start-up test and introduce new ideas into its product, offer customers more flexible, easily customizable and scalable services. Another plus was the understanding of the company's real needs for IT infrastructure and the ability to build long-term IT budgets.
Subtotals
During the course of the program, we received 16 promising applications for using the Cloud4Y cloud infrastructure, applying some solutions to develop our own services and improve the quality of services for our customers.
The leaders of startups, in turn, noted the rapid processing of applications and real support from the cloud provider. The facilities provided by the company helped accelerate the launch of the project, organize R&D, increase the reliability of the services, and also reduce the cost of IT infrastructure. The possibility of using almost unlimited resources and the high quality of the services provided made it easier to enter the market.
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Please note that the startup support program is still in operation. If you have an idea and a product, but no resources for development - write or call us. It will be great if we can help you.