3TS-Cisco Growth Fund III: New Venture Fund for Eastern Europe

The private venture company 3TS Capital Partners announced the creation of a new venture fund with Cisco to invest in start-ups in Central and Eastern Europe in the field of high technologies and telecommunications ( press release ). Unfortunately, the program does not initially apply to Russian and Belarusian startups (however, exceptions may be made for outstanding applications), but Ukraine is among the main countries where 3TS-Cisco Growth Fund III venture capital will be active.

3TS traditionally operates in Central Europe, but now the list of countries has been expanded. Previously, it was only Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Estonia. Now Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia and Turkey are added.

At the initial stage, will manage capital of? 30 million.

“The countries of our region are known for their excellent innovations in the field of broadband services, wireless communications, security and communication technologies. VoIP applications, multimedia technologies, online games, mobile content and modern entertainment services are spreading very quickly in these countries. Our region has great potential for growth and development, ”said Kaan Terzioglu, Cisco Vice President for Central and Eastern Europe.
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Venture Cisco in our region is headed by Yoav Samet, head of Cisco in Israel and head of corporate business development in fast-growing countries in Europe.

Cisco started active investment activities in Russia and the CIS countries in April 2007, making an investment in the leading Russian online store Ozon.ru. In addition, the company is working on the creation of the Cisco Enterprise Institute in Russia. A partner in this project is the Skolkovo business school, the construction of which was started in Moscow. The Institute of Entrepreneurship will help Russian entrepreneurs working in the field of high technologies to acquire commercial skills. By 2010, Cisco plans to cover the entire territory of the Russian Federation, as well as some CIS countries with this program.