Today, information is the blood of economic development - especially in the dynamic venture investment sphere. In Russia, the startup industry is actively progressing, but it is still young. The Russian venture capital market is non-transparent, the information about it is insufficient and not systemized, and the connections between key elements of the venture ecosystem are poor.

RVC, the government fund of funds, launched a comprehensive campaign aimed at promoting innovations and building the infrastructure of unique info-services, the 'blood-vascular system' of the venture market which would make it more transparent, fill knowledge gaps, and facilitate interaction between key players (startups and investors).

The solution included both supporting the best of existing info-services (FutuReview and the Russian Startup Rating) and creating new, unique tools: a family of ratings of venture investors; an online game giving a comprehensive idea about how the venture system works; a smart-test “What startupper are you like?” educating young entrepreneurs about the startup business, and first ever Startupper Guides to Russian cities. We also launched several special media projects taking the innovation topic out of specialized outlets to a wider audience of potential market players.

The created/supported services drew 189,354 unique visitors (90% over KPI) and 14,000 active users (40% over KPI). Media coverage reach constituted 26,488,300 impressions, and the number of startups in the RSR database grew 3-fold for the campaign period. The created info-service infrastructure became a strong basis for further development and increasing the transparency of the Russian venture ecosystem.

Timeframe: June-December’13

CREATING NEW SERVICES:

*Media ratings: TOP-25 venture funds, TOP-15 business angels, TOP-10 business accelerators (partners: PwC and RBC Publishing).

*Online game "Venture map" showing the venture ecosystem in action, from a startup idea to IPO. Also functions as an info-service: descriptions and contacts of each object.

*Smart-test. Players learn about startup business and see which founder of famous startups (Apple, Facebook... ) they resemble.

*Startupper City Guides telling about the venture ecosystem of various regions.

SUPPORTING EXISTING SERVICES:

*FutuReview (a described future service): redesigning interface and functions, expanding foresight database.

*Russian Startup Rating (a platform connecting investors and developers):

--Publishing RSR digests of startup videopitches, success stories, interviews;

--Creating and promoting TOP-50 Russian startups by RSR.

SPECIAL MEDIA PROJECTS with nationwide outlets:

*Gazeta.ru: 18 infographics integrated in articles on startups;

*Polit.ru: 4 pieces on DDI by an RVC expert.

Created/supported services’ promotion: traditional and social media, tech events.

The main outcome was the system of info-services we created, which became a strong basis for further development and increasing the transparency of the Russian venture ecosystem.

Results vs KPIs:

*The created/supported services drew 189,354 unique visitors (90% over KPI) and 14,000 active users - those who registered, left their information or took other social actions (40% over KPI).

*418 earned media hits featuring the designed/supported services (June to December 2013).

*Media coverage reach - over 26,488,300 impressions (exceeding the original KPI more than 20-fold).

*The number of startups registered in the Russian Startup Rating database grew 3-fold (before the campaign - 230, after - 700).