A number of Venture Capital Funds were launched in Securities and Exchange Organization to improve investments in knowledge-based companies in Iran. The head of the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology and a number of active CEOs were present at this ceremony.
In this ceremony, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Sorena Sattari, the Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology and Mohammad Fetanat, the head of Securities and exchange organization. “The supreme leader of Iran has stated, 20 percent of the country’s revenue streams should be provided from the knowledge-based activities until 1404 Persian year (2025). He has also named this year “Resistance Economy: Action and Implementation”. In respect to supreme leader’s command, the tenth financial institution of the capital market will be born in this ceremony,” said Mohammad Fetanat, the head of Securities and exchange organization. This MoU has been signed with the aim of using capital market capacities for the growth and developments of knowledge-based products and services in order to fulfill the objectives of ‘Resistance Economy’. Following the speeches, five venture capital funds received licenses to officially operate in the country.
Sarava Venture Capital Fund, Armani Development Fund, Partian Venture Capital Fund, Royan Persian Health Fund, Yekom Arman Fund, are the 5 funds that received their licenses according to this agreement. The aim of this trend is that young companies which have a high growth rate potential get their investments, unlike other capital funds that invest in a stock exchange.
In the past two years, Vice-Presidency of Science and Technology tried to pave the way for science-based companies in terms of funding. “We didn’t have a coherent and systematic movement towards venture capital funds in Iran. But with this initiative I hope we would have good medium-term results for the presence of knowledge-based companies in the capital market and create a department in the Vice-Presidency of Science and Technology,” stated Alireza Daliri, Management and Resource Development Deputy at Vice-Presidency of Science and Technology. “This agreement has a few pillars. One of them is education. Education provides a platform for knowledge-based companies to enter the stock exchange. Another pillar of the MoU is related to tools and financial institutions. It is possible that we might have a new entity (meaning VC) for funding knowledge-based companies. The head of Securities and Exchange Organization have told us that they look at these companies in a long-run. We hope these MoUs pave the way for knowledge-based companies.”
It’s no secret that oil and gas has a big share in Iran’s economy and the government is trying to move away from this type of economy. “We should change the culture from oil-based thinking and oil-based economy to a knowledge-based economy and to reach this goal all the people should be involved in technology and research fields. It needs hard work and time,” said Head of science and technology culture development committee.
With the launch of venture capital funds, a new approach for funding new ideas will be provided in the stock market. In addition, new knowledge-based boards will be launched in the stock market. Of course, education and culture in this area are an important issue and that has been considered in this agreement.
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