BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 21. The main purpose of the identification fund is to minimize the risks associated with the investment, the Head of the Innovation Ecosystem Department of IRIA under the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan Yevgeniya Bikmurzina, told Trend.
"The main purpose of the Identification Fund is to improve the investment climate in Azerbaijan. In other words, our objective is to assist individual investors and business angels with their investments. The primary goal is to reduce the risks associated with investment, particularly in the startup sector, which has a 90 percent failure rate. The government is taking extreme steps to mitigate and share the risks encountered by private investors, allowing companies in the early stages of development to obtain more funding to develop their ideas. On the other side, investors must be confident that their initial investment will be sustained by their partners. Thus, Identity Fund serves as a mediator, giving assistance to both businesses and investors in the early stages of investment. This promotes innovation and creates a favorable environment for investment in the country," she noted.
Bikmurzina emphasized that İRİA is currently trying to find business angels (private venture capital investors) for this fund.
"At the present, we are looking for a group of business angels willing to invest more than $500,000 within two years. The Agency for Innovation and Digital Development is willing to contribute the same amount to a joint microfinance fund but will not own a stake in the financed firms. This will spread the risk for business angels while increasing the number of investments. At the same time, half of the funding should go to Azerbaijani-founded enterprises. An investment committee, made up of representatives from our agency and other active business angels, will help make decisions," she added.
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