VEB Ventures

Oleg Teplov serves as CEO and leads the investment function at VEB Ventures. The firm operates under the governance of its parent, VEB.RF, whose supervisory board is chaired by Igor Shuvalov. Major investment decisions, particularly those involving large-scale co-investment funds, require alignment with VEB.RF's broader development mandates.

Deal flow reaches VEB Ventures through multiple state-aligned channels: direct referrals from the Ministry of Digital Development, the Skolkovo Foundation resident pipeline, and corporate partners in Russian industrial conglomerates. The firm also sources through its joint-fund network with private VC managers who identify early-stage teams developing technologies eligible for import-substitution programs.

VEB Ventures operates as a corporate venture capital arm of a state development institution, not a family office. It makes direct equity investments, anchors VC funds as a limited partner, and structures joint investment vehicles — a model closer to a hybrid state-backed fund-of-funds manager than a traditional independent venture firm.

The firm engages in both. It makes direct equity investments into Russian tech companies and simultaneously commits as an LP to venture funds managed by private partners. A prominent example is the 'Fund of Funds for Investments in Russian IT,' structured jointly with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

VEB Ventures generally avoids consumer-internet, entertainment, and advertising-technology sectors that lack a clear industrial or infrastructure application. Its mandate focuses on deep-tech fields that align with the Russian government's technology sovereignty strategy, such as enterprise software, new materials, and telecommunications equipment.

VEB Ventures is a fully-owned subsidiary of VEB.RF, Russia's national development corporation. It was created in 2019 to consolidate innovation investment activities previously managed across the Vnesheconombank group. Capital allocations flow from VEB.RF through state development programs rather than external fundraising.

The capital is state-sourced, allocated through VEB.RF under Russian federal development mandates. Unlike independent venture funds that raise commitments from institutional LPs, VEB Ventures receives its funding through government development programs designed to foster domestic technology commercialization.