IT Startup on the Rise: Investing in a Business Idea
Russia’s tech landscape is becoming increasingly diverse — a clear sign of the maturity of the country’s digital economy. This is also reflected in the willingness of businesses to invest in IT startups.
Money Means Trust
Metamentor, a company developing corporate solutions based on generative artificial intelligence, has raised 108 million rubles in seed funding. The startup is currently valued at 432 million rubles. The funding came from six business angels — both new and existing investors.
Such early-stage investments highlight growing confidence in both the company and its product. Seed funding is among the riskiest forms of investment, but the payoff, in case of success, can be substantial. This suggests that investors expect Metamentor to create and launch commercially viable IT products that will be in demand across the real economy.
Focus on SMEs
Initially, Metamentor positioned itself as an edtech platform. Over the past two years, however, the company has pivoted toward corporate AI solutions for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Its flagship product is the new Knowledge Base service with an AI assistant, designed to automate internal processes such as searching documentation, customer support, operational management, and more.
According to the company, implementing this solution can accelerate task completion and reduce operating costs by more than tenfold. These are highly attractive metrics for businesses aiming to digitize without making large investments in IT infrastructure.
SMEs remain the least digitized sector, yet they are also the most flexible and ready to adopt new technologies. Deploying AI assistants in such companies could serve as a catalyst for large-scale automation of routine tasks — from accounting to project management.
Accelerating Growth
Metamentor has shown steady momentum. In 2024, when the company was valued at 100 million rubles, it raised 40 million rubles, including from well-known investor Alexey Blokhin. Within just one year, its valuation increased more than fourfold.
Such growth rates are rare for Russian startups. They can be seen as evidence of high demand for domestic AI solutions amid import substitution and sanctions pressure. More and more companies view artificial intelligence not as a trendy gimmick but as a tool for boosting efficiency.
A domestic venture capital market is emerging in Russia, capable of supporting tech projects without reliance on Western investors. Metamentor is not an isolated case: between 2024 and 2025, there has been an uptick in deals in the IT and digital transformation sectors — from the parking automation startup Parkomatika to the food service platform My Chef. This signals the rise of a new wave of digitalization focused on solving concrete business challenges.
From Domestic Market to Global Stage
At present, Metamentor is focused on the domestic market. However, the startup has strong potential to expand abroad. Its AI business solutions have particularly high export potential in CIS countries such as Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Uzbekistan, where language and cultural barriers are minimal and demand for affordable digital solutions is growing. This makes Russian technologies increasingly attractive.
In the long term, the success of companies like Metamentor could lay the foundation for a Russian AI export cluster. The growing number of domestic AI products reduces businesses’ dependence on foreign platforms, reinforcing technological sovereignty. The development of IT startups also drives workforce training and increases the number of developers and analysts. AI is no longer the privilege of large corporations — it is now accessible to small businesses as well.
Metamentor is a vivid example of how Russian startups are evolving from an idea into a scalable business, while private investors take on a role once reserved for international funds.
