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Maria Frolova became the winner of the first Investor Day in 2021. The prize-winner is only 17 years old, but she is already the Open Mind project founder. It is an online educational platform for teenagers for digital skills development. The company's revenue is RUB 2 million per month. Maria was awarded a grant to study under the Trusted Brand educational program of SKOLKOVO Business School, it is a course dedicated to personal brand development, introduced in collaboration with Svetlana Mironyuk, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Vice-Rector for Operations and Digital Development of SKOLKOVO Business School and Dorie Clark, Professor of the Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

Two other participants were placed second:

• Zurab Ermilov, founder of the Osnova 2.0 project with his patented Crystal Free Freezing technology. It allows keeping foods fresh and well-preserved. The company's revenue exceeds RUB 1 million per month; and
• Alla Panchenko, CEO of PharmacoGenomeX2 — a service for selecting effective and safe medicines based on genetic data.

Artem Moskalev, the creator of the IVITECH global startup, was placed third in terms of the number of people, which took interest in the project. Financial services, aimed at financing projects from various sectors of the economy with high potential capital intensity due to the competent introduction of products to the market.

These startuppers and all other participants also won grants for studying under various programs of SKOLKOVO Business School.

How it all happened: Rector of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO Yuri Levin opened the Investor Day with a welcoming speech.

'SKOLKOVO Business School has long gone beyond the framework of a traditional school, it is now a whole ecosystem aimed at the entrepreneurship's development. Investor Day is one of the principal  School's initiatives, which I am always ready to support. I am happy to see here both projects that attract tens and hundreds of millions of rubles of investment, and professional players of the Russian venture market. At all times, we screen over both projects and the investors. That is why the Investor Day is not only an insightful event, but also effective in terms of making deals,' Yuri Levin said.

Then, nine shortlisted startuppers presented their projects to the jury. Each entrepreneur was given 3 minutes to present their project and another 7 minutes to answer the questions asked by the jury. The jury consisted of:

• Andrey Romanenko, venture investor, shareholder of Run Capital and AddVenture, co-founder and CEO of Evotor, co-founder of QIWI
• Oskar Hartmann, founder and partner of several investment funds, and KupiVIP, CarPrice, Aktivo.
• Vitaly Polekhin, President of the International Organization of Investors INVESTORO, Member of the Management Board and Chairman of the International Cooperation Committee
• Alexey Milevsky, Investment Director of Mail.Ru Group
• Herman Kaplun, co-founder of TMT Investments, Director of the Fund's Strategic Development
• Igor Ryabenky, General Partner, AltaIR Capital
• Maxim Medvedev, Managing Partner, AddVenture
• Mikhail Dubnov, Managing Director, Winter Capital Advisors
• Alexey Girin, General Partner,  Starta Ventures
• Anna Nenakhova, Corporate Innovation Director, EFKO Group Corporate Fund
• Stanislav Kolesnichenko, Managing Director, Skolkovo Ventures
• Islam Midov, Head of MTS Corporate Venture Fund
• Ksenia Frank, investor
• Evgeny Kuznetsov, Director General, Orbita Capital Partners
• Andrey Dobrov, private investor and beneficiary of the DFG International Family Group
• Konstantin Nadenenko, managing partner, Leader Innovations
• Egor Gogolev, Head of Severstal Ventures
• Ian Stirmanov, Investment Manager, Elbrus Capital
• Artur Sirakanyan, Managing Partner, Onyx Partners
• Sergey Toporov, Managing Partner, Leta Capital
• Maxim Shekhovtsov, Managing Partner, Genezis Capital
• Veronika Fidler, Senior Managing Director, VEB Ventures
• Denis Efremov, Investment Director, Fort Ross Ventures
• Mikhail Peregudov, founder of the Food Party, partner of the S16VC Foundation
• Pavel Annenkov, Managing Partner, Fores Ventures.

SKOLKOVO Business School's Investor Day is an opportunity to compete for real investments from professional venture funds. Investor Day is held twice a year under the auspices of the Skolkovo Startup Academy and the International Investor Organization INVESTORO. Traditionally, the event welcomes graduates of the SKOLKOVO Business School.

The Investor Day held by the SKOLKOVO Business School Startup Academy aims to develop a community of entrepreneurs, support talents and attract funding to startups.