The AIK Invest venture fund (part of the Automacon group) announced that it invested 10 million rubles in the OilGene startup — the first agritech project in the fund’s portfolio. “We’ve been actively searching for investment for a year. We are pleased to welcome our first investor and appreciate their interest in our technologies,” shared Alina Chernova, a startup co-founder and Skoltech alumna. “We will use the funds to buy the new equipment, improve productivity, and establish independence at all stages of the technological process. We are also actively working on customer development research to increase sales and find new customers.”

While pursuing their PhD at Skoltech, a group of startup co-founders concentrated on projects related to oil crops genetics. In 2020, young researchers came up with the idea to launch a startup, when they realized that their endeavors had a strong practical value. In the past few years, the team has managed to create markers that are most popular among oilseed breeders, establish a system for mass genotyping of plants, and assemble a team of professionals in the field of genetics and plant breeding.

“In Russia, seed production companies employ their own quality control laboratories to test seeds for their germinating ability and sort them by size. But genetic control was not done by them previously, and we wanted to introduce it. Genetic control helps ensure that the variety the company is selling is actually pure and complies with the given characteristics,” added Stepan Boldyrev, a startup co-founder.

Quality control is just one of the startup’s specializations. OilGene also works at the initial stage of the seed production chain — it develops accelerated breeding procedures and helps breeders implement them. The team focuses on sunflower, as it is one of the most high-margin cultures, which is heavily dependent on imported seeds. Cross-breeding sunflower varieties requires considering their resistance to herbicides, which are used to kill weeds in fields, and diseases. Genetic analysis will help ensure the high quality of seeds.

The startup team has implemented a fully robotic production line that can be used to analyze about two thousand plants per day. OilGene already cooperates with three foreign companies, is actively working in the Russian market, and hopes that domestic agricultural holdings will more consistently control the quality of seeds at the genetic level.

Skoltech supports the entrepreneurial ideas of its students and graduates. All first-year MSc students take part in the Skoltech Innovation Workshop, where they get acquainted with the concept of innovation, develop positive thinking, formulate hypotheses, and work in teams on their first projects. The Institute hosts a series of Skoltech Triple Point contests — the best teams are awarded financial prizes for project development. Students are also offered mentoring programs, internal grants, development scholarships, and the opportunity to join the Startup as Thesis track.