Russian VC Firm NGI Will Invest Heavily in French Startups

Russia was once known for its undying adoration for all things French back in the day, and a century and a half later you could argue that some of that spark is still hanging around. New Generation Investment, the Russian VC firm part-owned by Leonid Reiman, former Minister of Communications and Information Technologies, has announced that it would like to start investing into the startup scene in France. It's starting with a fund of ?20 million ($26.4 million) -- relatively modest by American standards but decent in France considering how little is invested in startups in the country. During the first quarter of 2012, French companies raised ?168 million ($222 million) from venture capitalists while American companies raised $5.8 billion. That works out to VC investment being 26 times lower in France than it is in the U.S.

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