Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies (Rusnano), a $5bn Russia state-backed venture capital company, has invested a reported $150m in US-based electronics company Plastic Logic to build in Russia its second factory.
News provider Financial Times said Rusnano had provided the first tranche of $150m to build the factory in Zelenograd, a town outside Moscow, and start a plastic electronics industry in the country.
Plastic Logic said it would continue to house its main research and development facility in the UK, as well as maintain its commercial factory in Germany and corporate headquarters in the US.
Plastic Logic’s first product is an electronic reader for business expected to launch next year.
Georgy Kolpachev, managing director of Rusnano, said: "The production facility for the next generation of plastic displays will become the first step to establish the new branch of a electronics industry in Russia. By the time of the launch, the Russian facility will be the world’s most advanced fabrication plant in the plastic electronics industry."
Founded in the UK before moving its head quarters to the US, Plastic Logic has raised more than $200m, including $50m two years ago, from corporate venturing units BASF Venture Capital, Intel Capital, Dow Venture Capital, Mitsubishi’s Nanotech Partners and Siemens Venture Capital and venture capital and other financial investors Oak Investment Partners, Amadeus Capital Partners, Merifin Capital, PolyTechnos Venture Partners, Quest for Growth, Tudor Investment and Bank of America.