Politics test Silicon Valley's Russian ties

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http://www.adn.com/2014/04/13/3423689/politics-test-silicon-valleys.html?sp=/99/171/



Dmitry Akhanov, president of the U.S. subsidiary of Russia’s state-owned venture fund RUSNANO, poses for a portrait in his office on Wednesday, April 9, 2014, in Menlo Park, Calif. Entrepreneurs and investors say Silicon Valley’s fast growing ties with Russia’s tech sector are being slowed down by current political tensions between the White House and the Kremlin.

Politics test Silicon Valley's Russian ties
By MARTHA MENDOZA
AP National Writer
April 13, 2014 Updated 2 minutes ago

SAN MATEO, Calif. — Entrepreneurs and investors say Silicon Valley's fast-growing financial ties with Russia's tech sector are being slowed down by current political tensions between the White House and the Kremlin.

"It's safe to say a lot of investors here are taking a step back to see how the situation will unfold," said Alexandra Johnson, who manages a $100 million venture fund called DFJ VTP Aurora, a Menlo Park, Calif., branch of Russian bank VTB.

For decades, Russia's sophisticated scientists and engineers remained at arm's length from Silicon Valley's venture capitalists and marketing mavens. That changed in recent years with a flurry of investment, largely sparked in 2010 when then-Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the region and met with high-tech leaders.

Russians investors, including billionaire Yuri Milner, who has large stakes in Facebook and Twitter, poured an estimated $2 billion into U.S. tech firms over the past three years, according to Johnson, who organized a technology symposium with venture capitalists and entrepreneurs last month in San Mateo, south of San Francisco.