Iran has spent 1.24 trillion rials ($5.3 million) on supporting fledgling tech businesses affected by the novel coronavirus that spread across the country in mid-February.
It is expected to help revive and boost production lines of tech firms and startups affected by the viral outbreak, Iran’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies reported.
Based on the report, around 72% of Iranian startups and tech businesses have been severely impacted by market stagnancy caused by the spread of Covid-19.
As arranged by the ICT Ministry, the money has been allocated to tech units in the form of two loan tranches: The first worth 542.3 billion rials ($2.3 million) was paid from February to April and the second worth 700 billion rials ($2.99 million) is being offered since June.
Bank of Industry and Mine CEO Hossein Mehri also provided a blueprint of financial aid extended by the bank to tech firms.
He said BIM has paid 2.2 trillion rials ($9.5 million) in loans to 29 startups and technology companies in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 20-June 20).
The figure has seen a 100% rise compared to the year-ago period, he added.
Mehri also said the bank has recently signed an agreement with Amirkabir University of Technology and Sharif University of Technology to extend resources for the university-born tech teams and startups.
Tech officials say financial support to the technology sector is in line with the government’s policies to realize a digital economy and curb the country’s dependency on oil revenues.
Officials believe that the pandemic cannot be controlled without utilizing the potentials of tech ecosystem. The country’s knowledge-based economy, which has currently grown significantly, is being helped by young entrepreneurs and tech teams to withstand the negative effects of the disease.
First reported in Iran in mid-February, the virus has so far claimed the lives of 15,484 people out of a total of 288,839 infected people.
According to the Health Ministry, 251,319 patients have so far recovered from the disease.
More Money Injection
In late April, the Iran National Innovation Fund invested 140 billion rials ($599,000) in nanotechnology firms to boost the domestic production of health protective items used for stemming the transmission of coronavirus.
According to the fund’s website Inif.ir, Iran Nanotechnology Innovation Council helped INIF sign contracts with eligible knowledge-based companies.
Mohammad Ali Bahreini, the head of Nano-Fund Department at the council, said at the time that the contracts are geared toward the production of N95 and N99 facemasks needed by the medical staff to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
The money was also to be spent on upgrading machinery, especially electrospinning machines, used in the production of masks.
Electrospinning is a fiber production method that uses electric force to draw charged threads of polymer solutions or polymer melts up to fiber diameters to the tune of some hundred nanometers.
The method has the potential to produce seamless non-woven items by integrating advanced manufacturing with fiber electrospinning. This would introduce multi-functionality (flame, chemical, environmental protection) by blending fibers into electrospin-laced layers in combination with polymer coatings.
Besides the investment, INIF announced in mid-March plans to pay 45 trillion rials ($192.7 million) in loans to knowledge-based companies and tech firms to boost their operations.
According to INIF chief Ali Vahdat, the move was aimed at increasing the production of health-protective items needed during the pandemic, including N95 respirator and surgical masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, medical air disinfectant machines, antibacterial fabrics and coveralls for hospital use, as well as test kits and simulators.
Vahdat said there are over 400 knowledge-based firms working on anti-coronavirus products, some of whose fields of activity had nothing to do with the disease.
“Their rapid business adjustment to the ongoing issues in the country is praiseworthy,” he said.
CBI Facilities
According to the latest CBI report, during the last Iranian year (ended March 20), a total of 1,108 tech units applied for loans worth 124.2 billion rials ($531,900), which show a 74.5% rise compared to the amount of loans paid in 2018-19.
CBI Governor Abdolnasser Hemmati told reporters that the bank will continue its allocation of financial facilities to help the tech ecosystem flourish.
In early April, Hemmati said the bank was mulling over starting collaboration with the state-backed Iran National Innovation Fund to establish support centers in all provinces to ease startups’ access to legal and financial support.
Besides the provincial funding centers, plans are under consideration to set up offices for offering specialized services to firms active in the fields of nanotechnology, social innovative services and the internet of things, he added.
The government is also expanding resources for information and communication technology companies.
