State Pledges More Support for Booming Tech, Startup Ecosystem

Vice Presidential Office for Science and Technology and its affiliate, Iran National Innovation Fund, are seeking to mobilize more financial resources for the growing technology ecosystem, as they maintain that the current volume of lending and grants are insufficient.
During a Wednesday meeting in Tehran on broadening support for fledgling knowledge-based firms, Vice President Sorena Sattari said support for startups must be strengthened, IRNA reported.
The meeting was attended by Mahmoud Vaezi, the head of Iran's Presidential Office, Ali Vahdat, the INIF chief, and directors of several outstanding knowledge-based companies, along with CEOs of several local banks.
Acknowledging INIF’s generous support for tech units, Sattari said the National Development Fund has injected 10 trillion rials ($33.33 million) into INIF.
He hoped that with state support, new lines of credit will be extended to potentially strong technology teams.
Pointing to the fact that the technology ecosystem is capable of generating added value, the vice president said, “The startup ecosystem has created a knowledge-based economy in the past seven years. Currently, 41 technology companies are listed in the stock exchange with a net value of 250 trillion rials ($833.33 million), which earned 1.2 quadrillion rials ($4 billion) in the last Iranian year (ended March 19, 2020).”