The Fencing& JoustingSociety
Somewhere in the dark wall of the city, one door is lit yellow. Behind it: a decade of founders, the mentors who sharpened them, and the corridor to Silicon Valley.
Before the revolution, the premises were rented out to the Fencing & Gymnastics Society. Among others, the brothers Anatoly and Vladimir Durov trained here. Anton Chekhov once dropped in on the classes and was pleased with these “people of the future,” expressing his wish that someday everyone in the country would be so strong and agile.
The Yellow Door humbly works to continue the tradition of our historical location.
The door you have to find.
A legendary underground venture space on Strastnoi Boulevard - by invitation only. For over a decade the Yellow Door has worked to enrich the local innovation ecosystem and support its sovereignty, while showcasing its wonders to the world - an underground portal connecting the best local founders, investors and corporates to global markets.
Laboratory, salon and embassy at once - and very much alive: the events keep coming and keep getting bigger, the programmes run, the community grows. But you don't simply walk in. You find it, you knock, and you are invited.
The Yellow Door is a big beating heart in the centre of a big city, connecting us to an even bigger world.
Open, fresh, free. In a word: soul. And the people who come through it are the same.
I love this place, these people and everything they stand for - this country, the world, sincere optimism and kindness.
A wonderful place where you're always welcome and helped with anything. Thank you for being our home.
Share a memory.
Were you behind the Yellow Door? Add your photo or a few words. With your permission we publish the best to the Vault - and across the Yellow Door's Facebook & Instagram.
Spot yourself in the Vault?
Tag yourself and follow along - we post the best of the archive and every new event here:
What they say about the door.
A decade of founders, makers and friends. Their words - and yours, added above.
The Yellow Door is a big beating heart in the centre of a big city, connecting us - our ideas, skills, ambitions - to an even bigger world. It's a place of possibility.
The Yellow Door is like the portal in “Guest from the Future” - you step into a basement and come out twenty years ahead, in a future where people fly spaceships.
Demo Day
Ever worked in an office cubicle? The Yellow Door is the opposite - open, fresh, free. In a word: soul. And the people who come through it are the same.
It reminds us what great traditions of science and engineering we hold - and how much we can offer the world, and draw from it. I'm grateful to this place.
Tamara Samoylova
I love this place, these people, and everything they stand for - for this country, for the world, for sincere optimism and kindness.
A wonderful place where you're always welcome and helped with anything. Thank you for being our home - I recommend it to everyone.
Olga Bolkunova
Dima, Katya
Popov, Khanykov, Preobrazhensky
The door, drawn.
A decade behind the Yellow Door, in the hand of resident artist Yulia Tretyakova - paint, ink and marker.
- Yulia Tretyakova, resident artist
To educate
The Intensives.
Launch-Pad programmes that prepare the best local startups, investors and corporates to go global - from their home market. This is where founders are made.
Silicon Valley Insiders - Going Global
Our flagship Launch Pad: a hybrid intensive that prepares startups, investors and corporates to enter global markets - from your home market.
To inspire
The gatherings.
A decade of rituals, lectures, competitions and late nights - the cultural pulse behind the door. Where the community connects, and the next idea catches fire.
The Future of The Future
Conversations between top Russia/CIS researchers and prominent global colleagues on the ideas, science and technology shaping humanity's future.
Big Ideas Challenge
A university-based contest connecting students, professors and researchers with the mentorship, training and resources to scale ideas that change the world.
Startup Crash Test
Your idea, stress-tested live in front of the room - feedback, sharp questions and a tougher, better pitch.
Next Steves
Speed-dating to find your co-founder - the other half of your future company, in one evening.
Founders Coffee & TGIF
Thursday-morning coffees and Friday cocktails - founders share wins, challenges, hacks and feedback. Informal, authentic, a decade running.
Late-Night Arts
Hackathons, unplugged concerts, film nights and visual art - the Yellow Door after dark, where makers make.
The programme.
Upcoming events, parties and demo days behind the Yellow Door - gathered here, and posted across the platforms below.
The next dates are being set. Join the list above and you'll be the first to know.
Be there for what's next.
The next demo day, the next party, the next late night behind the Yellow Door. Leave your details and we'll make sure you're on the list.
Startups that passed through the door.
Over 200 graduated; hundreds more touched. The Yellow Door is one project of Innov8 Global Labs - and the funnel at the front of everything.
Founders who come through the door become the startups our Studios build with and our Fund invests in.
The Fencing & Jousting Society is an underground network - a tight-knit order of mentors and investors, all world-class operators, alumni of the Yellow Door. By invitation only.