East-West Digital News

Sber completes full acquisition of online media and entertainment group Rambler

October 29, 2020 October 30, 2020

Sber, Russia’s state-controlled financial and technology giant (previously known as Sberbank), has brought its stake in Rambler to 100%, buying the 45% stake of billionaire Alexander Mamut. These shares will be paid for in tranches, stated Sber. The first one, worth 3 billion rubles (nearly $38 million at the current exchange rate) will be settled immediately, while …

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Baring Vostok civil case settled for $32 million — but Michael Calvey still under house arrest in fragile health

October 28, 2020 October 30, 2020

US businessman Michael Calvey and his fund Baring Vostok have reached a deal with former Russian partners in a corporate dispute over their joint investment Vostochny Bank. “The shareholders of Vostochny Bank have settled their corporate dispute” and “signed an agreement to the benefit of the Bank, its clients, depositors and creditors,” the two sides said in …

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Skolkovo launches Russia softlanding program for foreign startups

October 28, 2020 October 30, 2020

Skolkovo, Russia’s top international tech hub, is launching a softlanding program in digital format for foreign tech startup to explore the Russian market opportunity. The program will involve more than 30 companies from eight different countries. These include, in particular, Brazil, Iran, Hungary and Finland, says the Skolkovo Foundation. The program “aims to introduce foreign startups to the opportunities in Russian …

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Moscow city teams up with domestic and foreign suppliers to test 5G

October 27, 2020 October 27, 2020

5G testing has already begun in Moscow. A dedicated demo center has just been launched in the Smart City pavilion at VDNH — a permanent exhibition center — for testing and supporting urban services based on this technology. These tests concern essentially the transport industry, medicine, urban safety and education. The city authorities have partnered with …

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Sber teams up with pharma major to acquire leading online pharmacy

October 26, 2020 October 28, 2020

Sber, the state-controlled financial and tech giant – previously known as Sberbank, – and Russian pharma major R-Pharm, are teaming up to acquire the online pharmacy Eapteka. According to the agreement, each partner will get a 45% stake with 10% being retained by company founder Anton Buzdalin. The amount and details of the transaction, which is still subject …

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Russian home cinema startup secures $5 million factoring loan to pursue international development

October 22, 2020 October 23, 2020

Russian home cinema startup Multibutik — also known as Cinemood — has secured a $5 million loan from factoring company GameBoost42. Now headquartered in San Francisco, this startup is one of Russia’s most hyped international startup success stories. It has developed mini cinema projectors for children, including a cloud-connected one that can project content onto any surface. Cinemood …

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Russian university ranks global cities by innovation attractiveness

October 21, 2020 October 21, 2020

What prompts researchers, heads of corporations, startup founders, designers, architects, and artists to choose a particular city? Which megacities have an edge in the competition for the best minds? To answer these and other questions, an expert team from Moscow’s Higher School of Economics — a top Russian university — has developed the ‘HSE Global Innovation Index’ (HSE GCII). HSE …

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Baring Vostok and Goldman Sachs acquire stake in major Russian financial and insurance portal

October 20, 2020 October 20, 2020

Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov has sold his stake Sravni.ru, a major Russian finance and insurance marketplace, to Baring Vostok and Goldman Sachs, reports VC.RU. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Sravni.ru defines its mission as “to help people make the right choices and achieve financial goals.” Its users are assisted in choosing financial …

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Sber and Visa launch data lab with AI supercomputer

October 19, 2020 October 16, 2020

Sber, the Russian state-controlled financial and tech giant, is teaming up with Visa to launch “Russia’s first Data Lab.” The partners intend to “use anonymized data to track changes in customer behavior and design the most customized offerings for all users of card products by applying artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.” “The move is aimed at …

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Quarterly review: Battle of digital titans in Russia, Belarusian IT exodus, acquisitions in Ukraine

October 16, 2020 October 20, 2020

Crunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends from Russia and neighboring countries in Eastern Europe. Since last year, EWDN chief editor Adrien Henni has offered a regular column to highlight the most notable industry facts and trends as well as promising tech innovations from these countries. Covering the third quarter of …

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Mail.Ru buying spree: New investments in gaming and edtech

October 16, 2020 October 8, 2021

This week several new investments by Mail.ru Group, the LSE-listed Russian Internet giant, were reported. In the field of online education: Lomigor, a Cypriot subsidiary of the LSE-listed Russian Internet giant, purchased a 45% stake in Preprep.ru LLC, the startup behind exam preparation platform Tetrika. The transaction, which took place in September, was just revealed …

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Yandex, MTS, etc.: Oleg Tinkov reportedly holding parallel talks to sell his online bank

October 15, 2020 October 15, 2020

The sale of Tinkoff Bank to Yandex is far from certain, Russian online publication The Bell wrote yesterday, just three weeks after the two companies announced an “agreement in principle” on a $5.5 billion merger. Oleg Tinkov, the owner of the online bank, is also considering other buyers — in particular mobile operator MTS, or …

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