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Moscow court bans Telegram bot ‘Eye of God’ over privacy violations

July 2, 2021

At the request of Russia’s censorship agency, Roskomnadzor, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court has banned the Telegram bot “Eye of God” for alleged illegal activity that violates privacy rights. According to Roskomnadzor’s claim, the Telegram bot, which searches online databases for people’s personal information, violates privacy rights “by accessing an indefinite circle of persons’ personal data …

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Leta Capital eyes “17,000 Russian-speaking tech entrepreneurs” based in the West

June 30, 2021

The Russian VC firm Leta Capital aims to invest in Russian-speaking tech entrepreneurs across the world. This is a huge pool of talents who left their home countries — including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and some other former Soviet republics — to establish themselves in Western Europe, the USA and other geographies.  According to Leta Capital’s in-house research, “more …

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Russian digital majors invite children from across the world to AI contest

January 14, 2025

Children and teenagers from some 80 countries are taking part in the Artificial Intelligence International Junior Contest (AIIJC). Russia, India, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh account for the largest cohorts of participants, but the Philippines, Canada, Ecuador and a variety of other countries are also involved.  This first-of-its-kind competition is organized jointly by Sber, Russia’s state-controlled financial and …

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Wildberries launches cross-border sales to Russian consumers

June 29, 2021

Russia’s largest online retailer Wildberries has launched direct cross-border sales from Belarus, Kazakhstan and China to Russian consumers, the company announced on June 23, presenting the move as a pilot project.   Cross-border delivery of goods will be carried out both by Wildberries’ own logistics service (for example, in Belarus and Kazakhstan) and via international logistics partners (in …

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Russian entrepreneurs raise $46 million to launch express delivery service in the US

June 30, 2021

A group of Russian entrepreneurs has raised $46 million to launch a food delivery company on the US market. Dubbed ‘Buyk,’ the service is an analog of Samokat, a successful startup which was born in St. Petersburg and acquired last year by Mail.ru Group and Sber. Buyk is the brainchild of Samokat co-founders Vyacheslav Bocharov …

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M.Video uses high tech to automate CRM, raise service level and track employee attendance

June 29, 2021

M.Video, a part of the M.Video–Eldorado consumer electronics retail group, now processes nearly half of customer calls via a virtual assistant called ‘Alyona.’  “Voice processing technologies have enabled [us] to reduce the workload of [our] contact center staff, reduce response times and increase customer satisfaction and loyalty,” the company says.  The AI-based robotic customer support system …

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Sber acquires CRM startup Jivo for reportedly more than $20 million

June 22, 2021

Earlier this month Sber, the state-controlled financial and technology giant (previously known as Sberbank), announced the full acquisition of Jivo. This Russian startup — which has legal entities both in Russia and in Delaware — has developed an omnichannel application for customer support and online sales. Jivo’s solution combines a chat function for websites with …

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Russia seeks funding for Putin’s ‘genetic database’

June 25, 2021

Earlier this month  Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a series of orders to determine the needed funds and sources for Russia’s national genetic database program. The move followed a visit to the  Kurchatov Institute — a secretive research organization headed by President Putin’s close ally Mikhail Kovalchuk — which is leading Russia’s genetic research program. Putin, who has sought to transform Russia into a world leader in genetic …

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Russian oligarch Deripaska blasts Bank of Russia for ignoring Bitcoin

June 19, 2021

Russian industrial tycoon Oleg Deripaska is the latest figure to criticize the Bank of Russia’s stance on cryptocurrency regulation in the country. Deripaska took to his official Telegram channel on Thursday to blast the Russian central bank for pressuring the crypto industry to avoid getting involved into cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The Russian oligarch pointed out …

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Moscow-based TalkBank raises $3 million to develop “bank in messengers”

June 18, 2021

A Russian neobank called TalkBank has neither physical branches, nor call centers, nor even a mobile app. Its principle consists in offering “a bank in messengers,” i.e. Telegram, Facebook, WhatsApp or Viber. “Digital financial assistance” is provided by a smart bot that “understands banking commands in natural language.”  Thus customers will be able to better plan their budget and …

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VTB Capital invests $75 million in Russian carsharing major Delimobil

August 30, 2021

VTB-Capital, a division of the state bank VTB, is in the process of acquiring a 15% stake in the Delimobil car-sharing service. A memorandum of cooperation was signed at the Saint Petersburg International Economic Forum in early June by Yuri Soloviev, First Deputy President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board, and Vincenzo Trani, founder …

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Tinkoff offers virtual phone secretary to all Russian mobile phone users

June 19, 2021

In early June Tinkoff, the Russian digital banking giant, announced the beta version of its free voice assistant ‘Oleg,’ making it available to all mobile users in Russia. ‘Oleg’ is also unique in the world in that “it can be easily activated both in the Tinkoff super app and via popular messengers such as Telegram …

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