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Otto Group’s myToys shuts downs in Russia after 10 years of activity

June 28, 2021

myToys, an online retailer of children’s goods owned by Otto Group, ceased its activity earlier this month in Russia after more than 10 years of operations on the market.  In recent years, myToys.ru was among Russia’s leading e-commerce sites in its category.  However, according to official data cited by Retailer.ru, the site’s net loss jumped from 34.8 million rubles in 2019 (around …

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BestDoctor.ru attracts $26 million from major Russian, Austrian and Swedish investors

June 17, 2021

In late May Russian insuretech leader BestDoctor closed a $26 million round with an impressive investor consortium. The money was brought in by Winter Capital, a Moscow-based international fund backed, in particular, by billionaire Vladimir Potanin; UNIQA Ventures, which is affiliated to a major Austrian insurance group owned by Raiffeisenbank; and VNV Global, a major …

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High tech reverberations from the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

June 19, 2021

A notable part of this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) was dedicated to IT and digital transformation as well as the state’s role in these fields (see the forum’s topical sessions and its special Innovation Space). This major event took place on June 3-4, gathering much of the country’s political and business elite and some foreign …

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Auchan plans to spend more than $277 million on developing digital service in Russia

June 16, 2021

French retailer Auchan plans to spend more than 20 billion roubles ($277 million) on developing digital services in Russia by 2024 to boost online sales, the company’s country head said. Auchan has faced increased competition from fast-expanding Russian retailers and online delivery firms, including Magnit (MGNT.MM) and Lenta .  Auchan, which started to expand its online delivery …

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Russian travel segment is recovering fast from the pandemic

August 10, 2021

According to Aviasales.ru, Russian travellers booked 15% more tickets through its air ticket online booking platform for this May holiday season than in the same period of pre-covid year 2019.  The company also notes that 95% of the tickets were sold for domestic routes vs. 75% before the pandemic. The most popular international destinations this year were Turkey, …

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Russian-born social commerce major Ecwid sold to Canadian Lightspeed for $500 million

June 9, 2021

After Veeam Software, Wrike and Magic Lab — to cite just a few recent examples — this is yet another happy exit for a Russian entrepreneur established in the West. Ecwid, a Russian-rooted provider of social commerce solutions for small businesses, is in the process of being acquired by Canadian Lightspeed. This Toronto-listed online and offline retail software major says it is buying …

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Russian service marketplace Eruditor secures $22 million venture loan to go global

June 9, 2021

Last week two large financial institutions announced a 1.6 billion ruble ($22 million) investment in Eruditor, a group of online platforms for small businesses and freelancers providing home and local services.   The funding is provided jointly by the Russian-Chinese Investment Fund, a vehicle created by Russia’s sovereign wealth fund RDIF and the Chinese Investment Corporation, and …

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Russia may be cut off from SWIFT as part of West’s “spiral of sanctions,” warns foreign ministry

June 7, 2021

Russian banks may be blocked from using SWIFT, a payment system that enables reliable and secure financial transactions, as part of restrictions against Moscow, in what one official has called a potential “spiral of sanctions.” “It’s no secret that there are threats, primarily from the United States, to disconnect Russia from the SWIFT system,” said Dmitry …

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Sber and VTB CEOs blast Bitcoin

June 9, 2021

Sber and VTB, two leading, state-controlled financial institutions in Russia, are not willing to move into the cryptocurrency market in the near future as their CEOs believe that crypto is either too risky or fake money. Sber CEO Herman Gref said that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are probably the riskiest type of investment alongside the equity …

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Russia’s top digital bank wants to offer crypto — but tough central bank policy stands in its way

June 19, 2021

Tinkoff, the biggest online bank in Russia, wants to offer cryptocurrency trading to its clients but says this will take time due to a tough stance from the country’s central bank. Oliver Hughes, Tinkoff’s CEO, said Thursday that “qualified investors who know what they’re doing” want to invest in crypto. “There’s no mechanism for us …

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How a Russian ‘marketing agency’ offered money to Western bloggers to spread fake news about the Pfizer vaccine

June 4, 2021

Last month, a handful of journalists and bloggers in France and Germany tweeted screenshots of emails from managers at some kind of marketing agency asking them to share information about higher mortality rates in patients immunized with Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine relative to other vaccines. As reporters learned that the agency is based in Moscow, French …

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