Last week Selectel a leading Russian data center and related service provider, made a bond placement debut on the Moscow exchange, aiming to raise 3 billion rubles (around $40 million at the current exchange rate). Bond trading is scheduled for start on February 25. The coupon rate is set at 8.5% per annum — which corresponds …
Selectel makes bond debut in Moscow to raise $40 million Read More
As the value of Bitcoin soared this year, bringing cryptocurrencies back into the global spotlight, Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny saw his team’s crypto wallet fatten. Public blockchain data shows that a Bitcoin address tied to Navalny received 3.5 Bitcoin ($120,000) at the end of January as supporters rushed to donate to the Kremlin critic …
Russia’s digital banking leader Tinkoff announced today the launch of an online and offline payment service for legal entities. Dubbed ‘Tinkoff Checkout,’ the service will operate “as a one-stop shop [for] companies to take care of all of their online and offline financial needs in one place.” The service will allow businesses to accept online payments, provide …
AliExpress Russia has just disclosed a series of interesting activity indicators — from audience, to sourcing, to logistics — confirming its leadership on the cross-border e-commerce segment and a growing traction on the domestic segment. By the end of 2020, the platform’s monthly audience reached some 29.1 million users (8.8 million daily). The platform does particularly …
Local merchants now generate 25% of AliExpress Russia’s business Read More
Moscow-based IT company Hot-WiFi has announced its entry on the US market. The Russian startup offers businesses a guest WiFi hotspot network with marketing functions and data analytics services. This approach may increase the turnover of a coffee shop, for example, by 10% as shown by a business case in Moscow. Founded in 2012, Hot-WiFi has …
Russian WiFi marketing startup makes first steps in US market Read More
On Feb. 12 Alipay owner Ant Group, LSE-listed Mail.ru Group, mobile operator MegaFon, sovereign fund RDIF and Alisher Usmanov’s holding USM signed binding agreements to create a payments joint venture (PJV) and a financial services joint venture (FSJV). The deals, which follow an October 2019 non-binding agreement, are still subject to “a number of conditions including third …
The Russian steel and mining giant Severstal plans to invest no less than 9.1 billion rubles ($122 million at the current exchange rate) “in IT and digital projects” this year. This year will see “a significant change [in] the company’s IT process model and organizational structure,” following the creation of “four new client teams responsible …
Yandex plans to launch a contactless payment service, challenging Apple Pay, the leader on the Russian market in this segment, as reported by VTimes. According to an internal document seen by VTimes, the users of ‘Yandex Pay’ will be able to save their bank details in the system to settle purchases. In an exchange with …
A challenge to Apple Pay: Yandex reportedly developing contactless payment service Read More
After Russian social network aficionados, including millions of teenagers, transformed TikTok into a digital rebellion hotspot, the Russian Foreign Affairs ministry opened an account on the Chinese platform late last week. The first videos displayed in the ministry’s account are meant to mock opposition figure Alexey Navalny, refuting his last year’s claims that the Russian anti-covid …
As Russian e-commerce, boosted by the pandemic, is breaking records, service and solution provider PIM Solutions has just received a capital injection of 100 million rubles ($1.3 million at today’s exchange rate) from business angel Dmitry Zobnin. The valuation of the company has reached 2 billion rubles (around $26 million), as Zobnin received a 5.13% …
E-commerce provider secures $1.3 million from Russian business angel Read More
Yandex.Taxi, the taxi-hailing and food delivery joint venture of Yandex and Uber (formally called ‘MLU’), has completed the acquisition of the call centers and cargo business of Vezet Group. ‘Vezet’ means “it’s giving a ride” or “to be in luck” in Russian. Established in May 2017 (resulting from the merger of two local companies), Vezet Group provides ride-hailing, cargo …
Yandex.Taxi acquires assets in the taxi industry in spite of Mail.Ru’s veto Read More
As more and more global companies adopt corporate blockchain solutions, Norilsk Nickel (NorNickel), the world’s largest producer of palladium and high-grade nickel and a major producer of platinum and copper, has announced it is joining the Responsible Sourcing Blockchain Network (RSBN), a network aimed at supporting responsible sourcing and production practices from mine to market. According to NorNickel, the move …
NorNickel adopts blockchain for a more responsible supply chain management Read More
