News

Naspers, Tencent and RDIF buy Mail.Ru’s GDRs and bonds

October 7, 2020

Russian sovereign wealth fund RDIF, China’s Tencent and Prosus (part of the Naspers Group), alongside other major strategic investors, have participated in Mail.Ru’s $600 million offering of global depository receipts (GDRs) and convertible bonds. The LSE-listed company will use the proceeds from the offering to develop, in particular, two joint ventures: O2O, which Mail.Ru launched …

Naspers, Tencent and RDIF buy Mail.Ru’s GDRs and bonds Read More

Russian digital majors Ozon and ivi.ru plot US IPOs

October 5, 2020

Ozon, Russia’s leading multi-category e-commerce company, aims to go public later this year or in early 2021, the company announced Friday, and has started the registration procedure for an initial public offering (IPO) with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The company did not provide any details on the potential placement but, according to …

Russian digital majors Ozon and ivi.ru plot US IPOs Read More

Russian retail giant X5 uses advanced speech technologies to automate call centers

October 2, 2020

X5 Retail Group, a leading Russian food retailer, is deploying a robotic telephone platform based on advanced speech technologies. Used to handle incoming calls and make outgoing calls without human intervention, the group’s new voice assistants simulate dialogue with customers and help resolve their issues.  “After the caller formulates a question, the bot uses complex machine learning algorithms and accumulated data to identify the …

Russian retail giant X5 uses advanced speech technologies to automate call centers Read More

Moscow Metro to introduce facial payment technology

November 12, 2020

Commuters in Moscow will soon be able to take a ride on the metro with just a turn of their heads, as the Russian capital embraces next-generation facial payment technology. At least one turnstile at each metro station will be equipped with the contactless facial recognition technology as soon as next spring, Moscow authorities say. The system, which …

Moscow Metro to introduce facial payment technology Read More

Russia to launch self-driving tram and vessel experiments

September 27, 2020

Several ministries of the Russian Federation, including The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Economic Development, as well as the Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport (Rosmorrechflot) supported the draft government decree on conducting an experiment on the operation of self-driving vessels. According to the …

Russia to launch self-driving tram and vessel experiments Read More

Russian and Emirati sovereign wealth funds invest $13 million in sensitive face recognition technology

September 29, 2020

The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, has teamed up with its Emirati peer Mubadala to invest “more than 1 billion rubles” (approximately $13 million at the current exchange rate) in Russian face recognition startup NtechLab.  Touting itself as “the global leader in computer vision systems based on artificial intelligence and neural networks,” NtechLab provides solutions …

Russian and Emirati sovereign wealth funds invest $13 million in sensitive face recognition technology Read More

Russia and Gulf countries intensify cooperation in high tech

September 29, 2020

A series of news in the past few days came to underline the intensifying relationship between Russia and Gulf countries in the fields of technologies and investment. Mubadala eyes Russian technologies Thus last week Sberbank, the state-controlled Russian financial and tech giant (now known as Sber), announced a “strategic agreement” with Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala), an Abu Dhabi-based sovereign …

Russia and Gulf countries intensify cooperation in high tech Read More

From Moscow to Berlin, digital music startups attract top investors

September 28, 2020

As the global digital music market pursues solid growth, last week saw three deals involving companies from Russia or with Russian founders. Sberbank acquires Zvooq Just a day before touting its transformation into a tech “universe,” Sber announced the acquisition of Zvooq, one of the most established Russian music platforms. No details about the transaction were disclosed.  Founded in 2010 by UK …

From Moscow to Berlin, digital music startups attract top investors Read More

Crypto exchange Binance blacklisted in Russia

October 15, 2020

Russia’s Internet and telecom regulator Roskomnadzor has added Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, to the list of blacklisted websites in the country. The exchange was blacklisted on June 2, 2020, but Binance became aware of this only on September 24th, after receiving communication from Roskomnadzor. Binance said on its Russian Telegram channel it was …

Crypto exchange Binance blacklisted in Russia Read More

Mail.ru Group plans to raise $600 million on London Stock Exchange

October 7, 2020

According to an announcement by Mail.ru Group on the London Stock Exchange, the Internet company plans to raise $600 million: $200 million in global depositary receipts (GDRs) to raise capital and $400 million in convertible bonds. Mail.ru Group will use this money to develop and support the business and finance future transactions, especially in areas that have …

Mail.ru Group plans to raise $600 million on London Stock Exchange Read More

Sberbank unveils sweeping transformation into tech company

September 27, 2020

Sberbank, Russia’s state-controlled financial behemoth, is showcasing what it calls the biggest transformation in its history, as it unveils a suite of new technology products in an aggressive drive to get deeper into the tech sector. In a flashy presentation Thursday morning — echoing Apple’s famous annual product launches which attract millions of viewers and …

Sberbank unveils sweeping transformation into tech company Read More

Scroll to Top

This site is under maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience.

This site is under maintenance. Sorry for the inconvenience.