Yandex’s self-driving car unit has accelerated through the coronavirus pandemic, becoming one of the world’s top 3 companies for the number of miles driven by automated vehicles. In a conference call with investors Tuesday, the Russian technology giant said its fleet of 130 vehicles had passed four million miles in autonomous driving. The mile count …
Mobalytics, a California-headquartered startup with Ukrainian roots, raised a $11.25 million Series A round led by Almaz Capital and Cabra VC, two international funds with connections in Eastern Europe. The other investors include HP Tech Ventures, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, RRE Ventures, Axiomatic and T1 Esports. Almaz Capital, Founders Fund, General Catalyst and GGV Capital …
President Vladimir Putin’s plans for digital businesses to help power Russia’s economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic by giving Russia one of the lowest tax rates in the world for IT companies might not be what they seem, analysts told The Moscow Times. In an address to the nation in June, Putin hailed the Russian IT sector’s …
Russia’s ‘IT tax maneuver’ could bring cash to the budget, not to IT companies Read More
Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, one of the world’s top cyber security vendors, has increased its stake in New Cloud Technologies (NCT) from 29.5% to 47%, the Kommersant business daily reported. These shares were sold by company founder Andrey Cheglakov. Kaspersky acquired its initial 29.5% stake in May last year. Launched in 2013 — now with offices in Moscow, St. …
Kaspersky purchases additional stake in Russian cloud solution provider Read More
3D Bioprinting Solutions, a resident of the Skolkovo Foundation Biomedical Cluster, recently agreed to collaborate with KFC in developing an innovative technology aimed at making chicken using a 3D bio-printer. The two sides came up with the idea as a means to tap into the healthy lifestyle trend, which includes healthy eating, and to meet …
Earlier this month Mail.ru Group, the LSE-listed Russian Internet giant, announced an investment in data science education startup SkillFactory. The amount fo the transaction was not disclosed, but the group stated it will “receive a 18.31% share in the service with the option to add on more shares.” SkillFactory’s offers include: An online Big Data …
Last week the Skolkovo Foundation, Russia’s main tech hub with more than 2,400 resident startups, announced the temporary suspension of key grant programs until Dec. 31, 2020. The move is due to the government’s decision to freeze its subsidies to the foundation this year. Skolkovo will continue distributing grants from other sources. The suspended grant …
Skolkovo suspends key grant programs until next year Read More
Online recruitment platform HeadHunter has sealed its position as a $1 billion tech company after a new multimillion dollar share deal confirmed the company’s soaring valuation. The new deal will see U.S. investment giant Goldman Sachs sell a 9.9% stake for $101 million, thus valuing Headhunter at just over $1 billion — a rise in the firm’s …
Russian recruitment platform HeadHunter cements $1 billion valuation Read More
Yesterday, Spotify launched in Russia as well as 12 other markets: Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. Music lovers from these countries can now enjoy Spotify’s 50 million tracks and 4 billion playlists, as well as localized music personalization features. Russia is the 17th-biggest streaming market in the world and on pace to be the 10th-biggest streaming market …
Spotify launches in Russia and 12 other Central and Eastern European countries Read More
Russian cyber actors are targeting organizations involved in coronavirus vaccine development, according to a new warning by US, UK and Canadian security officials on Thursday that details activity by a Russian hacking group called APT29, which also goes by the name ‘the Dukes’ or ‘Cozy Bear.’ An advisory published by the UK National Cyber Security …
UK, US and Canada allege Russian cyberattacks on Covid-19 research centers Read More
The Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian) has announced that 52 Russian startups are going through a three-month summer batch of its acceleration program – a record number since the fund’s inception in 2013. Eighty percent of the startups of this summer batch develop B2B solutions, in particular in the fields of marketing …
Intento, a startup with Russian roots, has secured a $3 million seed round, reports CrunchBase. Konstantin Savenkov, CEO, started the Berkeley, California-based company in 2016 with Grigory Sapunov, a deep learning and artificial intelligence expert who had worked five years at Yandex. Initially, as reported by East-West Digital News, Intento positioned its solution as a new way to …
