On Sept. 23, venture analytics agency Dsight will hold an online event to present its latest report on Russian venture activity and discuss industry trends. Special attention will be brought to such topics as: The rise of open innovation and corporate tech scouting in Russia; The implications of COVID-19 for the venture capital industry in …
The corporate venture fund of MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator, is investing 125 million rubles (around $1.7 million at the current exchange rate) in personal finance app Coinkeeper. Coinkeeper claims 350,000 users all over the world whom it helps “make the right financial decisions” from expense forecasting, to advanced analytics, to the management of …
MTS corporate fund invests in financial app Coinkeeper Read More
During three days, from Friday 11 to Sunday 13 September, voters from 83 Russian regions are being called to elect members of local parliaments and, in certain cases, regional governors as well as federal-level deputies. More than 9,000 local campaigns took place in what observers see as a key test for the country’s pro-Putin ruling …
Ukraine, Russia, China, South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, and the US are among the top-ranking countries by cryptocurrency adoption, according to the 2020 Global Crypto Adoption Index compiled by blockchain data analytics firm Chainalysis. Chainalysis’ 2020 Global Crypto Adoption Index, released earlier this week, ranks 154 countries based on their cryptocurrency adoption. The crypto adoption index …
Ukraine, Russia, South Africa, Nigeria top global cryptocurrency adoption ranking Read More
Last week Russia’s leading multi-category e-commerce platform, Ozon Group, announced its turnover rose to a record in the second quarter, as the global pandemic spurred more people to shop online. Turnover, or gross merchandise value (GMV), surged 188% year on year to 45.8 billion rubles ($611 million) in Q2 2020, Ozon said in a statement. In …
The Untitled, a Russian venture firm established in 2013, is raising a new vehicle to invest across Eastern Europe with a focus on the former Soviet Union. With a €50 million target, the new fund will seek to invest at the seed and pre-Series A stages in such segments as B2B software, robotics, artificial intelligence, …
Mail.ru Group and Sberbank are increasing their stake in food delivery service Local Kitchen (‘Kukhnya na rayone’) through their joint venture O2O. After the acquisition of a 30% share in May for nearly $3.9 million, O2O is to own 84.7% of the company after deal completion scheduled for Q4 2020. Some of Local Kitchen’ services are …
Mail.ru Group and Sberbank invest again in food delivery Read More
Yandex, the Russian Internet giant, is developing an international education platform to train data analysts, data scientists, web developers and other IT specialists. Dubbed ‘Practicum,’ the platform is touted as a “practice-oriented, job-landing bootcamp,” starting with a free 20-hour intro course. After initial roll out in Russia last year, Practicum was made available in English, targeting the US market, …
Yandex offers Russian and US students “a starter pack to break into tech” Read More
The companies Unilever Russia, Mars, Inc., Magnit, and Yandex Lavka have all pulled their advertisements from the YouTube show ‘Comment Out’ after a guest on the show was asked to make offensive social media posts about the ongoing protests in Belarus and Khabarovsk. The episode in question came out on August 31. It featured Russian singer Lolita …
Last week Mercuryo.io, a Russian-founded startup based in Estonia, announced the completion of its first round of funding, having received €2.5 million from Target Global. Mercuryo.io has built a cross-border cryptocurrency payment network for businesses – allowing for transactions from and to anywhere in the world. This infrastructure offers solutions for virtual accounts, business payments, …
Target Global bets on Russo-Estonian startup “to disrupt crypto payments” Read More
Russia’s leaders have been paying close attention to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies for several years now. President Vladimir Putin has said on numerous occasions that the leader in the field of AI would become “the master of the world.” Until recently, however, Russia remained virtually the only large country without its own AI development strategy. …
Developing artificial intelligence in Russia: Objectives and realities Read More
Yandex and Uber yesterday announced agreements to spin off their self-driving vehicle business from Yandex.Taxi, the taxi-hailing and food tech joint venture they formed three years ago. The spin-off, dubbed ‘Yandex Self Driving Group B.V.’ or ‘Yandex SDG,’ will be directly owned by Yandex and Uber. The NASDAQ-listed Russian Internet giant will invest $150 million in the new company, on …
Yandex and Uber form dedicated company for self-driving business Read More
