Adrien Henni

Adrien Henni is the founder of International Digital News, a tech news and research agency dedicated to the emerging tech scenes of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. With nearly 20 years of experience in the high-tech and venture businesses in France and Eastern Europe, he advises a variety of startups, investors and other organizations. He is a regular contributor to industry publications and speaks at conferences in Western and Eastern Europe, Asia, and America.

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East-West Digital News suspends Russian tech news coverage

September 11, 2023

East-West Digital News was founded back in 2011 to provide international audiences with quality information about Russia’s emerging tech industries — from startup and venture developments, to e-commerce, to mobile, to software development and much more.    Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 and the West responded with unprecedented sanctions, this mission has become more …

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Yandex could dismantle itself amid domestic and international pressure

November 26, 2022

Yandex, arguably the most successful and emblematic Russian digital company over the past 25 years, could be split amid the international and domestic tensions that have followed Russia’s attack on Ukraine on Feb. 24.  Confirming earlier media reports (FT, NYT, The Bell), Yandex announced Friday it had “commenced a strategic process to review options to restructure the …

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Business Insider: Western tech majors tested or used controversial Russian face recognition technology

August 5, 2022

According to a report published last week by US publication Business Insider, a range of western tech firms are users of FindFace, a controversial face recognition technology developed by Russian startup NtechLab. FindFace matches faces against social media accounts, regardless of privacy rights, among other facial recognition capabilities. Its approach is similar to that developed by US …

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How Russian game developers have been hit by the shockwave of war

July 7, 2022

Russia’s war on Ukraine and the subsequent western sanctions seem to have put the once-thriving Russian and Belarusian gaming industries in serious trouble. It took just weeks to Wargaming, the Belarusian-born, Cyprus-headquartered developer of World of Tanks and World of Warships, to react to the events. In early April, the company announced its decision to “leave Belarus and …

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After online orders doubled in 2021, Russian e-commerce keeps positive track in time of war

April 29, 2022

Russia’s domestic e-commerce market grew by more than 50% last year, reports research agency Data Insight, reaching 4.1 trillion rubles (around $55 billion at the average exchange rate). No less than 1.7 trillion orders were made, more than doubling (+104%) year-on-year — in which Data Insight sees an all-time record.  Online sales accounted for some …

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Caught between Russia’s censorship and West’s sanctions, Yandex seeks to sell assets

March 21, 2022

Yandex, the Russian online search giant — also running a variety of other digital services — is exploring different “strategic options, including disvestment, for its news aggregation service and infotainment platform Zen.” The company stated Friday it intended to “focus on developing its other technology-related businesses and products (including search, advertising, self-driving and cloud) and transactional services (including ride-hailing, e-commerce, …

Caught between Russia’s censorship and West’s sanctions, Yandex seeks to sell assets Read More

“A hurricane of discouragement:” Putin’s war on Ukraine is already impacting the Russian tech sector

February 27, 2022

Will Russia take control of Ukraine after a quick military victory? Will it be a long-lasting war of guerrilla? Could an escalation involve neighboring countries and western powers? The outcome of the Russian military attack on Ukraine that began on Thursday, Feb. 24, is unpredictable. But just hours after the invasion, the impact on the …

“A hurricane of discouragement:” Putin’s war on Ukraine is already impacting the Russian tech sector Read More

From Moscow to Lille, France: This startup changes the way retailers fill product cards

May 16, 2022

While many internationally-oriented Russian startups move to Silicon Valley, or to such European alternatives as Berlin, London or Riga, Branquad made a different choice. This Russian digital commerce startup recently landed in Lille, a large, tech-friendly city in the North of France.  Not only does its case provide yet another example of an International Russian …

From Moscow to Lille, France: This startup changes the way retailers fill product cards Read More

Russian tech entrepreneurship on the rise: Forbes identifies 10 “future unicorns”

February 3, 2022

Far from their native countries, Russian-speaking entrepreneurs are thriving in the world’s major tech hotspots — from Silicon Valley, to Western Europe, to South-East Asia. These entrepreneurs have colonized the world’s best accelerators, including such ones as Y Combinator, 500 Startups and Techstars. Russian-speaking entrepreneurs reportedly accounted for 40% of a recent Alchemist batch.  The …

Russian tech entrepreneurship on the rise: Forbes identifies 10 “future unicorns” Read More

Incepted in Russia 11 years ago, this visual collaboration software startup is now valued at $17.5 billion

January 17, 2022

Miro, a US enterprise software publisher with Russian roots, announced yesterday a $400 million Series C round. The deal brought the company — known as RealtimeBoard when it was founded in Russia back in 2011 — to an astounding  $17.5 billion post-money valuation. Several other unicorns founded or co-founded by Russian entrepreneurs emerged on the global tech scene over the past years — from Badoo, to Personio, to Veeam Software, …

Incepted in Russia 11 years ago, this visual collaboration software startup is now valued at $17.5 billion Read More

Western-funded KupiVIP shuts down after 13-year e-commerce story

September 13, 2021

On Sept. 1 KupiVIP, once a top Russian fashion site, and its affiliate Mamsy.ru, wound up their operations Sept. 1, unable to compete with Russia’s new generation of online retail giants. “For 13 years we made you happy with each purchase [but] our story is over now,” says a statement posted on the KupiVIP site. …

Western-funded KupiVIP shuts down after 13-year e-commerce story Read More

A SPAC with Russian flavors: Nexters and Kismet complete merger

September 24, 2021

Nexters, one of the most successful Russian-founded game development companies, is going public today through a merger with special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Kismet. The company is traded on the NASDAQ under the new ticker symbols “GDEV” (ordinary shares) and “GDEVW” (warrants). The Kismet SPAC which just merged with Nexters closed its $250 million NASDAQ IPO in …

A SPAC with Russian flavors: Nexters and Kismet complete merger Read More

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