Sberbank, the state-controlled financial and digital giant, is in talks to buy a large stake in e-commerce major Ozon, Reuters reported yesterday, citing “four sources close to the matter.” A banker told the news agency that “an agreement was nearly ready.” The bank would acquire around 30% of the company after the issuance of additional shares. …
Reuters: Sberbank prepares to buy large stake in Ozon Read More
“A US court stopped TON from happening:” with this simple explanation, VK and Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced today he is giving up his widely hyped blockchain and cryptocurrency project. This is the latest, but probably not the last episode of a saga which started in early 2018 with a controversial $1.7 billion ICO. Many unforeseen developments followed, …
Pavel Durov gives up his blockchain project, shifting the blame to US authorities Read More
[Updated May 7] Last week Telegram, the messaging app founded by Russian tech guru Pavel Durov, postponed yet another time the release of its blockchain platform TON and cryptocurrency Gram. The hypothetical launch is now scheduled for April 2021 with a clawback clause for investors. Through a controversial ICO in early 2018, Telegram raised some …
Is Telegram’s blockchain project heading to legal, technical and financial failure? Read More
Miro, a Californian startup with Russian roots previously known as RealtimeBoard, announced yesterday a $50 million Series B round. The funding came from Iconiq Capital – a Silicon Valley fund backed by such tech billionaires as Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey – with Accel and several individual investors also contributing to the round. The detail of the deal were …
A Russian-born ‘soonicorn,’ Miro raises $50 million from Silicon Valley tech billionaires Read More
DSight, a business intelligence agency focusing on the Russian venture market, has just released the English version of its latest yearly report. Russian venture investments amounted to at least $868 million in 2019 (excluding exits), up 13% year-on-year, says the report. Although this performance remains very modest by international comparison (USA: $136 billion, UK: $14.3 billion, Germany: $6.6 billion), it …
Russian venture market reached record $868 million in 2019 Read More
Russian retailers have been rocked for the past six weeks as epidemic fears were mounting among the population. Even before the shutdown of many offline outlets – which was ordered in Moscow city on March 31 – online demand surged across a host of products. Conservation-type food products became in strong demand in late February, with market leader Utkonos reporting a 60% sales spike in comparison with the same …
How COVID-19 is shaking Russia’s online and offline retail Read More
Russian e-commerce major Ozon has just announced a $150 million round of financing, consolidating its position among the most well-funded local market players. The money is coming from three investors bringing equal contributions: the Moscow-based private equity firm Baring Vostok Capital Partners, the corporate fund Sistema_VC and a new investor, the US VC firm Princeville Capital. The deal took the form of a …
Russian e-commerce major Ozon secures $150 million from local and US investors Read More
Ulmart, the former Russian e-commerce leader, is going bankrupt after three years of dire shareholder disputes. Founded by Alexey Nikitin in St. Petersburg in 2008, Ulmart developed a hybrid online-offline model: “part IKEA and part Amazon,” as former CEO Sergey Fedorinov put it. In its best days, the company had nearly 50 urban and suburban …
Former Russian e-commerce leader Ulmart under bankruptcy procedure Read More
When Masha Drokova became one of the leaders of ‘Nashi’, a pro-government Russian youth movement, many years ago, who would have guessed her business successes in Silicon Valley would be featured one day in top US publications? Drokova’s first professional experience as a TV host and producer in 2008 prepared her to make a lightning …
From politics, to PR, to venture: How a young Russian woman made her way to Silicon Valley Read More
Can a Russian billionaire become a digital leader after making his fortune in steel? “We have several investments related to human needs: education, medicine, traveling and retail. We are thinking of creating an ecosystem based on these assets – a kind of Amazon,” Alexey Mordashov told Bloomberg. “Each of these areas is on the verge of great change,” …
Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov wants to create “a kind of Amazon” Read More
[Updated Jan. 21] Rostelecom, the national telecom operator, is in the process of acquiring 31% of FRII Invest, the investment vehicle of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian). This is Russia’s biggest fund for early-stage startups, launched in 2013 as an instrument to support the emergence of a strong startup industry in Russia. Rostelecom’s is …
State-controlled corporation backs Russia’s leading startup investment fund Read More
Veeam Software, a global leader in cloud data management software, is to be acquired by top software investor Insight Partners. The deal, which values Veeam at “approximately $5 billion,” is expected to be closed in March. “Veeam has enjoyed rapid global growth over the last decade and we see tremendous opportunity for future growth, particularly …
Russian-founded Veeam Software sold for $5 billion to major US investor Read More
