In early November The Locals, a Russian online platform for apartment rentals, made its debut in Ukraine — just days after Yandex.Taxi, another service from Russia, entered the market. Launched in 2010, the service covers Russian cities Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kazan. Following the extension to Kyiv (Kiev), The Locals is planning launch in Warsaw and Tel Aviv “in a couple of …
In late October Yandex, the Russian search giant, launched taxi booking service Yandex.Taxi in Ukraine. The service – which operates exclusively in partnership with taxi companies – is available exclusively in Kyiv (Kiev), but Yandex plans to expand it beyond the Ukrainian capital. “Our next targets are Odessa, Kharkov (Kharkiv) and Dnipro [previously known as Dnepropetrovsk or …
The Russian online economy reached 1.94 trillion rubles (roughly $31 billion at the average exchange rate) in 2015, according to “The Runet Economy,” a study released last month by the Russian Association for Electronic Communications (RAEC). This amount is equal to 2.4% of Russia’s gross domestic product, slightly more (0.2 percentage points) than in 2014. Due …
Report: Russia’s online economy accounts for nearly 2.5% of GDP Read More
This summer, Russian online ticket service Kassir.ru acquired its two counterparts — Belarusian Kvitki.by and Lithuanian Bilietai.lt — from Lithuanian BLT group, Delovoy Peterburg reported last week. The transaction amounted to €5.5 million, according to the Russian newspaper. Based in Saint Petersburg, Kassir.ru is part of the PMI media holding, which is controlled by Russian billionaire Eugene Finkelstein. …
Russian online ticket service expands to Belarus and Lithuania Read More
Yesterday Sberbank, Russia’s national savings bank, and MasterCard announced that they have made available Apple Pay to their clients in Russia. A number of other Russian players are expected to follow. With this expansion, Apple Pay is now available in 10 countries since launching in 2014, including the US, UK, China, Australia, and Canada, notes The Verge. “Many of Sberbank clients actively use …
Russian industry lobbies and lawmakers are preparing changes to the legislation on online video content. According to an advanced draft bill analyzed by Kommersant, the owners of independent online streaming companies with over 100,000 daily views will be required to reduce the share of foreign capital to 20% or less by March 1, 2017. A …
Russia considers restrictions to foreign capital ownership of online video companies Read More
Russia’s second most popular social network, Odnoklassniki.ru (Russian for “Classmates”), owned by Mail.Ru Group, has expanded to China, Iran, Iraq and Macao, Izvestia reported last week. On August 31, the network’s new Android app was launched under the OK.RU brand in these countries, the Russian newspaper learned from unnamed sources close to the company. When …
Mail.ru Group launches social network and online games in Asia Read More
As Russia seeks to develop and diversify international cooperation in the field of technologies, RVC, its state-owned fund of funds for innovation, announced last month that it will open a representative office in Seoul. “Among its key objectives will be to assist Russian technological companies in promoting Russian products and services on the Korean market, …
Russia seeks to bolster tech ties with South Korea Read More
Russian IT firm LANIT has invested $2,5 million in CardsMobile, a developer of contactless payment solutions, in exchange for a 28.6% stake, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported last week. Thus, the company has been valued at $8,7 million. CardsMobile has developed a platform for NFC payments as well as a mobile application, christened ‘Wallet’ (‘koshelek’ in …
CardsMobile secures $2.5 million from LANIT as NFC takes off in Russia Read More
Over the past few months Russia’s Central Bank has made several steps to track and get involved in the developments of financial technologies. In February, the bank created a working group to implement fintech innovation in cooperation with market players. Among the fields of investigation of this working group are Blockchain technologies and the way …
Russia’s central bank seeks active involvement in fintech developments Read More
Since the beginning of this year, at least six corporate venture funds have been launched or started operations in Russia. Four of them were created by AFK Sistema, a Russian, LSE-listed conglomerate. Sistema Venture Capital, the most recent one, started operating last month in Moscow. It has raised 10 billion rubles (approximately $154 million at the current exchange rate) to support globally-oriented …
Russian corporations launch giant startup investment programs Read More
Chelyabinsk, a city of 1.1 million inhabitants just to the east of the Ural mountains, has launched a new “IT Park” to support local tech projects, as reported by RVC last month. Officially launched last month, this 2,200-sq. m. technopark is privately owned, but has received support from the local authorities and the federal government. …
