While advocating a ban on crypto exchange, investment and mining in the country, Russia’s central bank has plans to launch its own digital currency. Having completed the prototype of the digital ruble platform in December, the monetary authority is now beginning to experiment with transactions. A dozen banks have been invited to join the first stage of …
Russian banks begin testing digital ruble payments Read More
Wildberries has just launched its first financial product — a virtual debit card that allows its customers to make purchases on the marketplace with a 2% discount. The news was reported earlier this week by RB.RU, which cited the company’s press service. Only users with a Wildberries account can get the ‘WB Card,’ which is provided at …
IXcellerate, one of the most established data center company in Russia, has raised approximately some $190 million. The round — the largest ever in this field in the country — was led by sovereign wealth fund Mubadala (UAE) with participation from its Russian peer RDIF, SberInvest, and iXcellerate’s existing investors. Cited by Sber, the state-owned financial and digital …
Russian data center major IXcellerate attracts $190 million from Mubadala, RDIF and Sber Read More
In the months since Russia began massing troops on the border of Ukraine, the Biden administration has, on multiple occasions, warned that any further aggression by Moscow toward its neighbor would be met with unprecedented levels of sanctions. Now, the White House appears to be dropping some specific hints about what those sanctions might look …
US administration considers technology sanctions if Russia invades Ukraine Read More
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
Bank of Russia proposed today to ban cryptocurrency investment and mining as governments around the world crack down on the decentralized currencies, citing a variety of threats including monetary stability. At the moment, conducting transactions with cryptocurrencies is illegal in Russia, but investing and buying crypto through exchanges is permitted under a recent change. Russian citizens’ transactions using decentralized …
No exchange, no investment, no mining: Russia’s central bank proposes triple ban on crypto Read More
Last week, as reported by Reuters, TCS Group — the owner of Russian digital banking giant Tinkoff — took control of Swiss crypto service company Aximetria as part of its international expansion strategy. Founded by Russian serial entrepreneur Alex Axelrod in 2018, this startup has developed a SaaS platform to provide “seamless interconnection for any form of money: fiat, crypto and …
Yandex announced almost simultaneously — yesterday and today — two acquisitions. The NASDAQ-listed Russian digital giant is absorbing BandLink, a service for musicians, podcasters and labels to create micro sites, the news agency TASS reports. BandLink helps them promote their releases and concerts (including with personalised links for social media), analyze audiences and identify their …
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
Just a year after its previous round, Russian edtech startup Kodland secured $9 million in a Series A funding round. As reported by TechCrunch, the round was led by Redseed, with participation from Baring Vostok, Kismet, Flyer One Ventures and Alexander Nevinsky, a partner at I2BF who took part in the December 2020 round. All these investors have roots in Russia, excepted Flyer One whose team …
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, …
In mid-December VK Company, a leading Russian Internet group previously known as Mail.ru Group, appointed Vladimir Kiriyenko, the son of a top Kremlin official, as its new chief executive. The LSE-listed group controls Russia’s top social networks (VKontakte and OK) and a variety of other internet businesses. The move followed the takeover of VK by companies affiliated …
Meet Vladimir Kiriyenko, the new CEO of Russia’s top Internet group VK Read More
