East-West Digital News

Founded in 2011, East-West Digital News is an online resource dedicated to the Russian high tech industry — providing fresh news, market research and business consulting services. Its news service and publications were suspended in 2022 as a consequence of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the subsequent international isolation.

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New Russian delivery services launched in London, Oman and Vancouver

As part of an already established trend, the past few weeks saw Russian players assert themselves again on the international express delivery scene. In early October, two Russian entrepreneurs, Yevgeny Bisovka and Razmik Sukiasov, announced they completed a $6.1 million round of funding to develop their service Tiggy in Vancouver, Canada. This company offers “free 15-minute grocery delivery with …

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Russian-founded startup raises $4.5 million to reinvent the Rubik’s Cube

WowCube, a startup founded by IT entrepreneur Ilya Osipov from Nizhny Novgorod, is reinventing the Rubik’s cube. Launched in 2017, the company touts itself as “the first-in-class innovative gaming platform where virtual gameplay is controlled by physically tilting, twisting, and shaking the device.” According to CrunchBase data, the company — now registered in Florida — …

Russian-founded startup raises $4.5 million to reinvent the Rubik’s Cube Read More

Adtech major Admitad buys two Russian startups, opens US office to “expand aggressively”

Admitad, an international affiliate network with Russian roots, announced two acquisitions this month, targeting Russian startups CheckScan and Pampadu.   The previous has developed a QR code scanner for receipts that allows customers to analyze their spending and compare prices across various outlets. CheckScan claims to  processes over 2 million receipts a day, serving “hundreds of thousands of consumers” across the …

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Now a top global crypto mining location, Russia considers introducing higher energy tariffs

Russia has become one of the world’s top three locations for bitcoin mining activity, following China’s crackdown on crypto earlier this year.  In August 2021, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index,  bitcoin miners in Russia accounted for 13.6% of the total global BTC mining hash rate distribution, bested by only the United States (26.2%) and Kazakhstan (21.9%). Energy consumption has grown …

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Russia and WEF to launch ‘Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ in Moscow

Last week the Russian government and the World Economic Forum announced Russia is joining the WEF’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (CFIR) Network. The agreement was inked in Moscow by WEF President Børge Brende and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.  CFIR Russia will be hosted by Digital Economy, a Moscow-based non-profit created by national technology leaders to facilitate …

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Russian and Ukrainian roots, US exit: Jelastic acquired by Virtuozzo

Last week Jelastic, a multi-cloud Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) company established in Silicon Valley with Russian and Ukrainian roots, announced its acquisition by Seattle-based Virtuozzo. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Jelastic’s cloud services combine platform and container capacities in a single package for hosting providers, enterprises and developers. Virtuozzo is a leader in virtualization and hyperconverged software: its …

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Mail.ru Group rebrands to ‘VK’

On Tuesday Mail.ru Group, the LSE-listed Russian Internet major, announced its rebranding to ‘VK,’ uniting most of its online activities around the abbreviated name of its social media flagship Vkontakte.  “While market analysts and professionals know us as Mail.ru Group, the connection between our projects was not always obvious to users,” explains the group, and …

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In 2021, Mail.Ru and Sber injected $600 million in their mobility and foodtech JV

Last week Mail.ru Group, the LSE-listed Russian Internet major, and Sber (ex-Sberbank), the state-controlled financial and technology giant, announced an injection of 12.2 billion rubles (around $170 million) into their O2O joint venture. The latest capital increase brought the total amount they put in the JV this year to 43 billion rubles (around $600 million at the …

In 2021, Mail.Ru and Sber injected $600 million in their mobility and foodtech JV Read More

Russian car-sharing major Delimobil files for listing in New York

This past Friday Delimobil Holding S.A., a Luxembourg-registered, Moscow-based car-sharing company, filed for listing on the New York Stock Exchange. BofA Securities, Citigroup Global Markets and VTB Capital will act as joint lead book-running managers while Banco Santander, Renaissance Securities and Sberbank CIB will be joint bookrunners, the company said, cited by Reuters.  A pioneer …

Russian car-sharing major Delimobil files for listing in New York Read More

Mail.ru Group pursues gaming acquisitions across Russia and Belarus

Mail.ru Group’s appetite for acquisitions in the gaming space was confirmed again today as My.Games Venture Capital (MGVC), the investment arm of its subsidiary My.Games, announced minority investments in three game studios. These are Tworogue Games and VOX, based in Moscow, and Wideview Games from Minsk, Belarus.  MGVC put on the table $3 million in total for these deals, which include options to …

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Report: Russian venture market hit $1 billion mark in H1 2021

Dsight, a Moscow based business intelligence company with a focus on investment, has just released the English version of its Russian venture report covering the first half of 2021.  In contrast with last year’s disappointing numbers, the market showed signs of renewed growth earlier this year, with total deal value exceeding $1 billion for the first semester. This is an …

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Sber aims to make elderly people digitally literate

Last week Sber, the state-controlled financial and digital giant, announced the launch of a Digital Skills School, aiming to teach elderly people to use digital services in everyday life. The financial and digital giant defines its initiative as “an educational and awareness-raising project,” touting its “simple language and accessible formats.” Users can learn how to buy medications …

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