Presented as the brainchild of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI) has appeared on the scene as a major element in Russia’s state sponsored innovation policy. Though making its fist public debut only three weeks ago, the project appears to have been duly prepared, as witnessed by the agency’s brand new …
Putin creates powerful innovation agency; Skolkovo could lose momentum Read More
Rostelecom Yug, the regional subsidiary of national telecommunications operator Rostelecom, will invest one billion rubles (approx. $35 million) to develop Sochi’s telecommunication infrastructure, the company announced. The funds will be used, in particular, to build an undersea fiber-optic cable in the Dzhubga-Sochi-Vesely area, to modernize power unit equipment, and to reinforce and digitalize the telecommunications …
Rostelecom to invest 1 billion rubles in Sochi’s telecommunications Read More
Travelmenu.ru, a site offering a suite of travel products including hotels, flights, and vacation packages, announced yesterday that it has raised $1.6 million in growth capital from Almaz Capital Partners and Runa Capital, two important venture capital firms in Russia. The funds will be used “to invest in a direct-to-consumer marketing campaign and build additional …
Former telecommunications minister and presidential counselor Leonid Reiman has created and personally invested in a fund called Alternative Capital Investment. Partners in the fund are a Cyprus-based subsidiary of VTB, a leading Russian bank controlled by the Russian state, and other unnamed investors.
AddVenture, one of the most dynamic Russian venture funds, has announced a new fund, AddVenture III. The fund has already raised $7 million “but since it is structured as a corporate vehicle, it could amount up to $50 million in the next two to three years,” Maxim Medvedev, one of the founders, told EWDN.
Yandex triumphantly started trading yesterday on NASDAQ, with its shares subscribed 17 times more than had been made available, reported Reuters from an unnamed source. After initially considering a $20 to $22 price range per share, the company defined its IPO pricing at $25 per share, but after trading started, the price surged to nearly …
Yandex shares oversubscribed 17 times, surge up to 60% over initial pricing Read More
An original event took place last week in Moscow: Positive Hack Days — an international forum on practical information-security issues that aimed to “unite hackers and information security companies so that they could understand how much they need each other.” In addition to roundtables and masterclasses on a wide range of information security issues, the …
Apple’s Safari forced by hackers at Moscow contest Read More
During a visit to New Delhi last week, a top-level delegation of NIS GLONASS, Russia’s national provider of satellite-based navigation services, exchanged opinions with DIMTS, an urban transport and infrastructure services company backed by the Delhi government, about implementing intelligent transportation systems in Russian and Indian cities as well as about furthering commercial development. The …
During a visit to Kazan’s IT-Park earlier this month, presidential aide Arkady Dvorkovich praised Tatarstan for successfully implementing e-government at the local level. For example, now a couple wanting to marry can file an application online with a registry office, and parents can apply via the Internet for a place for their child at a …
Yandex looks to raise up to $1.1 billion offering 52 million shares between $24 to $25 a share, up from an initially considered price of $20 to $22, commanding a market value around $7 billion. Yandex will list on the NASDAQ under the symbol YNDX starting from May 23, 2011. In light of this IPO, East-West …
MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator and Rostelecom, the Russian national telecommunications operator, are among the Russian companies mulling the acquisition of GNC-Alfa, Armenia’s leading operator of fiber-optic cable infrastructure. Another candidate for the acquisition is France Telecom, Russian business daily Kommersant reported from unnamed sources. The estimated value of the company could be between …
Russian operators compete with France Telecom to acquire Armenia’s GNC-Alfa Read More
1. Yandex is more than a search engine Since its launch in 1997, not only has Yandex become Russia’s number one search engine. Beyond its estimated 55% to 64% share of the search market, Yandex is an integrated Internet company leading in such areas as online maps and location based services, news aggregation services, streaming music …
Seven things you need to know to be a Yandex expert Read More
