Oleg Kouzbit

Russian calorie intake tracker makes crowdfunding splash at Indiegogo

April 22, 2014 April 22, 2014

HealBe, a St. Petersburg-based startup, has won the hearts of crowdfunders at Indiegogo.com with GoBe, its wearable device for automatic calorie intake measurement. A campaign that started on March 5 with a fairly unassuming goal of raising $100,000 largely for promotional purposes drew to a close last Tuesday with $1,084,311 – all of it available to …

Russian calorie intake tracker makes crowdfunding splash at Indiegogo Read More

Government IT fund partners with VCs and industry players to increase startup support

April 21, 2014 April 21, 2014

Rosinfocominvest, a government fund set up to back IT and telecom projects, now has 12 partnerships with major Russian IT players and VC funds under its belt, all set to jointly invest in IT startups. The Russian Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, which stands behind the Rosinfocominvest project, emphasized that this represents “a fourfold …

Government IT fund partners with VCs and industry players to increase startup support Read More

Russian-made chips for bank cards could appear in 2015

April 17, 2014 April 17, 2014

Russia is setting up its own payment operation and clearing centers to circumvent US-based Visa and Mastercard – and may have its own homemade chip for banking cards as early as next year. According to the Russian business daily Vedomosti, microelectronics developer and manufacturer Mikron Group has high hopes of getting a new chip certified …

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Microsoft pledges $1 million for Moscow University-based computer vision and big data research

April 16, 2014 April 16, 2014

Microsoft and Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; Russian MGU), Russia’s most renowned institution of higher learning, shook hands earlier this month on a joint $1 million research project, the US company announced. The three-year agreement calls for close collaboration between the investor, Microsoft Research, and two of MSU’s leading labs – one that develops computer …

Microsoft pledges $1 million for Moscow University-based computer vision and big data research Read More

Yandex sells off Facebook shares

April 15, 2014 April 15, 2014

Russian seach giant Yandex has completed the sell-off of its Facebook shareholding. Commenting on Yandex’s Form 20-F annual report for foreign private issuers, the Russian business daily Vedomosti estimated that a 142,479 share package sold in two chunks over the past 12 months may have brought the Russian Internet company $8.1 million – a fairly …

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Russian city map developer 2GIS adds Santiago de Chile to its 3D-covered cities

April 14, 2014 April 14, 2014

2GIS, a Russian developer of 3D maps with electronic directory guides for city inhabitants and travelers, is now available in Spanish for detailed city navigation in Santiago, the capital of Chile – the first South American site for the cartography company. The project is downloadable in both desktop (Windows) and mobile (iOS and Android) versions. …

Russian city map developer 2GIS adds Santiago de Chile to its 3D-covered cities Read More

Russian VC fund backs Finnish solution for mobile sharing of TV moments

April 11, 2014 April 11, 2014

GS Venture, the one-year-old venture arm of GS Group, has announced its first international investment. Set up last summer to “support entrepreneurial innovators and startup teams” in Russia, the fund decided to establish presence in Finland with a €200,000 injection into Tellyo, a Helsinki startup. The young Finnish company has developed Share the Moment, a …

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VKontakte shareholders sue each other: Will Durov take back UCP’s stake or will UCP take control of Durov’s Telegram?

April 10, 2014 April 10, 2014

What started a year ago as a shareholder dispute within VKontakte (VK.com), Russia’s largest social network, appears to be emerging as a full-blown war of litigation. The faction most actively fanning the legal flames is United Capital Partners (UCP), a major Russian fund active in various sectors that acquired a 48% stake in VK a …

VKontakte shareholders sue each other: Will Durov take back UCP’s stake or will UCP take control of Durov’s Telegram? Read More

Global record labels take Vkontakte into Russian court as music piracy continues

April 9, 2014 April 9, 2014

Three international music record labels have taken the offensive in another attempt to challenge online piracy in Russia, international industry association IFPI reported. Once again the target is Vkontakte (also known as VK.com), the former Soviet Union’s third most visited website and leading social network. Sony Music Russia, Universal Music Russia and Warner Music UK filed three separate …

Global record labels take Vkontakte into Russian court as music piracy continues Read More

Nizhny Novgorod hopes to open first IT Park in November

April 8, 2014 April 8, 2014

The Nizhny Novgorod Region in the mid-Volga area plans to launch the inaugural stage of its first IT park this November, the Russian Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications website announced in late March, following a top-level on-site inspection by the Ministry. The long-awaited 15 billion ruble (about $430 million) Ankudinovka IT Park is one …

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Ruselectronics set to buy major stake in key Belarusian electronics exporter

April 7, 2014 April 7, 2014

Ruselectronics, Russia’s umbrella company for national radio electronics assets, has announced plans to buy into OAO Integral, a sizable microelectronics maker in Minsk, Belarus. After due diligence is completed, the Russian holding could acquire a minimum 51% stake in Integral, then invest further in joint microelectronics production.

Russia’s A-bomb nest may become major cyber security R&D hub

April 4, 2014 April 4, 2014

Sarov, one of Russia’s largest centers for nuclear research, is heading for diversification. The federal government is considering drawing upon the solid scientific ecosystem of the city, 460km east of Moscow, to create a major hub for IT and cyber security research. A leading nuclear weapons design area in the USSR that did not appear …

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