On February 4, 2014 Facebook, the most popular social network in the world turns 10 years old. With 1.23 billion users around the world, the company is worth $150 billion, a global record for an internet company. Despite dominating markets all over the world, however, Facebook is visibly less popular in Russia than local social media. So …
Can Facebook win a bigger share of the Russian social media pie? Read More
Russia’s National Association of Business Angels (NABA), Atom Partners, a Moscow-based investment consultancy and high-tech investor, and RVC, the state-owned fund of funds dedicated to innovation, have presented the results of their 2013 business angel investing study. Tapping into a wide variety of open information sources, the partners found in their report that Russian business …
The Russian cross-border sales market, which is expected to reach or exceed $3 billion this year, has been the object of two recent studies. The first report, conducted by the Higher School of Economics (HSE) this past summer, analyzes the effects of cross-border sales on the Russian retail market. The research was ordered by the …
Cross-border sales: Foreign e-merchants do not always have price advantage Read More
When I moved to Russia, I was astonished by the pervasiveness of Internet piracy. Movies, music, software, books — everything was at my fingertips, free of charge and in the language of my choice. When my Russian friends learned that I pay for a Netflix account, they burst out laughing. Why, they asked, would I pay for something that is available for free? During my time in Russia, …
Just over a month ago the Moscow Stock Exchange signed an agreement of cooperation with NASDAQ OMX. Now the American Stock Exchange will advise Russian technology companies and international organisations that do business in Russia, including how to prepare for their IPO. Given the excitement of many Russian companies surrounding this announcement, the results could …
Western investors “all looking at Russia,” claims NASDAQ boss Read More
Last week RVC (formerly known as Russian Venture Company) presented its updated development strategy for the coming years. The state-owned fund of funds, whose mission is to support venture activity and stimulate innovation in the country, considers that Russia’s venture market “has established itself” after three or four years of accelerated growth. Virtually non-existent a …
The famous tech publication Mashable has published its selection of Russia’s 20 “hottest startups.” According to the site, “Russia is gradually becoming a place where its undoubtedly strong education and engineering standards are blending with original entrepreneurship.” In addition to Skolkovo in the Moscow region, Mashable highlights that “in St. Petersburg and the lesser-known cities …
The need to restructure the Russian economy has led to a variety of public policy initiatives. Whatever the official vocabulary, “innovation” is a key aspect of these policies. Therefore, a comparison with a country such as France that has implemented a very pro-active innovation policy may provide some tools of analysis. In both countries but …
Challenges for innovation policies: A comparison between France and Russia Read More
The use of digital banking and electronic payments is expanding in many countries, as consumers embrace technology that facilitates financial services. Yet in Russia, people still cling to cash for most of their financial needs. In fact, more than 90 percent of all commodity purchases are in cash, according to the Bank of Russia, and …
Russia’s vibrant mobile advertising scene has seen two major moves in the last few weeks with the launch of ad network AdCamp by Pult Group and IMHO Vi and the announcement of a $3 million investment in mobile RTB platform AdMoment by two venture funds. “As digital devices tend to converge, mobile increasingly dominates our …
Hot Russian mobile advertising market attracts domestic and international investors Read More
A survey by Superjob.ru published earlier this month found that the word Russians most associated with advertising was “annoying.” The survey was conducted in September 2013, with 1,000 economically active adult respondents from all regions of the country. Eleven percent of respondents found advertising to be negative, while less than 2% evoked positive associations with advertising …
Online advertising judged by Russians less intrusive than traditional ads Read More
Last week, the Russian edition of Forbes released a list of 10 top Russian venture capitalists whom it identified as being “the most successful.” In the last four years, these investors have earned approximately $3.6 billion from mainly Internet-related projects. The ranking uses the same methodology as American Forbes for The Midas List, the global …
Forbes identifies Russia’s top 10 venture capitalists Read More
