How do the local startup scenes look like in Estonia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine — but also in lesser known countries, from Bosnia-Herzegovina, to Moldova, to Georgia? How much do VCs invest these countries? Are corporations involved in these emerging ecosystems? Which are the most well-funded startups, and which younger ones should be followed? Why do so many …
Last week MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator, announced the acquisition of a 100% share in Ticketland.ru and a 78.2% share in Ponominalu.ru, two leading event ticket operators in the Russian market. MTS says it expects to establish itself as a leading ticket operator in Russia. The deal “will allow the company to broaden its …
MTS acquires two event ticketing companies, aims for market leadership Read More
How do the local startup scenes look like in Estonia, Poland, Russia, Ukraine — but also in lesser known countries, from Bosnia-Herzegovina, to Moldova, to Georgia? How much do VCs invest these countries? Are corporations involved in these emerging ecosystems? Which are the most well-funded startups, and which younger ones should be followed? Why do so many …
Softline Venture Partners, the venture arm of software publishing group Softline, has invested an undisclosed amount in JagaJam in exchange for a minority stake. The company will use the fresh investment to develop its technological platform, create new adjacent analytical products and scale up its business in Russia and beyond. A pioneer in the segment …
Softline Venture Partners invests in social media brand pages analytics Read More
Last week MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator, announced the acquisition of Praliss Enterprises, the parent company of Gambit Esports, for an undisclosed amount. Gambit Esports has four teams (16 players in total) participating in the most popular cyber game disciplines: Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO), League of Legends (LoL), Dota 2 and FIFA. Gambit Esports teams have repeatedly earned …
Yandex.Taxi — the taxi service of Yandex which is in the process of merging its activities with Uber in Russia and neighboring countries — intends to group the food deliver services under its control in a dedicated subsidiary, ‘Yandex.Eda.’ The new company will be part of the holding structure which will be formed as the result of …
Yandex.Taxi and Uber.EATS launch dedicated food delivery subsidiary Read More
In late December Waves, a global public blockchain platform with Russian roots, announced the creation of Basics, a fund which aims to invest essentially in blockchain infrastructure. Defining itself as “a new blockchain venture product,” Basics aims to “combine the best of venture funds and hedge funds.” With an initial portfolio of existing traded crypto …
Russian money and expertise for new blockchain funds Read More
Last week Sberbank, Russia’s national savings bank, announced an investment in VisionLabs, a Russian startup specializing in facial recognition, data analysis and robotics. The deal, the terms of which remain undisclosed, aims to support VisionLabs’ expansion on the international markets, including Europe, the USA and Asia. Sberbank has acquired a 25.07% stake, the remaining shares belonging to …
Sberbank invests in VisionLabs to build “unique biometric identifier” Read More
Russian-speaking engineers seem to have some special skills, or secret sauce, to develop face recognition and related AR technologies, if judging by the number of startups with roots in Eastern Europe that have made the news over the past few years. Emerging from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine in particular, they have topped international contests, received …
Why startups from Eastern Europe are so strong in face recognition and augmented reality Read More
Last week Russia’s Vnesheconombank (VEB) announced that it signed an agreement with the Export–Import Bank of China (China EximBank) for an “up to $3 billion” framework line of credit. The two banks are owned by their respective governments. The agreement was signed in the presence of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Li Keqiang, Premier …
Sistema Asia Fund, one of the corporate venturing vehicles of the Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema, and Cambodian investment holding company Tanncam have injected $14 million in the Indian healthcare startup Netmeds. Among the earlier investors in the startup are investment bank MAPE and OrbiMed Asia, along with Pradeep Dadha and his family. Sistema Asia Fund targets …
Russian and Cambodian investors team up to back Indian healthcare startup Read More
Earlier this month MegaFon, a major Russian mobile operator, announced the completion of a 500 million ruble (around $8.6 million) bond issue with Blockchain settlement. The entire issue was purchased by Raiffeisenbank. The system, which was developed in the course of this year, is intended for bond placement and circulation of digitized assets, making accounting …
MegaFon and Raiffeisenbank complete first Blockchain bond placement in Russia Read More
