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
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT, also known as Phystech) has teamed up with Oleg Tinkov and Tinkoff Bank managers to establish a 100 million-ruble (nearly $1.8 million) endowment fund for artificial intelligence and machine learning research. The fund — the largest MIPT endowment thus far — was initiated by Artem Yamanov and Evgeny Ivashkevich, MIPT graduates and currently …
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
Russian IT service provider IBS is considering holding an initial public offering in 2018, two financial market sources and a source familiar with the company’s plans told Reuters this Wednesday. The company has yet to decide on the size of the offering and hire banks to handle the deal, the sources said. IBS declined to comment on specific plans; …
Russian IT service company IBS considers IPO in 2018 Read More
Mobile TeleSystems (MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator) is offering online taxi hailing and medical appointments over video, as Russia’s largest mobile carrier pursues new apps for revenue growth amid stiff wireless price competition. The carrier made an speedy foray into Russia’s taxi business in October after Uber in July agreed to merge its operations into a …
Yesterday Sberbank, the national savings banks, announced the completion of “the first-ever pilot blockchain payment transaction in the Russian banking industry.” The transaction used the IBM Blockchain Platform on the basis of HyperLedger Fabric. Sberbank’s partners and participants in the pilot were mobile operator MegaFon and its R&D unit MegaLabs, Alfa-Bank, and IBM. Sberbank CIB, …
Sberbank carries out Russia’s first payment transaction using blockchain technology 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
Last week Yandex.Money, a leading online payment service in Russia, released Yandex.Gas, a new application intended for drivers to pay for fuel remotely — without leaving their car and queueing at the cash register. Payment can be made with the Yandex.Money e-wallet or using a Mastercard bank card. Yandex.Money plans to expand the range of available payment …
Yandex.Money and Lukoil launch new app to make payments at gas stations easier 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
Vnesheconombank (VEB), a major Russian state-backed bank and a key participant in the country’s official digital economy program, intends to teach government officials the science of Blockchain. The 18-hour “Introduction to the Blockchain Technology” will include both theory and practice. The launch date has not been specified. Just weeks before, the bank signed with Roseltorg, …
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 …
