No less than 39 million buyers and 22 million sellers – both companies (B2C) and individuals (C2C) – are involved in social commerce, according to a study released last month by Yandex.Checkout and Data Insight. The research reveals the importance of social channels in the Russian e-commerce space, accounting for no less than 40% of …
Nearly one year after Yandex launched its AI-driven voice assistant Alice, two other major players are preparing to release their own intelligent assistants. Competition is coming from Yandex’s archrival Mail.Ru Group, which is reportedly developing a concept combining a voice assistant and a smart speaker. Dubbed ‘Marusya,’ this product is being designed for potential integration …
‘Alice,’ ‘Marusya,’ ‘Oleg:’ Voice assistants and smart speakers take off in Russia Read More
Last week Yandex, the NASDAQ-listed Russian search giant, announced the release of its first branded smartphone, Yandex.Phone. Priced at 17,990 rubles (around $270), this Chinese-made device weighs in a relatively modest range of smartphones. Still, it is overpriced according to mobile phone resellers, if considering its unimpressive design and speed. But this device distinguishes itself by …
Yandex launches own-branded, AI-powered smartphone in Russia Read More
Note: This story has been updated following new elements brought by one of Teleport’s founders Snapchat has hired some of the best developers of Teleport, a startup launched by tech entrepreneurs from Ukraine, Estonia and Russia. The US company is also said to have acquired the processing image technology developed by this company, which claims it …
Snapchat reportedly buys Teleport’s technology, woos its best developers Read More
Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom and Internet regulator, has fined Google for failing to comply with a law that requires online search engines to purge any hyperlinks to materials that are banned in Russia. Google has refused to connect to Federal State Information System (FGIS) where these websites are listed. The fine amounts to 500,000 rubles ($7,537 at today’s …
Google fined in Russia for refusing to censor search results Read More
Twitter has suspended an account that it said had been impersonating Russian President Vladimir Putin. The account tweeted in the English language and had attracted 1 million followers before it was shut down. Twitter said the page, using the handle @putinRF_eng, was a fraud that represented itself as an official government site. The social-networking service said …
Twitter suspends account that ‘impersonated’ Putin, issuing tweets in English Read More
Proekt.Media, a new independent online publication which claims to cover even “complex and dangerous topics,” has inquired about “how the authorities turned Telegram into television” by colonizing and buying out the medium. According to journalists Mikhail Rubin and Roman, Kremlin officials were initially worried about the influence of Telegram channels on Russia’s political system. In late …
How the Kremlin conquered Russia’s Telegram channels Read More
On November 26 Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom and Internet regulator, announced administrative charges against Google for failing to comply with a law that requires online search engines to purge any hyperlinks to materials that are banned in Russia. Google has also refused to connect to the federal information system where these websites are listed. For violating …
Google faces fine for refusing to censor search results in Russia Read More
Just nine months after the completion of a $12 million Series B round, HealthifyMe, a leading e-health and fitness platform in India, has raised an additional $6 million as an extension of that round. As reported by the Indian media, the round has involved Sistema Asia Capital, one of the corporate venturing vehicles of the Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema, …
Sistema Asia injects additional capital in Indian fitness startup HealthifyMe Read More
Starting from next summer, electric scooters and kick-scooters will be available for short-term rental in the Finnish capital. Fifty docking stations will be created by Helsinki’s regional transport authority (HSL) with the rental system provided by Russian startup Samocat Sharing. The initiative comes as a result of IdeaLab, a Helsinki tech contest which was launched …
Russian startup wins competition to launch scooter docks in Helsinki Read More
Several news came last month from Yandex.Taxi, the taxi-hailing company which merged activities in Russia and some neighboring countries with Uber earlier this year. The company bought the software assets of a Moscow-based company, Nowtaxi. The software supports the accounting of operations with affiliated drivers and provides related analytics. Formally, the software assets, not the company, have …
Yandex.Taxi asserts market leadership, announces new acquisitions Read More
Yandex, the NASDAQ-listed Russian search giant, announced its quarterly earnings yesterday, demonstrating an impressive growth. Thus, in Q3 2018, the company’s revenues jumped to 32.6 billion rubles ($496.6 million), up 39% compared with Q3 2017, while its net income reached 4.8 billion ($72.7 million) a whopping 459% increase year-on-year (net income margin: 14.6%; adjusted net income 6.1 …
With 27 offices worldwide, Yandex demonstrated strong growth in Q3 2018 Read More
