Russia’s largest telecoms are launching a new multiscreen service later this year, the Russian business daily Vedomosti reported last week. The project is expected to enable users to access their favorite TV channels from a TV set, a desktop PC or a mobile gadget. The leader in this race for broader markets is Rostelecom, which …
Demonstrating the growing importance of the Russian market, eBay is opening a representative office and subsidiary in Russia under the name eBay Marketplaces. The US giant will be represented by Vladimir Dolgov, previously Country Manager for Google and a former General Manager at Ozon.ru, a leading online retailer. The news was reported by the Russian business …
After weeks of rumors, Israeli face recognition startup Face.com officially announced yesterday its acquisition by Facebook. The exact terms of the deal were not disclosed, but two unnamed sources familiar with it told AllthingsD that the price was in the neighborhood of $60 million. The amount is significantly below the $100 million that had been rumored previously, but almost three …
Facebook acquires Face.com; shareholder Yandex may get stake in US social giant Read More
LinguaLeo, a Russian startup with a web service that teaches English using popular TV serials, books and contextual dialogues, has just secured $3 million from Runa Capital, a major Moscow-based venture fund. The site now serves 1.5 million registered users, of which 40,000 are paid subscribers, LinguaLeo founder Aynur Abdulnasyrov told East-West Digital News.
The Russian holding company ProfMedia is combining all its TV assets into one group. According to the Russian business daily Kommersant and Profmedia’s corporate website, TV3 , MTV and 2×2 will now be parts of a single structure. These channels will be headed by Nikolai Kartozya, formerly a director of prime time programs at NTV. …
Russia’s MTS will make digital TV services available across its entire network on July 1. Quoted in Vedomosti, Dimtri Bagdasaryan, director of the company’s fixed line and TV business, said that MTS expects to have 500,000 digital subscribers by the end of 2012 – it served a total of 2.99 million homes at the beginning …
MirVracha.ru, a major Internet portal for physicians and medical students, has completed its first round of financing, totaling $1.4 million. The round was led by Japanese fund UMJ Russia, which received a majority stake, with the participation of M3 Inc., a Japanese company offering innovative web solutions for medical professionals and the life sciences industry, …
Physicians’ portal MirVracha secures $1.4 million from Japanese investors Read More
Flirtic.com, a dating and matchmaking site that began operating in early 2011, chose Russia as its first step to international expansion beyond its native Estonian market. A beta version of the service is being launched this week to serve users in Moscow, but Flirtic.com has plans to cover St Petersburg, Kiev, and other Russian-speaking cities …
The Russian high tech fund New Generation Investment (NGI) announced last week that it will launch a €20 million division dedicated to French startups, the French business daily Les Echos reported. “We are focusing on telecoms, web technolgies and tech-oriented media,” said NGI shareholder Leonid Reiman. France will serve as a testing ground for one …
Russian fund to invest €20 million in French startups as Russian-French tech ties grow Read More
Avito.ru, Russia’s leading classifieds site by brand awareness and number of users, announced today that it has received $75 million in new funding from Baring Vostok Private Equity Fund IV and Accel Partners as well as from existing investors Kinnevik and Northzone. The valuation has not been disclosed, but Avito’s press service told East-West Digital …
Avito.ru secures $75 million from Accel Partners and Baring Vostok Read More
National telecom operator Rostelecom – 53.2% owned by the federal government – announced last week that 70 out of 83 Russian regions are now linked to its interdepartmental government communications system. The buildout of the system marks a major milestone in this country’s progress towards e-government, a comprehensive IT-enabled cloud-based platform offered to the regions …
70 Russian regions connected to federal e-government system Read More
Vedomosti reports that Orion Express has approached MTS, VimpelCom and Megafon and that Fund Service Bank-backed STK Soyuz, a 50% shareholder in the platform, has held talks with all three. However, according to Yuri Khitrov, the owner of the remaining 50%, no firm offers have yet been received.
