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 …
KupiVip Holding, the owner of the largest online fashion shopping club in Russia, has raised $38 million in a Series D funding deal led by Intel Capital, with new investment from Acton Capital Partners and the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development. Historic investors Accel Partners and Balderton Capital also participated in the round. KupiVip’s …
KupiVip raises $38 million from leading Western funds Read More
MallStreet.ru, a Russian online retailer that until recently had remained under the radar, has just secured $1 million from investors in its second round of financing in less than a year. Neither the site’s valuation nor the investors’ identity were disclosed, but Mallstreet CEO Dmitry Shashkin told East-West Digital News that French business angel Fabrice …
Twelve major Russian online retailers have founded the ‘Association of Internet Commerce Companies’ (AKIT in Russian), with the aim of combating market opacity and distortions as well as of “guaranteeing users’ security and trust.” The association has opened hostilities against ‘gray’ e-retailers, those who avoid taxes in order to sell cheaper and maximize their profits. …
New online retailer association at war with gray commerce and marketplace’s influence Read More
What is the first thing you normally do when you want to buy, say, an LCD TV over the Internet? Let me guess: you go to Russia’s leading online marketplace, Yandex Market, and look for the desired product – then buy it wherever it’s cheapest. Here is the paradox: the best offers usually come not …
KupiVip’s CEO Oskar Hartmann confirms plans to hold an IPO in New York “within two years,” Reuters reported yesterday. “We have already made quite good progress and [an IPO] is likely. We need to grow to reach the size [of business] that allows us to do a round of $120 million or more,” Hartmann told reporters. …
KupiVip.ru confirms plans for IPO in New York “within 2 years” Read More
In yet another step in its international expansion, Ru-Net, a major Russian venture fund, has invested $17 million in Freecultr.com and BeStylish.com, two Indian e-commerce companies. The news on the investment in Freecultr – a website that offers its own apparels brands – was initially reported earlier this month by Iamwire, an online publication dedicated …
With net sales reaching €470 million in 2011 – including 50% generated online – the Otto Group has asserted itself as a leading player on the Russian e-commerce scene. In this exchange with East-West Digital News, CEO Martin Schierer shares his vision of this fast-growing market, speaking openly about the challenges of building a multichannel …
Global self-service wholesaler Metro Cash & Carry will open an online store in Russia in the last quarter of this year, according to the Russian subsidiary’s general manager, Peter Boon. Tests of the online platform will start in August, Boon told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The company will continue to develop its offline …
Metro Cash & Carry to launch online store in Q4 2012 Read More
Yesterday, Paris-based Olma Invest SAS announced it has invested €1 million in Dimeres, a group of e-commerce and e-marketing companies operating in the field of fashion, in exchange for a 25% stake. Founded in 2011 by French entrepreneurs Maximilien Jacquet and Frédéric Bonelli, Dimeres has adapted successful shopping models from Western markets. Among the Dimeres …
A major player on the Russian e-commerce scene suddenly emerged in late May: a cash-back e-commerce platform called Clickandpay.ru that claims to have raised $60 million to finance just the first stages of its development. After a few months operating in test mode, the site has already enrolled more than 50 e-shops, including such market …
First Russian cash-back marketplace launches; claims to have raised $60 million Read More
A consortium of investors led by Da Vinci Capital Partners, Insight Capital, Alpha Associates and Runa Capital has invested $45 million for a minority stake in B2B-Center.ru, the leading online procurement platform in Russia. This cash-out deal valued the company at an approximate $160 million, company founder Alexander Boyko told Russian business daily Vedomosti last …
Russian and Western funds acquire minority stakes in online procurement service B2B-Center Read More
