DST, the top Russian Internet investment fund, will participate in a still-undisclosed round of financing in favor of alternative accommodations marketplace Airbnb, reports TechCrunch from unnamed sources. The round is being led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Russia’s state-own nanotechnology giant Rusnano launched an online catalog of nanotechnology based products last week. The site, solutions.rusnano.com, has been unofficially dubbed “the nanotechnologies internet shop” by the Russian media after an expression used in Rusnano’s own press release.
Mobile discounter Tele2 Russia has announced a program to turn over 25% of its 450 mobile shops in Russia into fully-fledged retail outlets selling mobile services. Of Tele2’s existing 450 stores, 120 are to be transformed into ‘supermarkets’ by the end of 2011. Tele2 has been pilot-driving its ‘cellular supermarket’ concept since the end of …
A few months after the first mass market GLONASS+GPS car navigation devices appeared on the Russian market, supply has been rising rapidly and prices have started to fall. Two navigators, the Lexand SG-555 and the Explay GN-510, were introduced fewer than two weeks ago by their producers, Lexand and Explay, at the recommended retail prices …
Russian GPS+GLONASS car navigator market hit by price war Read More
Utinet.ru, a major Russian online retailer specializing in notebooks and other electronic goods, has set early July as the target for its planned IPO on the MICEX stock exchange in Moscow, according to Mikhail Ukolov, the group’s Managing partner speaking on an online conference organized last week by Finam, a leading Russian financial company. This …
Travelmenu.ru, a site offering a suite of travel products including hotels, flights, and vacation packages, announced yesterday that it has raised $1.6 million in growth capital from Almaz Capital Partners and Runa Capital, two important venture capital firms in Russia. The funds will be used “to invest in a direct-to-consumer marketing campaign and build additional …
Moscow-based startup incubator Fast Lane Ventures has just launched Jizo.ru, a metasearch engine for airline tickets. Jizo.ru aggregates ticket information “from a myriad of sources,” says the company, including the booking systems of leading travel agencies, airlines and booking sites. Its simplified, uncluttered interface allows users to select airline tickets by two main criteria: date …
Fast Lane Ventures launches airline ticket search engine Jizo.ru Read More
The BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands, an annual ranking of brand value developed by Millward Brown Optimor with The Financial Times, has recognized MTS as Russia’s top brand and valued it at $10.9 billion. Not only is MTS – short for Mobile Telesystems – Russia’s leading mobile operator based on number of subscribers …
MTS named as Russia’s leading brand, valued at $10.9 billion Read More
You once said that you were in love with Russia. Please explain! To be in love means to believe and to be committed. We believe in Russia, in its entrepreneurs who are hungry for success. Some of them are very bold, like Oskar Hartmann (founder of leading online private shopping club KupiVIP.ru), Nikita Sherman (founder …
David Waroquier of Mangrove Capital Partners: Investing in Russia with “love” Read More
Some 500 speakers at the annual three-day Russian Internet Forum (RIF) participated in dozens of conferences and forums on virtually everything from SEO, online PR and non-standard advertising to usability, group buying, payment systems, and online monetization issues. Those concerned with legal issues and regulation were served with conferences on author’s rights, children’s Internet safety …
Industry reverberations at the Russian Internet Forum Read More
Ostrovok.ru, an online hotel booking service launched last summer, announced last week it had raised $1 million from General Catalyst Partners, a US-based venture capital and growth equity firm, Kite Ventures, a Russian venture fund, and business angels who founded online travel services in the US and China such as Kayak and Qunar.com. The founders say …
Western and Russian investors bring $1 million to hotel booking site Read More
Yandex, Russia’s leading search engine, has launched Webvisor, a service that works with Yandex.Metrica to track and visualize the actions of site visitors. Webvizor is only for sites using Yandex Market, a marketplace for merchants affiliated with Yandex, or Yandex Direct, the contextual ad service of Yandex.
