Itogo.ru, an online B2B and B2C seller of electronic goods and home appliances — from smartphones to microwave ovens — has raised 3 billion rubles from Lanit Ventures. This fund, the historic investor of Itogo, is the venture arm of Lanit, a major Russian IT group. By Russian standards, this is a sizeable amount (around …
Russian IT major Lanit pours 3 billion rubles into B2B online store Read More
In late March Russian delivery service Broniboy received the first tranche of a 500 million ruble capital injection (some $6.25 million at the pre-war level). The funding is provided by Krasnodarzernoprodukt, a major supplier of farming commodities and services. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. While serving 17 Russian cities, Broniboy is the …
After Russian entrepreneurs asserted themselves last year as chief disruptors in the global food delivery industry — fulfilling orders in around 15 minutes in a variety of Western cities — some of them are now falling as collateral victims of Putin’s war on Ukraine. In early March Buyk — a fresh food delivery service with sizeable operations in New York and Chicago — abruptly …
Playrix, a global Russian-founded mobile gaming giant, acquired a minority stake in AppQuantum, a Cyprus-based, Russian founded mobile gaming developer and publisher. The deal took place in late 2021 but was announced only in early February. Launched in 2017 by Evgeny Maurus, AppQuantum is behind such titles as Dragon Champions, Evil Clicker and Gold & Goblins. While claiming “dominant positions” in clicker and …
Russian-founded gaming giant Playrix continues investment spree Read More
Urent, Russia’s largest electric scooter rental operator, has raised 2.09 billion rubles (around $26 million, a considerable amount by local standards) in a round led by MTS. The mobile operator contributed 740 million rubles alongside private asset manager VPE Capital and state-owned fund VEB Ventures, which injected 700 and 650 million rubles, respectively, into the startup. The terms of …
Russian e-scooter leader Urent secures $26 million from corporate and venture investors Read More
Crunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, with a column by EWDN Chief Editor Adrien Henni that highlights the most notable industry facts and trends across the region. “With Russia and Belarus digging themselves into domestic authoritarianism and international confrontation, a looming …
The Eastern European paradox: How a troubled region generates unicorns and decacorns Read More
Last week, as reported by Reuters, TCS Group — the owner of Russian digital banking giant Tinkoff — took control of Swiss crypto service company Aximetria as part of its international expansion strategy. Founded by Russian serial entrepreneur Alex Axelrod in 2018, this startup has developed a SaaS platform to provide “seamless interconnection for any form of money: fiat, crypto and …
The Russian online education platform Synchronization, launched by in 2015, has raised $2.25 million, reports business daily Kommersant. The round was led by investment holding Avenir and Rusagro co-owner Maxim Basov. The deal also involved Adfirst VC as well as individual investors Stas Korostelev, Mikhail Tsyferov, Anton Volkov and others. The platform offers courses in …
This VC Camp in the UAE will uniquely combine networking, learning, and adventure. Reserved for tech investors, this event offers a rare opportunity to find partners, discuss deals, learn from each other — and have loads of fun! Camp features include: Interactive masterclasses and group discussions Desert survival and best practices Sand buggies and 4×4 ride through sand dunes …
Venture Camp in Dubai: A breathtaking business and leisure experience! Read More
The ‘Fund for Technological Investments,’ a newly registered startup investment vehicle, made the news in Russia last week. This was due neither to any impressive investment capacity (just around 3 million rubles, or $40,000, per deal), nor to any special investment thesis. What is less common is the identity of one the instigators of this …
Crunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus, with a quarterly review by EWDN Chief Editor Adrien Henni highlighting the most notable industry facts and trends across the region. More than with tech innovations, Russia made the news this past summer by staging …
WowCube, a startup founded by IT entrepreneur Ilya Osipov from Nizhny Novgorod, is reinventing the Rubik’s cube. Launched in 2017, the company touts itself as “the first-in-class innovative gaming platform where virtual gameplay is controlled by physically tilting, twisting, and shaking the device.” According to CrunchBase data, the company — now registered in Florida — …
Russian-founded startup raises $4.5 million to reinvent the Rubik’s Cube Read More
