Crunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. The last column by EWDN Chief Editor Adrien Henni highlights the most notable industry facts and trends in the first quarter of 2021. Almost no major local deals took place in this period, but Eastern …
A pool of individual investors has put 431 million rubles (around $5.6 million at the current exchange rate) in Beri Zaryad, a Moscow-based smartphone charging service. As reported by Forbes, the investors include Alexander Kabatov, Valery Ivanov, Bogdan Leonov and Alla Merman. The funding has been split as follows: 102 million rubles in capital injection …
Russian investors put millions in smartphone service startups Read More
MegaFon, a major Russian mobile operator and retailer, has increased its stake in video service Start to 50%, as reported by business daily Kommersant. The move follows the acquisition of 33.8% of the company, announced in October 2020. The valuation of the startup — which was founded in 2017 — could reach or exceed 4 billion rubles (some …
Russian telecom majors MegaFon and MTS invest in the startup space Read More
Crunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends from Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union. The latest column, by EWDN chief editor Adrien Henni, highlights the most notable industry facts and trends of the past year. These include, in particular: Major moves from the three Russian digital leaders: Mail.ru …
Sber, Russia’s state-controlled financial and tech giant, and its US partner 500 Startups announce the third batch of Sber500, their joint startup acceleration program. The closing date for entries is January 10, 2021. This batch is touted as a “powerful response to the current challenges and conditions that startups faced in 2020.” The program will …
Sber’s international accelerator launches third batch with support from 500 Startups Read More
Russian online dating leader Mamba is investing some $3 million to develop its business in Germany and Italy, reported Kommersant, citing exchanges with company representatives. The company expects the average monthly revenue per user in these countries to be almost twice as high as in Russia, where it stands around 500 rubles ($6.7 at the …
Russian dating major Mamba invests $3 million to develop in Germany, Italy Read More
Launched seven years ago in Silicon Valley with support from Sberbank, Fort Ross has made its Russian roots an advantage in the eyes of US startups seeking global development opportunities. The venture firm now aims to enlarge its coverage to Europe, with two new funds announced in the past months. Its General Partner Victor Orlovski …
Sber, the state-controlled financial and tech giant (previously known as Sberbank) has acquired a 8% stake in Watchout!AI in exchange for a acquired 8%. The startup was valued at 125 million rubles, or $1.6 million at the current exchange rate. Founded in 2019, Watchout!AI uses computer vision and machine learning algorithms to “easily detect and prevent brand …
Sber invests in AI-powered brand reputation management Read More
For the second time in less than 18 months, Sistema_VC, one of the venture investment vehicles of Russian conglomerate Sistema, has backed UK agrotech startup KisanHub. The latest round, announced last week, provided £1.12 million ($1.49 million) to the Cambridge-headquartered startup. The round was led by Low Carbon Innovation Fund II (LCIF2) with co-investment matching coming from …
Russian corporate fund Sistema_VC backs again UK agritech startup KisanHub Read More
Sberbank, Russia’s state-controlled financial behemoth, is showcasing what it calls the biggest transformation in its history, as it unveils a suite of new technology products in an aggressive drive to get deeper into the tech sector. In a flashy presentation Thursday morning — echoing Apple’s famous annual product launches which attract millions of viewers and …
Sberbank unveils sweeping transformation into tech company Read More
My.Games Venture Capital (MGVC), an investment firm affiliated to Mail.ru Group, and Aii Corporation, a Finnish VC firm, have teamed up to invest in a US-headquartered mobile games studio called Hypemasters. “Under the new partnership, MGVC will provide marketing, HR, operations, and financial support to Hypemasters to drive the development of current and future titles,” …
My.Games invests in Russian-founded studio Hypemasters Read More
On Sept. 23, venture analytics agency Dsight will hold an online event to present its latest report on Russian venture activity and discuss industry trends. Special attention will be brought to such topics as: The rise of open innovation and corporate tech scouting in Russia; The implications of COVID-19 for the venture capital industry in …
