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.
Morgan Stanley has been mandated by Superjob.ru, a leading online recruitment platform with 3.2 million unique users monthly, to find a potential acquirer of a minority stake, Russian business daily Kommersant reported yesterday. “We would offer a minority stake to a partner whose good name on the NASDAQ could help us go public successfully,” Kommersant …
Superjob seeks minority shareholder “for successful IPO” Read More
AFK Sistema, a Russian LSE-listed holding, announced last week that it has invested in Stream.ru, a paid video content portal formerly known as Omlet.ru. Stream.ru was launched in 2009 by MTS, a Sistema subsidiary and a leading Russian mobile operator. With a reported investment of 496 million rubles ($15 million), Sistema now owns 55% of …
AFK Sistema lays out $15 million to buttress Omlet.ru as content startup rebrands Read More
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
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
Runa Capital announced today that it has increased its holdings from $75 million to $135 million through a private offering with its existing partners. This additional capital will enable the fund to increase its maximum investment size to the $10 million level, compared to $5 million previously. The fund is also broadening its focus beyond …
Moscow-based venture fund Runa Capital increases size, broadens focus 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
Two important international tech events took place on May 28 and 29 in Moscow, nearly simultaneously and almost in the same location, a former chocolate factory in center town. The first was the legendary DLD Conference, making its Moscow debut, and the second event was an international startup and investor conference named “42.” The events …
From ‘Kalinka’ to high tech startups, two conferences showed Russia’s changing face Read More
Gust, the investor relation platform connecting high-growth entrepreneurs and active early-stage investors, and the Russian National Association of Business Angels (NABA), announced last week they have signed an agreement to allow Russian investors to access Gust’s platform. NABA is a not-for-profit organization representing the organized business angels, seed funds, and other early-stage venture capitalist communities …
Russian business angels to access Gust’s international investment platform Read More
Speaktoit, a developer of technologies based on natural language conversations, announced last week it has received an investment from Intel’s investment arm, Intel Capital. The investment amount and the startup’s valuation are kept undisclosed. Founded in Russia in October, 2010, Speaktoit attracted angel money in January, 2011. It also received a grant from Skolkovo, the state-sponsored …
MTS, a leading mobile operator and telecom provider in Russia and the CIS, announced on Tuesday that its subsidiary MGTS has acquired a 100% stake in Tascom, a major provider of telecommunication services to corporate clients in Moscow and the Moscow region. Tascom previously belonged to Bester Investments Limited – which itself is owned by …
