In late June Kicksharing service Whoosh raised 13.5 billion rubles in bonds (around $17 million at the pre-war exchange rate), making its debut on the Moscow stock exchange. Launched in 2019, the company is a market leader in Russia with 8 million claimed users across 45 Russian cities. Among Whoosh’s backers are Ultimate Capital Fund, …
Russian kicksharing service Whoosh raises $17 million in bonds Read More
Earlier this month VEB Ventures, the venture arm of state-owned development corporation VEB.RF, announced a 520 million ruble investment (some $6.5 million at the pre-war exchange rate) in edtech platform Profilum. This deal was one of the most sizeable ones of the past months on the local venture scene, which has entered a semi-hibernation phase since …
State fund invests 520 million rubles in edtech platform Profilum Read More
Sergey Dashkov, who has had a start in business as the exclusive partner of Ahmad Tea in Russia, rose to become one of the most engaged early-stage investors in the Russian venture capital space. Describing his investment thesis as industry-agnostic, most of Dashkov’s portfolio right now consists of companies operating outside of Russia. “We love …
How this Moscow-based VC investor navigates uncertainty in times of war Read More
VK Company, a Kremlin-controlled Russian Internet giant, is seeking to acquire the leading local classifieds platform Avito, which is owned by Naspers affiliate Prosus. Prosus could also sell its 25.7% stake in VK Company, reported the Russian media citing Bloomberg. Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin is also regarded as a potential acquirer of Avito, according to the …
VK Company and Vladimir Potanin eye Avito as Naspers seeks to sell Russian digital assets Read More
Russian e-commerce major Ozon plans to reach operational break-even in the next 12 months, the company’s finance chief Igor Gerasimov said on Tuesday. “We’ve started to improve the economy – you can see that in the first quarter of this year (…) In the next 12 months, we intend to reach operational break-even,” he said at the forum of entrepreneurs …
Just weeks after Yandex sold its news aggregation and online entertainment services, another key player of Russia’s online ecosystem, Sber, has deprived itself from important digital assets. A company called Novye Vozmozhnosti (New Possibilities) is the new owner of the music service SberZvuk (previously Zvooq.ru, acquired by Sber in Aprill 2021); the video streaming service Okko (aquired …
Targeted by western sanctions, Sber has to part with key digital assets Read More
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
UK-sanctioned Russian businessman Oleg Tinkov said the Kremlin forced him to sell his stake in a major bank he had founded after he criticized the Ukraine war. Tinkoff Bank, one of Russia’s most impressive success stories in the tech field, has over 20 million customers — making it one of the world’s biggest digital banks. It is …
Yandex, the Russian digital giant, announced today “an agreement in principle” to sell its news aggregation service and infotainment platform ‘Zen’ to VK Company. The terms of the considered transaction are not disclosed. “While the parties have come to an agreement in principle on a transaction, they are continuing to discuss certain technical details, which will be announced …
Yandex sells news aggregation service to VK amid censorship law and media crackdown Read More
In the instable environment created by Russia’s war on Ukraine, Yandex’s annual report to the US Security Exchange Commission (SEC) provides details on a range of pressing business issues and potential company risks. The report was issued Thursday by Yandex’s Netherlands-headquartered mother company, which has been listed on the Nasdaq since 2011. After the resignation …
Yandex scales back “many planned investments,” withdraws 2022 financial guidance Read More
In mid-March Yandex, the Russian online search giant — also running a variety of other digital services — announced it intended to sell its news aggregation service and infotainment platform ‘Zen.’ The move was possibly linked to the government’s crackdown on free expression. Amid the war on Ukraine, a new law had banned what the authorities consider to be “false” …
Will Yandex sell its news and infotainment services? 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 …
