Finance

Quarterly review: Russian startups seduce Silicon Valley; Mail.Ru and Sberbank continue buying spree; Telegram gives up blockchain project

July 31, 2020

Crunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends from Russia and neighboring countries in Eastern Europe. Since last year, EWDN chief editor Adrien Henni has offered a regular column to highlight the most notable industry facts and trends as well as promising tech innovations from these countries. Covering the second quarter of …

Quarterly review: Russian startups seduce Silicon Valley; Mail.Ru and Sberbank continue buying spree; Telegram gives up blockchain project Read More

Almaz Capital and Cabra VC lead $11.25 million round to support “world’s best personal gaming assistant”

July 27, 2020

Mobalytics, a California-headquartered startup with Ukrainian roots, raised a $11.25 million Series A round led by Almaz Capital and Cabra VC, two international funds with connections in Eastern Europe. The other investors include HP Tech Ventures, General Catalyst, GGV Capital, RRE Ventures, Axiomatic and T1 Esports.  Almaz Capital, Founders Fund, General Catalyst and GGV Capital …

Almaz Capital and Cabra VC lead $11.25 million round to support “world’s best personal gaming assistant” Read More

Russian startup raises $1.8 million to develop healthcare predictive analytics and go global

July 24, 2020

K-SkAI, a startup developing an AI-enabled predictive analytics solution for healthcare, has raised 130 million rubles (around $1.8 million at the current exchange rate). Company representative Anna Guseva told East-West Digital News that the funding came from Russian individual investors, including Spartak Zabolotsky and other unnamed ones. She did not disclose further details of the deal. The …

Russian startup raises $1.8 million to develop healthcare predictive analytics and go global Read More

Kaspersky purchases additional stake in Russian cloud solution provider

July 22, 2020

Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab, one of the world’s top cyber security vendors, has increased its stake in New Cloud Technologies (NCT) from 29.5% to 47%, the Kommersant business daily reported. These shares were sold by company founder Andrey Cheglakov. Kaspersky acquired its initial 29.5% stake in May last year. Launched in 2013 — now with offices in Moscow, St. …

Kaspersky purchases additional stake in Russian cloud solution provider Read More

Russian recruitment platform HeadHunter cements $1 billion valuation

July 21, 2020

Online recruitment platform HeadHunter has sealed its position as a $1 billion tech company after a new multimillion dollar share deal confirmed the company’s soaring valuation. The new deal will see U.S. investment giant Goldman Sachs sell a 9.9% stake for $101 million, thus valuing Headhunter at just over $1 billion — a rise in the firm’s …

Russian recruitment platform HeadHunter cements $1 billion valuation Read More

Russian-founded Intento secures $3 million in Silicon Valley to scale up AI content processing solution

July 13, 2020

Intento, a startup with Russian roots, has secured a $3 million seed round, reports CrunchBase. Konstantin Savenkov, CEO, started the Berkeley, California-based company in 2016 with Grigory Sapunov, a deep learning and artificial intelligence expert who had worked five years at Yandex. Initially, as reported by East-West Digital News, Intento positioned its solution as a new way to …

Russian-founded Intento secures $3 million in Silicon Valley to scale up AI content processing solution Read More

While divorcing with Sberbank, Yandex raises $1 billion to finance e-commerce projects

July 9, 2020

Major changes took place in late June on the Russian e-commerce and e-payment scenes. Yandex, the Russian Internet major, and Sberbank, the state-controlled financial and technology giant, announced an agreement “to reorganize their two joint ventures” – Yandex.Market and Yandex.Money.  In plain language, this is a divorce. Yandex is to own entirely the e-commerce platform …

While divorcing with Sberbank, Yandex raises $1 billion to finance e-commerce projects Read More

Telegram agrees to return $1.2 billion to investors and pay $18.5 million penalty in SEC settlement

July 20, 2020

In what could put an end to a long saga, the US Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it “obtained court approval of settlements with Telegram and its subsidiary TON Issuer Inc.” “Without admitting or denying the allegations in the SEC’s complaint, the defendants consented to entry of a final judgment enjoining them from …

Telegram agrees to return $1.2 billion to investors and pay $18.5 million penalty in SEC settlement Read More

US investor Michael Calvey kept under house arrest despite cancer revelation

June 24, 2020

Yesterday a court in Moscow upheld the house arrest of Baring Vostok founder Michael Calvey on fraud charges despite the revelation that he has a malignant tumor. The US businessman faces embezzlement charges that he says are being used to pressure him in a business dispute. A Moscow court had ruled last month to extend the house …

US investor Michael Calvey kept under house arrest despite cancer revelation Read More

Almaz Capital leads $6.5 million for in-game item trading platform DMarket

June 18, 2020

DMarket, a Ukraine-born startup that uses blockchain to build “a user-owned gaming economy,” has just attracted $6.5 million in equity funding. The round was led by Almaz Capital with participation from video game company Xsolla. No details of the deal were disclosed.  Now headquartered in California, DMarket has developed a platform that “enables transparent and secure buying, selling, and …

Almaz Capital leads $6.5 million for in-game item trading platform DMarket Read More

Sberbank to acquire leading mapping service 2GIS at $205 million valuation

June 16, 2020

Sberbank, the Russian state-controlled financial and technology giant, is extending its empire to mapping services with the acquisition of a 72% stake in 2GIS. The deal, just announced, valued the company at 14.3 billion rubles ($205 million at the current exchange rate). Its approval by the antimonopoly authorities is expected in the third quarter of this …

Sberbank to acquire leading mapping service 2GIS at $205 million valuation Read More

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