The Russian venture capital market is yet to take proper shape whereas startup entrepreneurs and investors often feel disappointed in their expectations and financial realities. US citizen Kendrick D. White, who has dedicated the last 20 years of his professional life to bridging Russia with the global tech and venture markets, shared his views on …
Bas Godska, an international e-marketing veteran and one of the most prolific business angels in Eastern Europe, announces the launch of Acrobator Ventures. This startup fund plans to invest up to €20 million in the coming three years “from pre-seed stage to later stages.” Its sweet spots will be SaaS, Big Data/ML/AI and HR tech, not …
Dutch business angel Bas Godska launches venture fund, targets startups from across Europe Read More
Last week a commercial litigation court (1) in the Far Eastern city of Blagoveshchensk, about 8,000 kilometers east of Moscow, ordered Baring Vostok to sell a 10% stake in Vostochny Bank. This bank is at the center of the lawsuit which led the Baring Vostok executive team to jail this past February. In a statement, …
Court orders Baring Vostok to sell bank stake, executives still detained Read More
Crunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends from Russia and neighboring countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Since January 2019, EWDN chief editor Adrien Henni has offered a monthly column to highlight the most notable industry facts and trends as well as promising tech innovations from these countries. The April review highlights the …
In late April, Russian venture capital firms Phystech Ventures and North Energy Ventures announced the creation of a joint $40 million fund. Dubbed ‘TF II,’ the fund will focus on mature projects in the fields of artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics projects, VC.ru reported. Among the 24 investors in the fund are large banks, …
Baring Vostok, a major Moscow-based international PE firm, and Sistema, a large Russian conglomerate, have provided a 10 billion ruble (roughly $150 million) convertible loan to online retailer Ozon. The funds will help the company “maintain its current growth rate and to develop its warehouse infrastructure, IT-platfrom, marketplace and financial services offerings,” according to a …
Baring Vostok and Sistema provide $150 million convertible loan to Ozon Read More
An VC firm headquartered in Berlin with €700 million in assets under management, Target Global has just opened an office in London, coming in addition to its Moscow and Tel Aviv offices. In this interview, the firm’s General Partner Mike Lobanov shared his views about the Russian venture market and the prospects of Europe’s key …
In an attempt to lower Russia’s reliance on foreign technology in the oil industry, four state-controlled institutions have teamed up to launch a new venture fund called ‘New Industry Ventures.’ These institutions are Gazprom Neft, one of Russia’s leading oil companies, Gazprombank, a financial arm of the state-controlled energy giant, RVC, the state fund of …
Russian state institutions join forces to create new energy venture fund Read More
Prisma Labs, the Russian company which made the news in 2016 with an art filter app based inspired by neural networks, has just secured $6 million. The round was led by Haxus, the fund of Belarusian investor Yuri Gursky, which already invested in the company at the seed stage in 2016 – along with Mail.Ru …
Prisma Labs raises $6 million from Belarusian investor to develop new products Read More
Lev Leviev, a prominent Russian-Israeli tech investor, has led a $19 million for London-based eSports club Fnatic via his fund LVL1 Group. Investors Beringea, BlackPine, Unbound, Raptor Group and Joi Ito also took part in the round. The fresh funding will help Fnatic “continue its global expansion into Asia and North America, strengthen its involvement …
Russian-Israeli investor Lev Leviev invests in eSports giant Fnatic Read More
AFK Sistema, a Russian LSE-listed conglomerate, has attracted $20 million to increase Sistema Asia Capital, its corporate fund dedicated to investment in Indian tech startups. Almost half of the funding was brought by individual investors from India, the business daily Kommersant reported yesterday, citing exchange with managing partner Andrey Terebenin. Sistema Asia Capital now amounts …
DSight, a database of deals dedicated to the Russian venture market, has just released the English version of its latest yearly report. This research includes contributions from EY, investor association NAIMA, CrunchBase and East-West Digital News. The market grew significantly last year, reaching $714.4 million, up 51.6% from 2017. If including Sberbank’s $500 million investment in …
Tiny, but growing: Russian VC market exceeded $1.2 billion in 2018 Read More
