After Russian entrepreneurs asserted themselves last year as chief disruptors in the global food delivery industry — fulfilling orders in around 15 minutes in a variety of Western cities — some of them are now falling as collateral victims of Putin’s war on Ukraine. In early March Buyk — a fresh food delivery service with sizeable operations in New York and Chicago — abruptly …
On Feb. 1 Lenta, a major Russian retail group listed in both Moscow and London, announced it completed the acquisition of online-retailer Utkonos from Severgroup. Lenta will finance the 20 billion-ruble ($246 million) transaction by an additional issuance of its shares, which will be placed by closed subscription to Severgroup. As reported previously, preemptive rights may be exercised …
Russian retail major Lenta completes acquisition of e-grocery pioneer Utkonos Read More
Just eight months after launch, a startup called Vitobox — which offers personalized combinations of vitamins and nutritional supplements — has raised 107 million rubles ($1.4 million) at a $14 million valuation. The funding will go, in particular, to international expansion: the startup plans to launch pilot projects later this year in Kazakhstan, the UAE, …
Russian startup bets on AI to sell vitamins online and expand globally Read More
U.S. fake meat manufacturer Beyond Meat has fallen foul of Russia’s counter-sanctions on Western food imports, the Kommersant business daily reported Thursday. Imports of Beyond Meat’s plant-based meat alternatives have been suspended due to a dispute over whether the products violate Russia’s sweeping ban on Western agricultural products. The food embargo was introduced in 2014 in retaliation to EU …
Auchan has inked with SberMarket — a delivery service owned by Sber, the state-controlled financial and digital giant — a “strategic cooperation” agreement in the field of e-commerce. The agreement will be in force until 2028, according to a Sber press-release. The partnership aims to “accelerate the development of Auchan’s ‘phygital’ commerce in Russia. The parties …
Auchan partners with Sber to accelerate ‘phygital’ commerce development Read More
Last week Mail.ru Group, the LSE-listed Russian Internet major, and Sber (ex-Sberbank), the state-controlled financial and technology giant, announced an injection of 12.2 billion rubles (around $170 million) into their O2O joint venture. The latest capital increase brought the total amount they put in the JV this year to 43 billion rubles (around $600 million at the …
In 2021, Mail.Ru and Sber injected $600 million in their mobility and foodtech JV Read More
Jiffy, a 10 month-old UK grocery delivery and dark store startup, has secured a $28 million Series A round. Coming after two funding rounds completed earlier this year, this capital injection brings to $35 million the total amount raised so far by the startup, as reported by TechCrunch. Led by family-owned investment company Heartland, the round was supported by Baring Vostok, …
HelloFresh, the Germany-based international meal kit giant, has acquired an “approximately 10% stake” in its Russian counterpart Chefmarket. The amount of this investment (a capital injection) was not disclosed, but the companies mentioned a “single-digit million euro figure” in their announcement last week. The deal is touted as “a strategic step for HelloFresh to tap into an emerging market with significant growth potential,” …
Global meal kit delivery giant HelloFresh invests in Russian counterpart Chefmarket Read More
Yandex has struck a $1 billion deal to buy out U.S. ride-hailing giant Uber from a host of the pair’s joint ventures in Russia, the company announced Tuesday. Yandex and Uber first combined their ride-hailing businesses in 2017, with a deal to merge their operations in Russia and a number of other ex-Soviet countries. This partnership has seen the pair cement …
Yandex buys Uber out of food delivery partnership in $1 billion deal Read More
Yandex, the NASDAQ-listed Russian digital giant, yesterday announced the launch of its express grocery delivery service in Paris. “Leveraging its own advanced technologies and backed by its unique and vast expertise and experience in the e-grocery market. Yango Deli has started operating with four warehouses (also known as ‘dark stores’), which will cover approximately 1 million …
Welldone, a Russian artificial meat startup founded last year, has secured $1.5 million from two local funds. These investors are Lever VC, the venture arm of agroindustrial major GrainRus, and Phystech Ventures, a fund launched by top Moscow science institute. Forbes Russia heard that Welldone’s valuation could be in the range of $5 million to $7 million. …
A group of Russian entrepreneurs has raised $46 million to launch a food delivery company on the US market. Dubbed ‘Buyk,’ the service is an analog of Samokat, a successful startup which was born in St. Petersburg and acquired last year by Mail.ru Group and Sber. Buyk is the brainchild of Samokat co-founders Vyacheslav Bocharov …
Russian entrepreneurs raise $46 million to launch express delivery service in the US Read More
