International

Twitter suspends more than 1,000 Russian accounts for state-backed propaganda

June 14, 2020

Twitter has suspended 1,152 accounts linked to the Russian authorities for carrying out “information operations.” According to he company, the blocked Russian accounts are associated with the media website “Current Policy” (“Aktualnaya Politika”), which is engaged in state-backed political propaganda within Russia. The network of accounts was suspended for “cross-posting and amplifying content in an …

Twitter suspends more than 1,000 Russian accounts for state-backed propaganda Read More

Yandex fired a taxi driver for refusing an African passenger. Then a campaign defending the driver appeared on Twitter.

November 12, 2020

On June 9, the online ride-sharing service “Yandex.Taxi” fired a driver from Bryansk, who refused to pick up a Black student from Congo. The incident sparked criticism of the Internet company on social media, with the hashtag #яндекскуколд (in English, “Yandex is a cuckold”) becoming a top trending topic on Twitter in Russia. Many users …

Yandex fired a taxi driver for refusing an African passenger. Then a campaign defending the driver appeared on Twitter. Read More

Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman lost $27 million in Uber investment

November 12, 2020

LetterOne (L1), an international investment group controlled by Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, sold its stake in Uber for $173 million in February last year. The transaction was made public in the group’s 2019 financial report, as reported by RBC. LetteOne had purchased this stake for $200 million in 2016, presenting the deal as “strategic investment.” Fridman …

Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman lost $27 million in Uber investment Read More

Backed by top European investors, Russian agritech startup aims to conquer US and EU markets

June 8, 2020

Elevator Ventures, Raiffeisen Bank International’s corporate fund, and Speedinvest, a major Berlin-based VC fund, are backing Russian agritech startup Agro.Club in a $1.5 million seed funding round. Founded in 2018, Agro.Club defines itself as “a mobile platform connecting growers, their suppliers and crop purchasers into a single network.” It says it is building “an efficient …

Backed by top European investors, Russian agritech startup aims to conquer US and EU markets Read More

Coronavirus and the rise of the AI economy

June 6, 2020

As the Covid-19 outbreak is having a growing impact on the global economy, countries need new economic growth models, writes Rainer Michael Preiss in his Forbes column. Preiss is a portfolio strategist based in Singapore, covering global macroeconomics and geopolitics with a focus on emerging markets and emerging technologies. While artificial intelligence powered by 5G …

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Deepfake video of Elon Musk singing Soviet space song appears after successful ‘SpaceX’ launch

June 5, 2020

With the successful launch of the Crew Dragon capsule, Elon Musk’s space travel company SpaceX sent its first astronauts to the International Space Station on May 30. To celebrate the occasion, Russian Internet users released a clever deepfake video of Musk singing “Grass at Home,” a famous song by the Soviet rock band “Zemlyane” (“Earthlings”). Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, …

Deepfake video of Elon Musk singing Soviet space song appears after successful ‘SpaceX’ launch Read More

Facebook suspends Russian colorist for “dangerous” WW2 images

June 4, 2020

Russian photo colorist Olga Shirnina has stunning new work ready to post for her more than 45,000 followers on social media but is unwilling to share three new images on Facebook and Instagram because, as she told RFE/RL, “I would be [suspended] again for sure.” Shirnina (above), who works under the name Klimbim, is a professional German-Russian …

Facebook suspends Russian colorist for “dangerous” WW2 images Read More

Russian video publishing startup acquires UK company to get stronger and go global

May 29, 2020

Russian video platform Viqeo has announced the acquisition of Suggestv, a UK adtech company, as reported by RB.ru. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.  Founded in 2015, Suggestv uses machine learning to increase video views for publishers. These may “automate the embedding of video content in-article to build a predictable pre-roll revenue model and unlock new …

Russian video publishing startup acquires UK company to get stronger and go global Read More

Moscow ranks 9th in StartupBlink’s global startup ecosystem ranking

June 24, 2021

StartupBlink has just released the 2020 edition of its Startup Ecosystem Rankings Report, which encompasses 1,000 cities and 100 countries across the world. StartupBlink’s algorithm analyzes tens of thousands of data points. Data is coming from the company’s community of 50,000 members as well as from such partners as CrunchBase, SEMrush, Meetup, and Coworker. The ranking …

Moscow ranks 9th in StartupBlink’s global startup ecosystem ranking Read More

Russia’s Yandex.Taxi’s IPO still on, as it struggles to stay profitable

November 12, 2020

Yandex.Taxi, the ride-hailing arm of Russian online giant Yandex, is pushing ahead with its plans to organise its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO), while struggling to remain profitable amidst the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Earlier this month, Yandex.Taxi CEO Tigran Khudaverdyan was quoted by The Bell as saying that the company has not abandoned plans to …

Russia’s Yandex.Taxi’s IPO still on, as it struggles to stay profitable Read More

Russian-born social commerce major raises $42 million in Silicon Valley

May 21, 2020

Ecwid, a leading provider of social commerce solutions for small businesses, has just secured $42 million from Morgan Stanley and PeakSpan Capital. Using 54 languages to serve 1.5 million businesses across the world, Ecwid has made a long way since it was born in Ulyanovsk, 720 km east from Moscow, 10 years ago. Now headquartered …

Russian-born social commerce major raises $42 million in Silicon Valley Read More

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