International

Top industry event turns virtual to showcase best “doers in tech” (June 1-3)

May 29, 2020

On June 1-3 EMERGE, the leading international event on the Belarusian innovation scene, will hold its annual conference in an online format. Major global companies – including Chivas, Coursera, Dropbox, Farfetch, Ikea, MegaFon, Miro, Tesla, Transferwise and VTB – will participate. On the venture side, the event will gather such funds as Acrobator Ventures, Atomico, …

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Pavel Durov gives up his blockchain project, shifting the blame to US authorities

May 17, 2020

“A US court stopped TON from happening:” with this simple explanation, VK and Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced today he is giving up his widely hyped blockchain and cryptocurrency project. This is the latest, but probably not the last episode of a saga which started in early 2018 with a controversial $1.7 billion ICO. Many unforeseen developments followed, …

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Speech recognition technology from Russia stands out at international contest

May 9, 2020

Last week Russia’s Speech Technology Center (STC) and ITMO University saw their speaker diarisation and speech recognition technology win an international contest, the CHiME Speech Separation and Recognition Challenge (CHiME-6).  The technology demonstrated a superior ability to recognise English speech from multiple microphones in a natural, noisy environment. It took the first place the most difficult …

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Survey: 3 VC investors in 4 in Eastern Europe did not cancel or renegociate their deals amid the pandemic

May 11, 2020

Last month ProVenture, a Telegam channel dedicated to venture and startup activity, surveyed venture investors from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Fifty two investors, 29 private VC fund managers, 5 private PE fund managers and 8 business angels took part in this online poll. ProVenture founder and Da Vinci Capital investment director Denis Efremov shared the main results of the survey with East-West Digital News. Almost all respondents did feel an …

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Runa Capital’s $157 million new fund will chase machine learning and quantum computing projects

May 12, 2020

Runa Capital, a Palo Alto-headquartered VC firm with Russian roots, has closed its $157 million third fund – above the initially considered $135 million target. “The fundraising started last year and went super fast, we were oversubscribed already months ago,” the firm’s managing partner Dmitry Chikhachev told East-West Digital news. Launched in 2011, Runa Capital’s first …

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20 sovereign funds and international institutions prepare joint response to Covid-19 pandemic

November 12, 2020

More than 20 international investment institutions and sovereign wealth funds, including Russia’s RDIF, are discussing potential coordinated efforts to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. In late April a video conferencegathered these organizations representing Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore,  South Korea, Thailand, the UAE and the USA. As stated by …

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From web optimization to e-commerce solutions, French tech entrepreneurs try their luck in Russia

May 15, 2020

French Tech, a government-backed initiative aiming to support French startups and tech entrepreneurs across the world, launched its Moscow chapter in 2015. The community now gathers some 200 members, including tech entrepreneurs, representatives of French and Russian tech companies, funds and accelerators, as well as key institutions. French Tech Moscow has published on Medium a …

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Is Telegram’s blockchain project heading to legal, technical and financial failure?

May 12, 2020

[Updated May 7] Last week Telegram, the messaging app founded by Russian tech guru Pavel Durov, postponed yet another time the release of its blockchain platform TON and cryptocurrency Gram. The hypothetical launch is now scheduled for April 2021 with a clawback clause for investors. Through a controversial ICO in early 2018, Telegram raised some …

Is Telegram’s blockchain project heading to legal, technical and financial failure? Read More

eBay teams up with Russian authorities to help Russian e-merchants sell globally

May 22, 2020

Earlier this month eBay announced it is putting 100 million rubles ($1.37 million at the current exchange rate) in a new program to support Russian online retailers in their effort to develop sales abroad.  Dubbed ‘Open To All The World,’ the program targets specifically entrepreneurs who register on eBay for the first time and make available …

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A Russian-born ‘soonicorn,’ Miro raises $50 million from Silicon Valley tech billionaires

June 21, 2021

Miro, a Californian startup with Russian roots previously known as RealtimeBoard, announced yesterday a $50 million Series B round. The funding came from Iconiq Capital – a Silicon Valley fund backed by such tech billionaires as Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey – with Accel and several individual investors also contributing to the round. The detail of the deal were …

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Top Russian retailers call startups from across the world to share their innovations

May 15, 2020

The Retail Innovation Tech Alliance (RITA), an international startup scouting initiative launched by major Russian retailers, has just launched its first call for startups.  RITA is seeking innovative solutions in a variety of fields, including e-commerce, transport and logistics, quality of goods, point-of-sale operations, back office automation, CRM, marketing, home mobile entertainment, automated interior design …

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Amid the pandemic, some Western investors take a closer look at Eastern European tech companies

April 30, 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 first quarter …

Amid the pandemic, some Western investors take a closer look at Eastern European tech companies Read More

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