International

Russian billionaire Alexey Mordashov wants to create “a kind of Amazon”

January 23, 2020

Can a Russian billionaire become a digital leader after making his fortune in steel? “We have several investments related to human needs: education, medicine, traveling and retail. We are thinking of creating an ecosystem based on these assets – a kind of Amazon,” Alexey Mordashov told Bloomberg. “Each of these areas is on the verge of great change,” …

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State-controlled corporation backs Russia’s leading startup investment fund

February 6, 2020

[Updated Jan. 21] Rostelecom, the national telecom operator, is in the process of acquiring 31% of FRII Invest, the investment vehicle of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF, or FRII in Russian). This is Russia’s biggest fund for early-stage startups, launched in 2013 as an instrument to support the emergence of a strong startup industry in Russia. Rostelecom’s is …

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Midemlab 2020: A call to Eastern European music startups (application deadline: Feb. 29)

February 28, 2020

The 13th edition of Midemlab, the leading international music startup competition, will take place on June 2-5, 2020 in Cannes, France, in partnership with East-West Digital News. This year, Midemlab launches a brand new “Music Live Experiences” category that will spotlight the most innovative solutions around Live Music for bands, fans, venues, producers, promoters and more.  …

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2019 in Eastern Europe: Russia moved towards digital isolation, Ukraine exported IT services and gifted entrepreneurs

January 21, 2020

Crunchbase and East-West Digital News are teaming up to cover key tech and venture trends in Eastern Europe. Since January 2019, 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 this region. This full-year 2019 review lists the most important investment and …

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Avito acquires controlling stake in used car software publisher

January 15, 2020

Avito, the Russian online classifieds giant – which Naspers acquired in 2015-2019 for nearly $3 billion – has purchased a controlling stake (51%) in Russian software publisher MaxPoster.  Operating from its Moscow and St. Petersburg offices, this company provides software solutions to estimate the value of used cars, manage classifieds to sell the cars, and …

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FT: Yandex to launch car-sharing in Europe

November 12, 2020

Yandex, the Russian NASDAQ-listed Internet giant, is planning to launch its car-sharing service in Europe, the Financial Times has reported. The head of Yandex.Drive, the company’s car-sharing division, Anton Ryazanov, told the paper it would roll-out the service with a 1,000-strong fleet of electric cars later this year.  Yandex has not yet decided which city it …

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Russian court extends house arrest of Michael Calvey and other Baring Vostok executives

February 16, 2020

Yesterday a Moscow court prolonged the house arrest of US citizen Michael Calvey, French Philippe Delpal and other Baring Vostok executives for another month, until February 13. As reported by the TASS news agency, the investigation into the case is completed. All the defendants are charged with “embezzlement committed by an organized group or on …

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Russian-founded Veeam Software sold for $5 billion to major US investor

January 14, 2021

Veeam Software, a global leader in cloud data management software, is to be acquired by top software investor Insight Partners. The deal, which values Veeam at “approximately $5 billion,” is expected to be closed in March. “Veeam has enjoyed rapid global growth over the last decade and we see tremendous opportunity for future growth, particularly …

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Russian corporate fund backs US company to “revolutionize metal performance at the nano-scale”

November 12, 2020

In mid-December Severstal Ventures, an investment vehicle created last year by the Russian steel and mining giant Severstal,  announced an investment in US company Modumetal. The corporate fund has got a minority stake along with existing shareholders Vulcan Ventures, BP Ventures, Founders Fund, Steel Dynamics, ConocoPhillips, Chevron Technology Ventures and others.  Based in Seattle, Modumetal claims …

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Next-gen Russian CRM technology backed by major funds to conquer US market

December 23, 2019

Last week Voximplant, a US-headquarter provider of innovative CRM solutions, announced it raised $10 million from Baring Vostok and RTP Ventures. Baring Vostok is the leading Russian PE and VC firm, which sadly made the headlines this year with the arrest of its US founder Michael Calvey in Moscow. The RTP Ventures fund is a …

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How a highly connected military figure became Russia’s point man for disconnecting the Internet

December 24, 2019

In November 2019, Russia’s so-called “Internet sovereignty law” took effect, requiring all local telecom operators to install special equipment designed to “withstand foreign threats” and block anything added by Roskomnadzor (the federal censor) to the government’s registry of banned online content. The new regulations are still unenforceable in practice, but officials are already testing the …

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