Last week the French-founded customer feedback startup Critizr announced the completion of a €15 million Series B round led by 83North Venture Capital, a global VC giant. Runa Capital, an international VC with Russian roots – which already backed the startup in 2015 – contributed an undisclosed amount to the round. Founded in France in …
Runa Capital takes part in €15 million Series B round in France Read More
US computer vision startup Occipital is launching an R&D office in Moscow, having absorbed the team of GeoCV, a startup with Russian roots. “By joining the teams we will enable new computer vision applications, which bring value to consumers and businesses,” said Gleb Krivovyaz, GeoCV co-founder and CTO. “Teaching devices to see and understand the world in …
US startup Occipital absorbs GeoCV team to launch R&D activities in Moscow Read More
Last month Efko, an agroindustrial group founded in 1994 in the Belgorod region, launched a $50 million corporate venture fund, Firrma.ru reported. Dubbed ‘Fuel for Growth,’ the new fund will target early-stage foodtech startups — those that can potentially disrupt the food industry, promote a healthy lifestyle, support the ecology or food security. According to Efko …
Russian agroindustrial group launches international foodtech fund Read More
Late Friday, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it is suing two offshore entities, Telegram and its wholly owned subsidiary, TON Issuer, for holding an unregistered token sale. According to the complaint filed in the federal district court in Manhattan on the same day, Telegram sold approximately 2.9 billion crypto tokens, called Grams (GRM) to 171 buyers for a …
US stock market authority halts TON launch over $1.7 billion ICO Read More
Shares in Russian tech giant Yandex have plummeted after reports the Kremlin is backing plans to limit the stakes of foreign owners in Russian “online information resources.” Yandex shares fell by 17% in the first minutes of trading on the Nasdaq exchange in New York on Friday, wiping more than $1 billion from the company’s …
Yandex shares plummet as Russia considers limits on foreign ownership Read More
GoTech, a major Russian startup contest, will hold its finale in Moscow on October 15. This year, the winners will be sent to Helsinki, Tallinn and Vienna to take a foothold on the EU market with support from local authorities. GoTech has also partnered with such major Russian corporations as Beeline and Rostelecom, which offer …
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 September review highlights the …
A Moscow court ruled yesterday that Michael Calvey, the prominent US investor arrested in February, and his French colleague Philippe Delpal, should remain under house arrest until January 13. According to the Investigative Committee, which requested such measure, three more months are required to complete the investigation, as reported by the TASS news agency. Initially …
As Russian e-commerce is entering a new growth and concentration cycle, Alibaba, Mail.Ru Group, Russian telco MegaFon and sovereign fund Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) today announced the completion of their e-commerce joint venture deal. The JV will leverage on the existing businesses of AliExpress Russia, the B2C marketplace owned by Alibaba which controls the bulk of e-commerce …
Alibaba and Mail.Ru complete JV deal to dominate Russian e-commerce Read More
The Russian government is stepping-up its plans to introduce new taxes on tech giants like Facebook, Apple and Google. The government’s draft budget plan, published last week by the Finance Ministry, highlights “significant shortcomings in the principles of how digital companies are taxed [which] lead to the fact that the effective rate of tax paid …
Wildberries, Russia’s leading e-commerce player (nearly $1.8 billion in revenues generated in 2018), has plans to enter the EU market via Slovakia, the RIA news agency reported, citing company founder Tatyana Bakalchuk. The statements were made at a bilateral Russian-Slovakian government meeting on Sept. 27. Wildberries eyes Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries as an entry point …
Russian e-commerce leader Wildberries plans to invest €200 million for EU expansion Read More
Sistema_VC, the venture capital arm of Russian multi-industry investment conglomerate AFK Sistema, will invest $10 million in UK startup SenSat, Vedomosti daily reported last week. Founded in 2015, this geospatial technology startup “turns complex visual and spatial data into a real-time simulated reality that helps computers solve real world problems.” This AI-powered technology “allows companies operating in …
