Vostok New Ventures (VNV), a major Swedish investment firm operating internationally, invested $4 million in the Eastern European online bus ticketing platform Busfor. The transaction, which has been disclosed in the firm’s most recent financial report, took place at the end of the second quarter of this year. Busfor — previously known as Gillbus — aims …
The Russian search giant is planning to launch a Chinese-made smartphone under its own brand later this year, reported business daily Vedomosti, based on various sources. Dubbed “Yandex.Telefon,” (model YNDX-000SB), the device appeared last month in the registry of cryptographic devices authorized for import in the Eurasian Economic Union, of which Russia is a member. …
Yandex to launch own-branded smartphone on Russian market Read More
The Russian house-call doctor service DOC+ has secured $9 million in a round led by Swedish fund Vostok New Ventures VNV), with participation from existing shareholders Yandex and Baring Vostok Capital Partners. The deal, which took place in the second quarter of this year, according to the VNV’s latest financial report, was reported in details yesterday by …
Dbrain, a startup that “turns raw data into real-world AI,” has just raised $5.7 million from Angelvest and Bitfury Group. Two distinct deals were closed in late July, the startup’s press service told us: an equity and a private token sale, of $3 million and $2.7 million respectively, with a group of cryptocurrency traders contributing to the token sale. …
Rostec, a major Russian tech corporation, has agreed to sell its 25.1% stake in mobile device maker YotaDevices to a consortium that includes Chinese companies Trinity World Management (TWM) and China Baoli. [Update Oct. 15, 2018: The deal was cancelled following a decision from the Hong Kong exchange authorities, as reported by Kommersant.] The deal, …
Roskomnadzor, the Russian telecom and Internet regulator, has requested Facebook to provide explanations about its past data-sharing partnerships with at least 60 mobile device makers, including Apple, BlackBerry, Microsoft and Samsung. As reported last week by the business daily Kommersant, Roskomnadzor’s move followed a request from the Association of Professional Social Media and Messengers Users (APPSIM in Russian) …
BlaBlaCar, the carpooling giant born in France, is consolidating its leadership on the Russian market with the acquisition of BeepCar, a competing service launched by Mail.Ru Group last year. The terms of the deals are expected to be disclosed in Mail.Ru Group’s next reports. BeepCar traffic will be redirected to BlaBlaCar “as of this autumn,” …
Mail.Ru Group surrenders carpooling activity to global leader BlaBlaCar Read More
Launching ‘Alice’ in October last year, Yandex presented this conversational intelligent assistant as being able to “carry free-flowing ‘chit-chat’ conversations with users that can surprise and delight them.” Far from being “restricted to a set of predefined scenarios,” Alice would demonstrate “a distinct personality with a sense of humor,” the Russian search giant announced. These …
After praising stalinism, Yandex’s AI assistant takes on Putin Read More
Indian startup Faaso’s has just secured $15 million from an investor consortium that includes Sistema Asia Fund, one of the corporate venturing vehicles of the Russian conglomerate AFK Sistema, Ru-Net, an international fund led by Russian venture magnate Leonid Boguslavsky, as well as Sequoia Capital India, Lightbox and Evolvence India. The news was reported this morning by …
Two major deals in two months: Indian food delivery startups woo Russian VC billionaires Read More
Larix VC, a fund launched by Moscow-based businessmen Oskar Hartmann and Igor Rybakov, has invested $750,000 in Australian car sharing platform Car Next Door. The news was reported last week by online publication VC.ru based on exchanges with fund representatives. Car Next Door defines itself as an online marketplace that provides a booking system and …
Oskar Hartmann and Igor Rybakov invest $750,000 in Australian car sharing platform Read More
Yandex, the Russian search giant, has maintained its leadership on the domestic Internet market, with a 55% market share on all devices in July 2018, up 1 percentage point in one year. The numbers have just been published by Yandex, whose tool Yandex.Radar monitors search market share and browser trends in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Turkey. …
Yandex consolidates leadership on Russian search market Read More
An oil-rich republic of the ex-Soviet Union, Kazakhstan now envisions its economic future as a gateway for foreign investment across Central Asia. Tech solutions and new apps are emerging there to facilitate the process, writes tech columnist Victoria Zavyalova. Until recently, Kazakhstan had little to show in terms of stock trading and fintech infrastructure. This …
From startup emigration to local development: Fintech emerges in Kazakhstan Read More
