PayPal, the leading international online payment company, has according to unnamed sources taken “the strategic decision” to enter the Russian market, reported RBC Daily. The business daily also reported—and PayPal confirmed to EWDN—that PayPal is holding discussions with MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon, Russia’s leading mobile operators.
In its Freedom on the Net 2011 report, Freedom House, an American NGO that monitors freedom progress or restrictions around the world, assigned Russia the status of a “partly free” country. The report acknowledges that the Russian Internet has remained a “relatively uncensored platform for public debate and the expression of political opinions,” in contrast with more …
Russian Internet “relatively uncensored,” says US watchdog Read More
While Russia has set for itself the strategic goal of modernization through technological development, to date the country remains largely terra incognita to many international players in the IT sector because of the general lack of market data and business information in English.
Prominent Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov told Bloomberg that his $500 million acquisition of a 5% stake in Chinese Web retailer 360buy.com in March may have been his last big direct Web investment for some time. In a phone interview with the financial news agency last Friday, Usmanov said, “Investments in Internet companies start to bring …
DST backer cautious about investing in Internet companies as prices may have peaked Read More
Russian seed and early stage venture fund Runa Capital has invested $1 million in Metabar, a Russian startup allowing websites to customize a toolbar to adhere to their features, news, and other applications. “Our platform allows website owners to transform casual visitors into regular audiences,” said Mikail Ushakov, Metabar’s CEO.
Yandex, the leading search engine on the Russian-language Internet, announced yesterday the launch of Yandex.Factory, an investment program designed to help startups finance their product, prototype, or project development at the seed, or early, stage.
KupiVIP.ru, Russia’s leading online shopping club, announced today the completion of a $55 million Series C funding deal – a record transaction for a Russian ecommerce business. Three new investors participated in the operation: Balderton Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and Russia Partners.
Babyboom.ru, a Russian children’s goods website, has raised $900,000 from investors including Index Ventures and Team Europe Ventures as well as from business angels Chamath Palihapitiya, VP of Facebook, Fabrice Grinda, the founder of OLX, Jose Marin, the founder of IG Expansion and James Gutierrez, the founder of Progreso Financiero.
Federal Security Service (FSB) senior official Alexander Andreyechkin complained last Friday during a government meeting that “the uncontrollable use of Gmail, Hotmail, and Skype [in particular] could lead to a major threat to Russia’s security.” FSB is “more and more concerned about these services using foreign-made cryptographic means” that Russia’s security services cannot access, he added.
Pirate Pay, a startup from Perm, and Ajatix, another one from Volgograd, have both received grant funding from the Microsoft Seed Finance Fund. The fund aims to provide direct financial support to startups in the areas of software and SaaS services. The fund was created in November 2010 in partnership with Skolkovo, the state sponsored …
MTS, a leading Russian mobile operator, intends to purchase Republic of Tatarstan TV and Radio Company TVT (TRC TVT) for $180 million, Kommersant reports. TRC TVT, the largest cable TV operator in Tatarstan, is currently 100% owned by TAIF group. It provides services in 15 municipalities and covers over 650,000 households.
Oktogo.ru, a Russian online hotel reservation company with its headquarters in St. Petersburg, is closing a $5 million round of financing with Western funds Ventech and Mangrove Capital Partners and Russian fund ABRT. The two Western funds confirmed the transaction to EWDN but did not disclose the startup’s valuation.
