The French search engine for car-sharing BlaBlaCar has taken over the Ukrainian site Podorozhniki, in order to enter the Russian and Ukrainian market. The cost of the deal has not been disclosed, as was the case with the expansion in Italy and Spain, but the Podorozhniki site is no longer available and all of its …
French car-sharing service BlaBlaCar expands to Ukraine and Russia Read More
American startup Duolingo launched its language learning platform in Russian last week in a bid to reach the over 90 million Russian-speaking Internet users around the globe. These users can now study English free of charge via the US company’s online and mobile platform. “There’s a very high demand for foreign language education in Russia, …
US language learning startup Duolingo enters Russian market Read More
Yandex announced earlier this week an agreement with MultiShip, a Moscow-based startup that aggregates offers from different shipment companies to help online retailers optimize their deliveries across the country. In addition to acquiring a stake in the startup for “several millions,” the NASDAQ-listed Russian search giant has purchased MultiShip’s software platform for $1 million, with …
Yandex invests in MultiShip: A perfect match on the Russian e-commerce service scene Read More
Following a meeting this past Tuesday with shipment service providers, the Russian Federal Customs Service announced that new, simplified customs clearance procedures for e-commerce parcels will be introduced immediately. “Not only will all the problems raised by the shipment companies be solved, but electronic procedures will be introduced in the next two weeks” to make …
Yandex (NASDAQ: YNDX) has launched its Winter Games 2014 project, providing Russians with detailed, up-to-the-minute coverage of events at the international sporting event in Sochi. The project’s website will feature complete information about all the competitions: timetables and telecasts, reports on every kind of contest and articles about the medal contenders.
In partnership with East-West Digital News, MIPTV, the leading international b2b event dedicated to the TV & online video ecosystems, cordially invites Russian startups to enter MIPCube Lab. Applications for this major startup competition are open until February 15. Finalists will pitch in Cannes, France, on April 7, 2014, in front of industry experts from …
MIPCube Lab contest 2014: A call to Russian startups Read More
Lamoda, a leading Russian online fashion retailer, announced today an equity investment of €10 million from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group. This investment – the first by IFC in Lamoda – aims to “support the company’s expansion as well as enable Lamoda to consolidate its sustainable growth while further raising environmental, social …
World Bank Group’s IFC invests €10 million in online fashion retailer Lamoda.ru Read More
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, has judged it impossible at this stage to block access to Looo.ch, a website that offers a bilingual “Illustrated Textbook on Homosexuality for Kids” – a satire on homophobia in Russia and Ukraine. “If a boy with a boy is OK, then …
Regulator fails to ban site offering satirical pro-gay “textbook for kids” Read More
Pavel Durov, the founder of VKontakte.ru (VK.com), Russia’s leading social network, has sold his 12% stake in the company to Ivan Tavrin, the general director of mobile operator Megafon and a member of the Mail.Ru Group‘s board of directors. In his post on Vkontakte, Durov said that he would continue to oversee the company’s functioning …
Vkontakte founder sells his stake while the social network sets new traffic record Read More
Clouds are gathering in the sky of cross-border sales to Russia – a market that reached approximately $3 billion in 2013 after years of up to 100% growth. Earlier this week, DHL Express, DPD and FedEx, three international shipment providers, announced the suspension of shipments to Russian consumers, while another courier, UPS, was considering a …
Earlier this week Adzuna, an innovative job search engine based in the UK, launched a fully localized Russian version. “Russia is an exciting, dynamic market with a huge number of job seekers and great business potential. We feel job seekers in Russia are currently underserved by the employment tools (particularly data and social search tools) …
Bay.ru, a leading cross-border sales operator facilitating Russian consumers’ purchases from eBay, Amazon and other international e-commerce sites, has announced its rebranding as Dostami.ru – a name that refers to “dostavka,” the Russian term for delivery. The move reflects a new, larger positioning for the company, which originally focused on eBay. “As our middleman business …
