News

How Russia forced Apple and Google to block anti-Kremlin app on parliamentary election day

September 28, 2021

On Sept. 17 Apple and Google disabled Russian users’ access to the pro-opposition ‘Smart Voting’ app in their online stores. Just hours later Telegram, the international instant messenger whose creator Pavel Durov touts its full independence, dealt a new blow to ‘Smart Voting’ by suspending — in a selective and controversial way — bots associated with …

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M.Video-Eldorado acquires online lending platform, aims to deploy fintech services “across the entire Russian retail market”

September 23, 2021

Russian consumer electronics major M.Video-Eldorado Group announces today the full acquisition of online lending platform Direct Credit as part of its strategy to develop its “promising fintech business.” The transaction amounted to 1.3 billion rubles (nearly $18 million at the current exchange rate). Direct Credit services will be integrated into in the group’s fast-growing OneRetail platform, both online …

M.Video-Eldorado acquires online lending platform, aims to deploy fintech services “across the entire Russian retail market” Read More

US sanctions Russia-based cryptocurrency exchange over ransomware

September 27, 2021

The US Treasury Department has for the first time sanctioned cryptocurrency exchange, a Russian-based Suex that is registered in the Moscow City business compound and operates physical as well as virtual exchanges. Suex is allegedly responsible for over $480 million of unlawful operations, has been used for ransomware attacks and operated transfers to and from Finiko crypto ponzi scheme and Russia’s …

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Yandex teams up with top US funds to commercialize database management solutions

September 22, 2021

Earlier this week Yandex, the NASDAQ-listed Russian digital giant, announced the incorporation of ClickHouse as a legal entity. This spinoff aims to provide commercial impetus to what was so far essentially a community-led open source activity around distributed database management systems (DBMS).  Under plans, new commercial products will be developed — including, for example, a cloud-based version of DBMS …

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Russian Softline pursues international expansion in Baltic states, Belarus, Egypt

September 28, 2021

Softline, an international solution and service provider with Russian roots, is pursuing its international expansion with two deals announced this month, ahead of a potential London IPO. The group announced it acquired the licensing business of Squalio, an international data technology company, in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) and Belarus Belarus and Estonia. Founded in 1997 in Latvia, Squalio has representative …

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Employees of Russian e-commerce leader Wildberries denounce pay shake-up

September 28, 2021

Russian e-commerce giant Wildberries on Tuesday defended its decision to pay employees of pickup points based on their speed, a policy that triggered discontent among workers. The company owned by Russia’s richest woman Tatyana Bakalchuk is one of the largest online marketplaces in the country and has enjoyed success across the former U.S.S.R. In a …

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Global meal kit delivery giant HelloFresh invests in Russian counterpart Chefmarket

September 20, 2021

HelloFresh, the Germany-based international meal kit giant, has acquired an “approximately 10% stake” in its Russian counterpart Chefmarket. The amount of this investment (a capital injection) was not disclosed, but the companies mentioned a “single-digit million euro figure” in their announcement last week.  The deal is touted as “a strategic step for HelloFresh to tap into an emerging market with significant growth potential,” …

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Russia tightens control over foreign large-traffic sites and apps

September 23, 2021

A new law regulating the activity of foreign digital companies in Russia, adopted in early July, is already coming into force, as witnessed by several new orders issued last week by Roskomnadzor, the Internet and telecom regulator. Owners of websites, information systems, or electronic programs that generate a daily traffic of 500,000 users from Russia or more are required to open a …

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Russian mobile operator MTS to invest $100 million in AI startups across the world

October 11, 2021

MTS AI, the artificial intelligence arm of Russian telco MTS, is launching an international acceleration program and venture fund to invest in AI startups across the world. Dubbed ‘Intema,’ the platform plans to invest some $100 million in startups from late seed up to Series B. The investments focus on language, image and behavior analytics, edge computing and logistics, Alexey Posternak, CFO …

Russian mobile operator MTS to invest $100 million in AI startups across the world Read More

This Siberian-born unicorn is now among the world’s top ride-hailing apps

September 23, 2021

A new unicorn emerged discretely earlier this year in the globalized Russian-speaking startup entrepreneur community. InDriver, a ride-hailing app founded in Yakutsk, Siberia, back in 2012, was valued at $1.23 billion as it raised $150 million this past February from leading North American funds. The deal remained undisclosed until last week, when InDriver’s founder Arsen …

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Court marshals visit Google’s Moscow office to enforce censorship decision

September 18, 2021

In the run-up to Russia’s parliamentary elections on Sept. 17-18-19, the Kremlin’s battle against online dissent brings new developments almost daily. Tech giants are not spared, with Google at the forefront earlier this week. Court marshals visited the company’s Moscow office to enforce an injunctive measure to remove the opposition-minded ‘Smart Voting’ site from search results. This …

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Escaped killer of Russian meat magnate caught via facial recognition

September 14, 2021

The man accused of killing a Russian meat magnate in his sauna with a crossbow has been caught after escaping from jail, investigators said Tuesday.  Alexander Mavridi, who escaped from a pre-trial detention center in the Moscow region last month, was detained in the capital Tuesday after he was detected by the city’s facial-recognition surveillance cameras, the state-run TASS …

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