On Monday Russia fined Google 21.1 billion rubles (some $263 million at the pre-war exchange rate, $360 million at the current rate) for repeatedly failing to remove prohibited content on its YouTube video platform. Censorship on the Russian Internet has been on the rise over the past few years, reaching totalitarian heights since the beginning …
Russian edtech has been growing fast over the past years, as witnessed by variety of solutions developed in the country. One of the latest examples is an immersive online-offline platform for remote courses, which was presented earlier this month by the Moscow State University Business School (MSUBS). Touting this solution as a “unique digital model” …
Moscow business school develops pioneering solution for remote courses Read More
All Russian businesses have been affected by the fallout from the war and Western sanctions, but “perhaps the most dramatic events have unfolded at Yandex,” writes TheBell, a respected Russian online publication, in its English edition. While founder Arkady Volozh and head Tigran Khudaverdyan were sanctioned by the European Union, “compromises with the authorities have …
The United States has urged Japan to put more pressure on cryptocurrency exchanges and mining companies that continue to work with Russians. The U.S. wants the Japanese entities to end their business relations with Russia, thus adding to its financial isolation from the rest of the world. The request, made by American diplomats, is targeting …
US asks Japan to pressure crypto exchanges, miners working with Russia Read More
The authority installed by occupying Russian troops in Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson announced on Wednesday that access to Instagram and YouTube is now blocked locally. Officials acknowledge, however, that the American social networks are still available through VPNs. Occupying forces in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions disabled mobile Internet service by Ukrainian telecoms back in late …
Pro-Russian authority in Kherson cuts access to Instagram and YouTube Read More
Adwisely, a startup founded in Ukraine in 2018 — previously known as Retarget App — is making its way in Silicon Valley. Six months after moving its headquarters there, with a team of Ukrainian pros distributed across the world, the company has just announced the completion of a $1.5 million round of funding. London-based TMT …
Ukrainian-founded startup Adwisely backed by diverse pool of investors in Silicon Valley Read More
In late June Kicksharing service Whoosh raised 13.5 billion rubles in bonds (around $17 million at the pre-war exchange rate), making its debut on the Moscow stock exchange. Launched in 2019, the company is a market leader in Russia with 8 million claimed users across 45 Russian cities. Among Whoosh’s backers are Ultimate Capital Fund, …
Russian kicksharing service Whoosh raises $17 million in bonds Read More
Earlier this month VEB Ventures, the venture arm of state-owned development corporation VEB.RF, announced a 520 million ruble investment (some $6.5 million at the pre-war exchange rate) in edtech platform Profilum. This deal was one of the most sizeable ones of the past months on the local venture scene, which has entered a semi-hibernation phase since …
State fund invests 520 million rubles in edtech platform Profilum Read More
Kaspersky Labs has acquired a 15% stake in Motive Neuromorphic Technologies (Motive NT) for “ few dozens of millions or rubles” (hundreds of thousand USD), according to media reports last week. Established in 2017, this company processes visual information using deep neural networks. It creates software and hardware systems to recognize objects or people on …
Russia’s war on Ukraine and the subsequent western sanctions seem to have put the once-thriving Russian and Belarusian gaming industries in serious trouble. It took just weeks to Wargaming, the Belarusian-born, Cyprus-headquartered developer of World of Tanks and World of Warships, to react to the events. In early April, the company announced its decision to “leave Belarus and …
How Russian game developers have been hit by the shockwave of war Read More
US telecoms equipment maker Cisco will end operations in Russia and Belarus in response to the war in Ukraine, the company told Reuters on Thursday. The company had initially suspended its operations in Russia, including sales and services, in March after the Kremlin ordered troops into neighboring Ukraine. Hundreds of foreign businesses have exited Russia …
Cisco announces wind-down of operations in Russia, Belarus Read More
Microsoft has blocked the installation of the Windows 10 and 11 operating systems in Russia from its official website, Russian users and media reported. Attempts to download the software resulted in a 404 error message, or diverted to a Microsoft Support contact page. Russian users using a VPN can still disguise their computer’s location and thus …
Microsoft blocks installation of Windows OS in Russia Read More
