Yuri Milner, co-founder of the top Russian Internet fund DST, is among the investors in Airtime, a new video chat service to be created by former Napster founders Sean Parker and Shawn Fanning. The news, reported by The Financial Times last Friday, was based on exchanges with Airtime’s founders. The Airtime concept is derived from …
Yuri Milner joins US Internet stars to launch new videochat service Read More
VTB Capital yesterday announced it led a $5.5 million round of financing for aiHit, a London based provider of company data to the business information, market research and lead generation industries. Amadeus Capital Partners, the UK’s leading venture capital group, and several other existing investors, also took part in the deal.
Russian programmer and businessman Valery Gasratov launched social gifting application Giftofoni last week, allowing Turkish speaking Facebook users to order gifts and organize parties. The application is derived from Welcome Gifts, Zhelannye Podarki in Russian, an application launched last year by Gasratov’s team on Odnoklassniki.ru, a leading Russian social networking site. Welcome Gifts was used by 12 …
Ambitious Russian social gifting app launched on Turkish version of Facebook Read More
Russian early stage venture fund Runa Capital shook hands with the Skolkovo Foundation, the state-owned organization leading the completion of the major innovation hub on the outskirts of Moscow, reported Russian business daily Vedomosti. The deal outlines provisions for Runa to collaborate with Skolkovo over the next three years and invest $5 million into the projects …
Venture fund Runa Capital to pour $5 million into Skolkovo projects Read More
Two weeks after Foursquare made available a Russian version of its service – along with versions in Bahasa Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, and Thai – a powerful Russian media group, RBC, announced it has invested $1 million in Ogorod.ru, one of the two best-known local services inspired by the Foursquare concept.
Softline Venture Partners announced earlier this week it has invested $500,000 in Copiny, a developer of Saas-based social CRM solutions. The fund received a 25.1% stake in exchange for the investment, Copiny General manager Dmitry Chistov told East-West Digital News. Copiny was founded just one year ago by a group of programmers from Bryansk, 379 kilometers …
Social CRM solution startup raises $500,000 from Softline Venture Partners Read More
The seed fund of the Russian Venture Company, a state owned venture vehicle dedicated to innovation with 2 billion rubles, or $65 million, in charter capital, announced yesterday it has approved investment proposals from eight projects, including two from the IT sector.
As dozens of daily deal sites do battle on one of the most competitive segments of the Russian Internet – including Groupon Russia, KupiKupon, Biglion, Vigoda.ru, WeClever.ru and KupiBonus.ru – discount aggregators are gaining momentum. Zina.ru, a particularly aggressive newcomer created this summer in just 30 days, is on the scene angling for its share, as CEO Leonid Gluzman …
New discount aggregator to measure itself with international giants Yipit and Thedealmap Read More
Representatives of 15 Korean venture funds, including KDB Capital, STIC Investments Inc. and L&S Venture Capital, visited Moscow last week intending to invest up to $10 million each in local IT companies.
In a pattern that exemplifies the booming nature of the Russian Internet, the market segment for web content discovery services – non-existent just months ago – is now rapidly filling with ambitious startups. The public beta version of Netflip.ru was launched in mid-August, not long after a comparable site, SurfingBird.ru, went online, as reported by East-West Digital …
Web content discovery services come to the Russian Internet Read More
NASDAQ-listed Russian search engine giant Yandex announced last Friday it fully acquired The Tweeted Times, a website offering social news services, for an undisclosed amount. Yandex aims to use the technologies developed by The Tweeted Times to enhance its search and content services with information from social networks.
Leading financial company Finam has invested $1 million in CreditCardsOnline.ru, a portal that aggregates credit card offerings from various banks and offers an online card application procedure. The news was reported yesterday by Russian business daily Kommersant, to whom an unnamed source revealed Finam had received a 25% stake in the company in exchange for …
Credit card aggregator secures $1 million in funding from leading financial company Read More
