Russian billionaire Yuri Milner recently participated in a $1.4 million round of financing for Flotype, an American startup that offers realtime messaging technologies for cloud and mobile applications. Andreessen Horowitz, Ignition Partners, Salesforce and Y Combinator also took part in the deal, Techcrunch reported today.
The authorities of the Novosibirsk region in Siberia announced their intention to create a world-class innovation center in Akademgorodok, a major academic and scientific hub. The regional government will invest 10 billion rubles, or approximately $330 million, in the project by 2017, and expects the total investment from various sources to reach as much as …
Novosibirsk authorities to attract $1 billion to fund innovation in Akademgorodok Read More
Pavel Vrublevsky was released last week after spending 6 months in Lefortovo prison in Moscow, following his arrest in June of 2011 for organizing a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on the website of Assist, a competitor of his company, Chronopay. A leading Russian online payment processing company, Chronopay processes almost half of all Visa and …
The Russian Ministry of Communications and Mass Media approved on Tuesday the prototype of a Linux based operating system scheduled to become Russia’s national OS. The government plans to equip school and public administration computers across the country with the new OS, thereby saving considerable amounts in software licenses, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported.
Skolkovo granted resident status to 29 companies last week, bringing the total number of residents to 310. The state sponsored innovation hub under completion near Moscow received a total of 1,500 applications this year, including one third from companies with foreign capital.
Mail.ru Group, a large, publicly traded Internet group has launched its own internal incubator to develop projects initiated by employees. Mail.ru Group entrepreneurs will develop their projects in full autonomy while retaining their employee status. “We will try to infuse the incubator with a true startup spirit, offering dedicated work spaces separate from the group’s …
The Elecard Group, a Tomsk, Siberia based provider of software products for audio and video data compression, encoding and transmission, has launched the production of an innovative home multimedia device, RIA Novosti reported last Friday. The new device, named Elecard iTelec, will combine a digital TV receiver with a payment terminal as well as access to e-government …
In a confidential email sent in October to his management team revealed yesterday by TechCrunch, Oliver Samwer, the co-founder of German incubator Rocket Internet, had crude words for the management of Lamoda.ru, the online shoe retailer he launched in Russia earlier this year. “Our team fucked up in Russia,” wrote Samwer, complaining that Lamoda.ru failed …
The Office of the United States Trade Representative has made public a new edition of its Notorious Markets List earlier this week, identifying “selected markets, including ones on the Internet, that are reportedly engaged in piracy and counterfeiting” across the globe. Specifically, the blacklist enlarges upon the geographical origin and the dubious commercial nature of marketplaces …
Vkontakte.ru still blacklisted by US government for piracy Read More
Biglion, a major player among Russian daily deal sites, has attracted significant funds from Tiger Global Management, a prominent investment firm operating in the public and private equity markets across the globe, Russian business daily Vedomosti revealed yesterday. Biglion co-founder Oleg Savtsov has confirmed the deal but did not disclose any details on the amount …
Daily deal site Biglion attracts new investment from Tiger Global Management Read More
Leading Russian WiMax provider Scartel operating under the Yota brand announced yesterday that its first LTE network was ready for commercial use in Novosibirsk, Siberia. A limited number of users will test the network until the official launch, which is planned for January 15. 63 base stations have been deployed in the city so far, …
Taxipedia, a German startup that has developed a mobile app for calling taxis and getting discounted fares, was awarded a Skolkovo Foundation grant last week, reported Tass-Telecom last week. The ceremony was held at the Singapore campus of INSEAD, a top ranking international business school with its main campus in Fontainebleau, France.
