Mail.Ru Group, the LSE-listed Russian Internet giant, is investing is Skillbox, an e-learning platform for digital and IT specialties. The transaction was revealed yesterday by business daily Vedomosti, based on exchanges with representatives of both companies. The group has acquired a 3.6% stake for an undisclosed amount as part of a plan to ultimately acquire …
Mail.Ru Group invests in online IT education platform Read More
In late January a Russian government fund injected 305 million rubles (around $4.5 million at the current exchange rate) in Personal Medication & Health Management (PM&HM), a Novosibirsk, Siberia-based company that has developed a new approach to tuberculosis, cancer and HIV treatments. Founded by researchers from the local branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, PM&HM has designed a …
RVC, the state fund-of-funds dedicated to innovation, and Da Vinci Capital, a major EBRD-backed Russian private equity firm, announced Monday the launch of a 6 billion ruble ($900 million) tech fund. While Da Vinci Capital manages the fund (christened the ‘Da Vinci Pre-IPO Tech Fund’), RVC has contributed a quarter of the capital (1.5 billion rubles). Discussions with …
Russia seeks to attract Asian investors to support $900 million later-stage tech fund Read More
Tech investment volumes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia were modest last year, if compared with the Chinese, US or Western European markets. However, 2018 was marked by giant corporate deals involving international players while a series of smaller venture transactions illustrated the diversity of the regional startup scene. In this review, which encompasses Russia, …
2018 Eastern Europe and Central Asia Tech Investment Overview Read More
RVC, the state-owned fund of funds dedicated to innovation, intends to launch an investment fund to support innovation in the field of education technologies in Russia. With a considerable target amount – 6.9 billion rubles (roughly $100 million at the current exchange rate) – and a 10-year duration, the fund is being created in the framework of …
State fund of funds RVC to launch $100 million edtech fund Read More
During the ASEAN-Russian summit held earlier this month in Singapore, Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Skolkovo Foundation and the Russian sovereign fund RDIF. A state-backed organization aiming to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation in Singapore, ACE is thus becoming “a trusted partner for Skolkovo resident companies,” said Yury Saprykin, vice …
Ivideon, a Russian startup that has developed a cloud-based video surveillance technology, has raised $8 million from Rusnano Sistema SICAR and Skolkovo Ventures, according to a joint statement published yesterday. The company intends to use the funding to enlarge its development team and boost its international marketing effort. The Ivideon system is designed to work with any existing …
“Russian intelligence has had an intensive interest in San Francisco stretching back to the beginning of the Cold War,” wrote Zach Dorfman in Politico this summer in an in-depth article about foreign intel activity in Silicon Valley. Russians initially aimed at gathering information on local military installations, but as Silicon Valley transformed itself into a …
Rusnano used for Russian intel activity in Silicon Valley, says US media Read More
Earlier this month RVC, the state-owned fund of funds supporting innovation in Russia, announced a new investment strategy. Aiming to stimulate VC activity in the country, which is still stands at relatively low levels, RVC intends to create 10 new funds until 2020, in addition to its existing 26 affiliated funds. Among these new investment tools will be “funds …
State fund of funds plans to create 10 new funds to stimulate VC activity Read More
Pavel Terentiev is Managing Partner at AddVenture, a fund launched in 2008, at the very early days of the Russian venture industry. In this exchange, he recalls the spectacular development of the Russian venture scene over the past ten years, and explains how savvy entrepreneurs and investors can seize the opportunities of the undergoing digital …
Three major Russian institutions — the Far East Development Fund, national fund of funds RVC and nanotech giant Rusnano —have ambitious investment plans for their new Far East venture fund that will support technology development in this far-flung Russian region. Dubbed “Far East High Tech Development and Implementation Fund,” the new investment vehicle aims to …
New state-backed venture fund aims to invest $175 million in Russia’s Far East Read More
Leaked files have just highlighted the connections of Yuri Milner, a top Russian-born international tech investor, with a Russian state-controlled financial institution. While seeing in these connections “a long Kremlin arm,” the international journalist consortium which analyzed these files omitted to point out many other cases of Russian money fuelling powerful tech companies in the US and elsewhere. However, …
