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.
Ozon.ru, one of the most established Russian e-commerce sites, has just closed a $100 million round of financing led by Ru-Net, a major Russian fund, with the participation of Index Ventures, Alpha Associates and Japanese e-retailer Rakuten. Ozon’s main shareholder to date, Baring Vostok Capital, has retained its stake in what essentially appears to be a …
Ozon.ru secures record Russian e-commerce investment Read More
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
Russia has invited China to participate in a project to build a satellite system for Ka band high-speed Internet access. The offer of cooperation was announced by Deputy Minister Naum Marder during a joint Russian-Chinese meeting on communications and information technologies held in Nizhny Novgorod in late August.
A list of Russian governmental bodies ranked by their IT expenditures was published last month by CNews.ru, a resource covering the IT and telecom markets. In 2011, total spending by 71 government bodies tracked by the Ministry of Communications and Mass Media is expected to amount to 83.18 billion rubles, or $2.81 billion. Of this …
IT spending by Russian government bodies set to reach $2.8 billion in 2011 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
Russia’s national telecom operator Rostelecom has been accused by the Prosecutor’s Office of involvement in the misappropriation of 300 million rubles, approximately $1 million, from the government funded Electronic Russia program.
Samsung is presenting its “flagship 4-inch chic smartphone,” the Wave 3, along with other new models, at IFA 2011, a global trade show for consumer electronics that begins today in Berlin. Samsung seems to be the first major international handset manufacturer to offer a mobile phone with a GLONASS+GPS supported satellite location system. But the …
Samsung discreetly introduces GLONASS supported navigation Read More
US Foursquare announced yesterday it launched localized versions of its social geolocation service in Bahasa Indonesian, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Thai. The new versions have been made available through the company’s iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry applications as well as through its web interface. The Russian press also reported rumors that Foursquare is considering hiring a country …
Foursquare launches versions in Russian and four other languages Read More
The manufacturer of the soon-to-be-introduced Ë-Mobile (pronounce Yo-Mobil), the much-hyped Russian hybrid car, announced it will use the Android OS to expand the car’s functions. Ë-Mobile owners will thus benefit from a range of practical and entertainment services and will keep in touch with the latest IT technologies, according to the Ë-Mobile official blog .
The ICT Group – one of Russia’s largest privately owned investment and industrial companies – announced last Monday its new status as the largest shareholder in Italian Wi-Max operator ARIA S.p.A., with a 28.6% stake.
