East-West Digital News - Ukraine Digital News

Russian ad tech provider GetIntent enters Ukrainian market

August 22, 2016

GetIntent, an international programmatic technology solution provider with Russian roots, is coming to Ukraine, Russian tech blog Firrma reported last week. The company will offer its solutions on the Ukrainian market via a local partner, Programmatic Media. Founded in 2013 by Russian mathematicians George Levin and Vladimir Klimontovich, the company moved its headquarters to New York city one …

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Crimea maps scandals: Google offends Russia, then Ukraine

August 2, 2016

A controversy sparked last week over Google’s decision to change the names of Crimean settlements appearing on Google Maps, in accordance with the Ukrainian authorities’ “decommunization” campaign. In May 2016, the Ukrainian parliament renamed 70 settlements in Crimea, mostly choosing names of Crimean Tatar origin. Thus Krasnogvardeyskoe (‘Red Guard’) became “Yany Kapu” while Sovetskoe switched …

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Ukrainian students win bronze medal at world programming championship

May 24, 2016

A Ukrainian student team was ranked 11th and awarded with a bronze medal at the 40th International Collegiate Programming Contest of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM ICPC). This year, 128 teams took part in the finals held at Prince of Songkla University in Phuket, Thailand. By solving nine out of thirteen problems, the Lviv National …

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Crimea still Ukrainian territory on TripAdvisor’s maps; Russian MP wants to ban the US company

March 3, 2016

Last week Oleg Mikheyev, a member of the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament), requested the Prosecutor General to inquire into TripAdvisor, whose website displays Crimea as being a Ukrainian territory. This misrepresentation could be enough to ban the US company from operating in Russia, suggests Mikheyev. “In the present time, all possible …

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Ukraine’s Digital Future takes part in YouAppi’s $13.1 million funding round

February 22, 2016

YouAppi, a San Francisco-based startup that has developed a Big Data-driven solution for mobile marketing, has raised $13.1 million from an international consortium of investors, including Ukraine’s Digital Future. Also participating in this Series B round are Click Ventures, Emery Capital (Russia), Global Brain (Japan) and Hawk Ventures (USA), Israeli funds Glilot Capital Partners and 2B Angels, as well …

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AliExpress resumes deliveries to Crimea

December 21, 2015

AliExpress, the B2C subsidiary of Alibaba which last year became the number one online marketplace in Russia, has resumed delivery to Crimea. Just months ago, the Chinese platform had stopped serving the disputed peninsula. It was assumed that Alibaba was complying with western sanctions, which bar companies from working in this peninsula. The news was announced earlier this month …

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Ukrainian band tops ranking of most popular YouTube music video in Russia

December 11, 2015

YouTube has released a list of the music videos that were most popular in Russia in 2015. At over 41 million views, a song by Ukrainian band “Vremya i Steklo” is number one, far ahead of all its competitors. Following Vremya i Steklo in the ranking were “A Million Voices,” the Eurovision song presented by Russia’s Polina Gagarina (14.3 million …

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Indian food delivery service Inner Chef secures $1.7 million from Ukrainian, Russian and local investors

October 7, 2015

Inner Chef, an Indian adaptation of the US service Blue Apron, has raised $1.7 million from Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine-based fund TA Ventures and several business angels. These include Boris Ryabov, managing partner of Russia-based venture fund Bright Capital, as well as Indian entrepreneurs Phanindra Sama, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Anupam Mittal Vishal Gondal and others.

Yell.ru acquires Ukrainian-Russian startup YouScan

October 7, 2015

Local search and user review service Yell.ru has acquired a controlling stake in Ukraino-Russian startup YouScan by buying the shares of the previous investors, while the founding team retained a minority stake. No further details of the transaction were disclosed. Yell also announced that it will invest $1 million in the company’s further development.

Are Facebook moderators “pro-Russian?” Ukrainian president and Facebook founder involved in online controversy

May 18, 2015

Is Facebook’s moderation team pro-Russian? Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and Mark Zuckerberg in person got involved in the controversy last week after thousands of Ukrainian users accused the social network of taking down or blocking posts and accounts from Ukraine. These takedowns were politically motivated and the posts were being reported for violations by masses of “Kremlin …

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Russian fund Life.Sreda cancels investment in Ukrainian startup Settle

February 16, 2015

Life.Sreda, which looked just a few months ago as one of the most successful Russian funds, is now seeking buyers for the greater part of its portfolio companies, Russian business daily Vedomosti reported last week. The fund also cancelled its investment in Advice Wallet, a Kyiv (Kiev)-based startup which develops mobile payment service Settle. In July last year, Life.Sreda committed itself to …

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Fast growth appeal vs. pressure of sanctions: Western VCs’ new Russia dilemma

October 31, 2014

The past few weeks have demonstrated the uncomfortable position Western venture capitalists that have traditionally invested in Russia are finding themselves in as a result of the international tensions. While, in the eyes of some them, the Russia label has become a stigma, other VCs have proclaimed their commitment to continue investing in Russian startups …

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