Russia
Russia's Runa Capital raises $70mn to invest in ‘deep-tech’ startups
Runa Capital, a Palo Alto-headquartered venture investment firm with Russian roots, has closed $70mn for its third fund targeting early-stage “deep tech” startups, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
Georgia in vino vertitas
The Georgians like to describe themselves as the “cradle of wine” with a rich, 8,000-year history of wine-making. Wine was produced and drunk in Tbilisi before the Roman Empire was founded and today it remains home to over 500 unique grape varieties
Moscow authorities try to de-escalate tensions ahead of more possible protests
Moscow election committee MosGorIzbirKom has allowed one of the opposition candidates Sergei Mitrokhin to participate in the elections to the City Council after all, upon a preliminary vote recount that proved sufficient for Mitrokhin to run.
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Russian issuers place $7bn Eurobonds in 1H19, almost beat 2018
Russian corporate issuers placed $6.9bn worth of Eurobonds in 14 deals in January-June 2019, almost as much as $7.8bn in 18 issues placed in 2018 overall, Vedomosti daily said on July 31 citing a study by PwC. The average issue size is up to $494mn v
MACRO ADVISORY: August in Russia: What could possibly go wrong?
Christmas Day has the Queen’s speech and Easter Day brings the Pope’s Urbi et Orbi. In Russia, it has become a late July tradition amongst Russia watchers to remind ourselves that August is the month when things tend to blow up.
Two out of five Russians don't want Putin as president after 2024
Two out of five Russians (38%) do not wish to see President Vladimir Putin remain president after his current term in office expires in 2024, according to a Levada Center poll cited by Vedomosti daily on July 30.
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Putin’s personal popularity has improved slightly this year but regional governors doing almost as well
Putin’s person popularity moved up moderately this year from a low of 64% in January to 68% in July, with 31% disapproving of his actions, according to independent pollster the Levada Center.
Number of Russians living below poverty line ticks up to 14.3% of population in 1Q19
Inflation in subsistence prices pushed the total up by 4 pp, according to Rosstat.
Russia's gross international currency reserves top $530bn
Russian gross international reserves (GIR) topped $530bn as of June 29, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) reported.
Russian cumulative profits were RUB6,743bn for the first five months of this year, up by 38% on 2018
Russian companies are track for their most profitable year in the last four years as a corporate recovery starts to gather momentum.
MOSCOW BLOG: Kremlin ups its game with police violence at Moscow protests
Response threatens to radicalise protestors, unite opposition in way not yet achieved. Largest number of arrests in a protest to date. Putin playing with fire, say analysts. Kremlin makes it clear violence is now standard response to protest.
Gazprom cashes in on rally with SPO of 2.93% of capital
Gazprom is taking advantage of the recent rally of its shares. Its capitalisation on Moex topped RUB6 trillion in July, the highest point since August 2008.
Russian Sberbank takes on Yandex by teaming up with Mail.ru
Russia's largest bank and digital innovation front-runner Sberbank will create a 50/50 joint venture with internet major Mail.ru Group in the field of transportation and food delivery.
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Russian second tier food retailer Vkusvill launches click and collect service
Online retail is growing in leaps and bounds in Russia even if traditional retail is in the doldrums.
Russia's TCS Group starts b2b voice recognition services
TCS Group that operates Russia’s only pure online bank Tinkoff Bank will allow third parties to develop their own voice recognition applications such as voice assistants and robots for call centres.
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MACRO ADVISER: Quiet evolution is better than noisy revolution
Russia is in the midst of a quiet but steady evolution in monetary, fiscal and industrial policy that could very well be the catalyst for the next phase of meaningful economic growth.
Novatek closes Arctic LNG-2 deal with Chinese and Japanese investors
Russia's second largest natural gas extractor and LNG producer Novatek closed the deal to sell 30% in its next LNG project.
Russia's economy ministry warns consumer credit bubble will burst in 2021
Despite measures undertaken by the central bank to cool the retail lending market, unsecured consumer loans in Russia keep growing.
Watcom shopping index picks up in June for first time in four years
Foot traffic at Russia’s leading malls was up over the first six months of this year, suggesting the continuous contraction that has marred retail for the last five years has bottomed out, according to the latest Watcom Shopping index.
Russia's Putin seeks to woo Shell back to LNG projects
Earlier this year Shell pulled out of the Baltic LNG project with Russian natural gas giant Gazprom.