Page 20 - bne Magazine Apri20

20 I Companies & Markets bne April 2020
Russia to start developing its own 5G equipment
bne IntelliNews
Subsidiaries of Russian state technology agency Rostec will start jointly developing equipment for 5G networks, Vedomosti daily reported on February 3 citing representatives of the agency and unnamed industry sources.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, the Kremlin chose unpopular frequencies for 5G rollout to drive home-made infrastructure development and could enforce the use of domestically produced servers only.
Reportedly GlobalInformService (GIS) and Sozvezdie have already designed and produced 4G network equipment under Rostec’s patronage. However, state funding for the companies currently amounts to only RUB224mn ($3.5mn).
By comparison, the Ministry of Industry and Trade estimated the total cost of 5G and IoT (internet of things) roll-out at RUB28bn (RUB16bn of federal funding and RUB12bn of non- budgetary funds). The total cost of all network equipment could amount to up to RUB650bn.
Analysts surveyed by Vedomosti stress that until the question of 5G frequencies is decided, it is not clear how the developers could start producing the necessary equipment. The competitiveness of Russian solutions developed from scratch is also questioned.
As analysed by bne IntelliNews, the introduction of the 5G network has been impeded by a lack of clear policy, decisions on framework frequency allocation, rollout strategy and the lack of co-operation within and with the private sector.
Ukraine-born startups raised more than half a billion dollars in 2019
Adrien Henni in Paris for East West Digital News
In 2019, the venture capital and private equity funding volume for Ukrainian and Ukrainian-founded tech startups reached $544mn (up from $323mn in 2018 and $265mn in 2017), says AVentures Capital’s latest industry report ”DealBook of Ukraine”, reports Adrien Henni of Ukraine Digital News.
The performance was mostly due to a few large rounds involving companies with Ukrainian roots having established their headquarters in the USA. These companies are:
• GitLab, whose last round in September 2019 pushed company valuation to some $2.75bn, and, which is planning direct listing for the end of this year 2020
• Grammarly, which became a unicorn in October 2019 while securing $90mn in California;
• People.ai, which AVentures Capital analysts believe is “on the way to become a unicorn,” following a $60mn round in May 2019.
www.bne.eu
A series of globally-successful Ukrainian (or Ukrainian- founded) companies attracted the interest of strategic players, international buy-out funds, and generate returns for early backers.
Among the exit deals highlighted in the report are:
• The acquisition of AI Factory, a deepfake image and video startup with Ukrainian roots, by Snapchat in late 2019;
• The purchase of Murka, a Ukrainian-founded social casino game publisher, by US investment firm Blackstone, in March 2019;
• The acquisition of bus ticketing platform Busfor by Blablacar, whcih was completed in December 2019.
Early stage (seed and Series-A deals) accounted for only $46mn, according to the report, which notes that “access to early-stage capital remains a challenge.”