Page 23 - bne_newspaper_August_10_2018

Opinion
August 10, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 23
bne:Tech
May, 2018 www.intellinews.com @bneintellinews
Avast to enter London bourse in bid to raise up to $1bn Jaroslav Hroch in Prague
Avast, which owns the popular consumer antivirus company AVG, will apply to list its shares on the London Stock Exchange in the hope of raising $200mn (CZK4.1bn) in primary proceeds from an IPO, the Czech-founded company announced on April 12.
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St Petersburg's start-up scene flourishes on high talent and low costs
Contents
Avast to enter London bourse
in bid to raise up to $1bn 1 Avast to enter London bourse in bid to raise up to $1bn 2 St Petersburg's start-up scene
flourishes on high talent and low costs 3 Romania entrepreneur aims to put home-grown UAV defence technology industry on the map 6
FinTech
Russia's mobile major MTS increases stake in Ozon to 16.7% 9
Blockchain
Romanian startups at the heart
of blockchain energy trading rally 10
Central Europe
Russian-Lithuanian startup Gosu.ai
raises $1.9mn from Russian and
French investors 13
Eurasia
Iran hit by cyber attack that left US
flag on screens 14 Iranian government set to block hugely popular Telegram messaging app 15 Iran's black market phone disconnection drive pushes up legal mobile imports 15
Eastern Europe
Internet catches up with TV on Russian
ad market 17 Sales of connected appliances jump
in Russia 17 Russia's HeadHunter Group seeks
to raise $250mn with NASDAQ IPO 18 Russia ranks second in the world
for digital piracy 18 Russian messaging service Telegram raised another $850mn with ICO 19
Southeast Europe
Russia's HeadHunter Group seeks
to raise $250mn with NASDAQ IPO 20
The Regions This Month 21
Filip Brokes in St Petersburg
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increased by 3% over June last year, and the semi-annual growth was 2.6%.
The authors of the study believe it is possible: 60% of respondents to Alfa’s survey say they are ready to change their business model or activity to adapt to consumer behaviour.
The state is also pushing for changes in entrepreneurship. The survey showed that 14% of entrepreneurs had to rebuild business processes, because of changes to the law that have resulted in a heavier tax burden and falling profits. Part
of the rising tax burden that is the Ministry of Finance has revamped the tax service, which in turn has simply become a lot more efficient. For example, the “fly by night” shell companies scam — ephemeral legal companies set up to take a tax liability and then closed the day before payment comes due — has almost entirely disappeared in the last two years.
Separately, Alfa Bank drew attention to the first sharp deterioration in the mood in the IT sector, which has until now been the one truly dynamic part of the Russian economy. IT entrepreneurs are pessimistic about both the economy as a whole and the prospects of their own business. Traditionally, the IT industry differed from
other industries in terms of its optimism and confidence, in addition, companies expected state investment in the development of the digital economy.
Now IT representatives are increasingly mentioning sanctions among their problems. Russian IT is also one of the most multinational parts of the Russian economy, heavily dependent on western markets for sales, investment capital and potential exits.