Page 111 - RusRPTDec19

Yandex.Rover delivery robot, which comes under the umbrella of Yandex.Taxi services. The robot the size of a suitcase can navigate sidewalks and deliver small parcels. Previously the company's representatives hinted that automated delivery is one of the directions for the ​development of the driverless division of Yandex​, which has been gaining steam. Automated delivery solutions could be integrated with foodtech services such as Yandex.Food and Yandex.Lavka, and the marketplace Beru.
Siberian startup inDriver plans to challenge the ​market leader Yandex.Taxi​ (joint venture with Uber Technologies) at the largest Moscow taxi market, Reuters reported on November 14 citing the founder and CEO of the company Arsen Tomsky. InDriver has the largest presence in Siberia and the Far East, but already operates in 28 other countries. It plans to invest $10mn over two years on expansion in Moscow, according to Tomsky. But the company with only 1.8% market share in the capital would be up against Yandex.Taxi with 72% share, as well as other top 3 players Citimobil and Gett. Citimobil, controlled by internet major Mail.ru is likely to get a boost from the recent ​joint venture of is parent company with Sberbank​.
Russian internet major​ ​Yandex​ will expand the geography of its grocery delivery service Yandex.Lavka to outside of Moscow, ​and eventually to Saint Petersburg and other cities with over 1mn population, ​Kommersant d​ aily reported on November 21 citing the representatives of the company. Yandex will invest RUB300mn in the expansion of the Yandex.Lavka coverage, starting with the greater Moscow metropolitan area and the Moscow region, which is already penetrated by other services such as Yandex.Taxi and Yandex.Eda food delivery. The expansion of Yandex.Lavka will be accompanied by the extension of the dark store chains. Similarly to dark kitchens, those will only serve online orders. The main competitor of Yandex.Lavka is SberMarket, based on the Instamart start-up acquired by Sberbank, which already operates in all Russian cities with over 1mn population. Regional operations bring the company 52% of all orders and 36% of all revenues.
● Mail.ru
Russia's largest bank ​Sberbank​ will hold a share of 45% in the joint venture with Mail.ru internet major, ​the chair of the bank Lev Khasis told the press, as cited by Vedomosti daily on November 7. As reported by ​bne IntelliNews,​ Sberbank and Mail.ru set up a ​joint venture in the taxi and food delivery segment​, but the shares of both companies were undisclosed. Reportedly, both will hold 45%, with another 10% to be held by the management of both companies, according to Khasis. After the JV deal Sberbank moved to signed a non-binding agreement to acquire from Gazprombank a 35% stake in MF Tekhnologii, the owner of a 58.3% voting interest in Mail.ru. If the deal is completed then ​Sberbank would take control of 20.6% of voting rights and 1.8% of the economic interest in Mail.ru​. Previously Sberbank was intending to tie up with Russia’s tech leader Yandex, but the deal quickly fell to pieces and ended in divorce after only a year due to reported clashes between the management of the two organisations.
Mail.ru Group​ has launched indoor ad (advertising in enclosed spaces) placements ​in partners’ points of sale, according to Kommersant. X5 Retail Group is the first partner. Mail.ru has already tested the format in 30 Perekrestok stores. The company plans to expand its exposure to the indoor ad segment and add more partners.The Russian Out of Home ad market was
111​ RUSSIA Country Report​ December 2019 ​ ​www.intellinews.com