Page 25 - bne_newspaper_January_18_2019

Opinion
January 18, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 25
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.
See page 2
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
See page 3
GET THE BEST CONTENT DELIVERED STRAIGHT INTO YOUR INBOX!
SIGN UP HERE
bne Tech
We have launched a new publication bneTech
A FREE newsletter covering technology, blockchain, ICOs, TMT and all aspects of the "new economy" in Emerging Europe, Central Asia and MENA.
*Please note by clicking the button you give permission for bne to send you e-mails as per the EU's GDPR rules.
SIGN UP HERE
does not attempt to influence Serbia’s European path, though some analysts have seen in this Putin’s personal interest to put a Trojan horse in the EU.
On the other hand, Vucic has little choice but to continue his tricky balancing act between Russia and the West as the majority of his voters are pro- Russian, mainly due to the long cultural relations between the two countries.
Within the regional prospective, Russia needs Serbia to be on its side as its influence in the Western Balkans has significantly suffered. Montenegro, once loyal to Moscow, became
a Nato member in 2017 and is accusing the Kremlin of staging a coup plot with the aim of installing a pro-Russian party in power during the October 2016 general election. The plot failed, and Montenegrins stuck with the pro-EU Democratic Party of Socialists in the election.
Macedonia is also moving further from Russia’s influence. Earlier this month, the country’s parliament approved constitutional changes that will allow a historic name change in order to unlock its Nato and EU membership.
The vote was slammed by Russia, with a foreign ministry statement describing it as a “continu- ation of the process of artificially changing the state name imposed from outside with the aim of forcing Skopje into Nato.”
In Bosnia, Russia still has strong influence thanks to Milorad Dodik, the secessionist leader of the main Serb party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), who became a member of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency last year. Dodik
is openly pro-Russian and dreams of his entity, Republika Srpska, seceding from Bosnia. US analysts have said that Russia is supporting his aspirations and is financing the establishment of military units that could lead to another conflict in the already highly unstable state.