Page 18 - bneMag February 2021_20210202

18 I Companies & Markets bne:Funds
Online video service ivi.ru starts NASDAQ IPO registration procedure
East West Digital News in Moscow
Just days after the triumphant NASDAQ IPO of Ozon,
a leading Russian e-commerce company, another Russian digital major, ivi.ru, has started the registration procedure for a US IPO, reports East-West Digital News (EWDN).
No IPO-related documents related to Cyprus-registered company ‘ivi.ru Media Ltd’ are available yet on the SEC’s website, but two unnamed sources “close to the company” confirmed, in an exchange with Russian business publication RBC, a move that was widely expected following previous leaks.
One of RBC’s sources says the IPO should take place in the first quarter of 2021. ivi.ru’s press service declined to comment.
Leadership on a small market
Russia’s largest video streaming platform in terms of revenue, ivi.ru generated last year 6.1 billion rubles ($95 million) in revenues, VAT excluded, up 55% from 2018. The average monthly audience of the service grew by 14%, exceeding 50 million unique users as of late 2019. The total viewing time for the year amounted to 1 billion hours, including 400 million hours accounting for
a paying audience, according to the company.
Ivi.ru could be valued at more than $700 million, according to analysts who talked with the Russian media in early 2020.
bne February 2021
The Russian online video market is usually valued at around $300 million for 2019. The main players are domestic platforms ivi, Okko, Amediateka alongside foreign players YouTube, iTunes and Google Play. At the beginning, the business model of Russian online video platform relied primarily on advertising revenues. However, user-generated revenues now exceed advertising revenues.
Russian IPOs on Western exchanges
Despite the unfavorable geopolitical context, several Russian digi- tal companies raised substantial amounts on Western exchanges in the past years – or are considering doing so in the future.
The latest cases include HR platform hh.ru, which went public on the NASDAQ in June 2019; Yandex, which raised there $460 million in June 2020; and Mail.ru Group, which is about to raise $600 million on the London Stock Exchange.
Yandex.Taxi, the promising ride-hailing company of Yandex and Uber, was actively preparing its IPO last year. The listing, initially scheduled for 2020, has however been postponed due to market conditions surrounding the coronavirus pandemic.
In its triumphant IPO, Ozon saw its shares jump 40% in first minutes of trading.
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.
Click the button to read the latest issue
bne:Tech
Contents
Top stories
Russia’s top retail and tech companies join forces to hunt for innovations in the rest of the world 2 Ukraine-born startups raised more
than half a billion dollars in 2019 4 Russian video streaming platforms
gain speed 5 Cloud services take off in Russia 6 SEMrush to SEO success 8
Leaders 9
Russia’s internet giant Yandex
announces growing and more
diversified revenues in 2019 10 Russian telecom major Rostelecom misses on earnings in 4Q19, cash
flow solid 12
Investment 13
World Bank approves $35mn project
to modernise Kyrgyz tax administration and statistical system 13 Romanian online home decoration
retailer raises €3.5mn in bonds 14 Russian billionaires Abramovich, Gutseriev, said to invest in Telegram
crypto project TON 14 Russian fund Da Vinci Capital gets
€30mn from Germany’s DEG to invest
in Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan 15
Fintech & E-commerce 16
Russian e-commerce major
Wildberries to add self-employed
vendor products to offering 16 Russian Dixy retailer to launch online sales with Ozon 17 Valuation of Sistema’s e-commerce
asset Ozon boosted to $1.8bn 17
Telecom 19
Makedonski Telekom’s net profit
up 6% y/y in 2019 19 Romanian telco Digi grows by double
digit rates in 2019 19 Russia could postpone 5G rollout
from 2022 to 2024 20
NIBs 21
March 2020
www.intellinews.com
@bneintellinews
Russia’s top retail and tech companies
join forces to hunt for innovations in
the rest of the world
BAs Russia’s retail and tech sectors consolidate, the leading companies are turned their gaze outwards to hunt for
bne:Tech
new technology and innovation.
See page 2
Ukraine-born startups raised more
than half a billion dollars in 2019
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. See page 4
SIGN UP HERE
www.bne.eu