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Leaders
November 2020 www.intellinews.com I Page 7
award at Agriculture Technology Breakthrough Awards 2020. In 2019, the Russian startup won the AVT ACES AWARD, which was organized by the US Autonomous Vehicle Technology magazine.
“A few years back, artificial intelligence in agriculture was a technology much talked about, but there were no practical examples of its widespread adoption in Russia,” notes Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Sber, an investor in Cognitive Technologies. “Now, with the first harvesting campaign with smart combines completed, we can say with confidence that the future is becoming a reality before our eyes.”
Popov believes that “the Cognitive Agro Pilot system has the potential to save the domestic
agro-industrial complexbns of rubles,” taking into account Russia’s rank among the leading countries in terms of agricultural production.
Cognitive Technologies believes that “one harvester in ten used in Russia will be unmanned in the next three years.”
Founded in 1993, Cognitive Technologies offers
a variety of components for unmanned vehicles and remote control systems, including AI-based driver assistance systems. In 2018 the company claimed to have created the world’s first 4D radar for driverless tech.
The company is also participating in the development of Russia’s first fully autonomous tram.
IPO of Russian Ozon aims for $0.5bn
Russian e-commerce major Ozon aims to
raise up over $500mn in the IPO on NASDAQ, Interfax reported citing market sources, while the company has published a prospectus for the offering outlining key performance indicators.
As reported by bne IntelliNews, this week Ozon Holdings has registered its intention to IPO later this year.
The "prospectus confirmed the continuation of strong growth and Ozon well on track for $2bn+ GMV [gross merchandise volume] in 2020. Also, positive contribution margin in 9M20 is a good signal regarding unit economics," BCS Global Markets commented on November 5.
BCS GM sees the news as positive and a key near- term catalyst for the AFK Sistema multi-industry investment conglomerate.
The stakes held by Sistema and Baring Vostok fund in Ozon would be 45.2% and 45.1% if taking into account the exercising of all options, convertible
loans and other instruments. The remaining stakes in Ozon are held by the US-based VC firms Index Ventures and Princeville Global.
Ozon said that its brand awareness is high, with 32% top-of-mind in June versus 18% for nearest competitor, with customer perception high, and is improving (79 net promoter score in 3Q20 versus 64 in 4Q19), and 11mn active buyers.
The e-commerce platform grew the GMV by 142% year on year in 9M20 – suggesting 130% y/y in 3Q20. The marketplace accounted for 45% GMV and 15% revenue in 9M20.
In 9M20, Ozon booked RUB67bn ($865mn) revenue (70% y/y) and RUB8bn adjusted EBITDA loss
(loss shrank 23% y/y). The 2019 EBITDA loss was RUB19bn (up from RUB6bn in 2018 as expansion accelerated).
As for the risks of paying the agreement break- up fee to state-controlled Sberbank (RUB1bn or $13mn), BCS GM sees it as minor for Ozon’s scale.