Page 98 - RusRPTJuly18

Leading Russian technology company InfoWatch that develops information protection solutions was forced to sell a controlling stake in its German subsidiary EgoSecure, Vedomosti daily reported on June 14 citing the sources in the company. The sale was forced following hostile media in the German press that alleged that InfoWatch has close ties with Kremlin and Russian security services. EgoSecure supplies products and services to German police. The scandal forced one of Russia's top tech entrepreneurs and co-founder of anti-virus powerhouse Kaspersky Lab Natalya Kasperskaya to sell the company. EgoSecure has about 2,000 private and corporate clients in Europe, and was boasting 10% revenue growth annually. In January-May revenues jumped by 50%. Kasperskaya told Vedomosti t hat EgoSecute lost several large clients due to the bad press, while Matrix42 workspace management company "made a good offer" for her German subsidiary. Analysts surveyed by the daily believe that InfoWatch could have raised over €30mn for EgoSecure -- several times its annual revenues. Kasperskaya's former husband Eugene Kaspersky is also a prominent cybersecurity entrepreneur, however, since their divorce several years ago her businesses is no longer affiliated with his Kaspersky Labs anti-virus software producer and they operate independently from each other. Most recently the European Parliament has passed a cybersecurity resolution with marked Kaspersky Labs products as unsafe and urged European institution not to use them. Now it appears that Kasperskaya's businesses are being tarred with the same brush. Vedomosti notes that the EU resolution is not mandatory, and reminds that Kasperksy Lab previously collaborated with Interpol and helped solve a number of cybercrimes in the EU and UK. In 2017 the Kaspersky Lab was also blacklisted by the US government on suspicions that Kaspersky could be connected to Russian intelligence agencies accused of hostile cyberactivity against the US, which the Kaspersky Lab has repeatedly denied .
Russia's internet services major Yandex approved a $100mn share buyback programme , the company said on June 11 as cited by Interfax. The shares of Yandex in Moscow rose by 2% upon the announcement, with capitalisation of RUB641bn ($10.2bn). In February Yandex topped the ranking of Forbes annual list of most valuable Russian technology companies . The Russian language version of the magazine estimated the company’s worth at $12.38bn, ahead of the $11.2bn it was valued at when it floated in London in 2012. The company finished its first buyback in 2013, buying $269mn worth of shares off the market after a 2011 listing on NASDAQ.
St Petersburg smart delivery service iGooods raised RUB123mn ($2mn) of new investment , the CEO of the company Gregory Kunis told Vedomosti daily on June 5. Among the investors are fund SOL Ventures of the founder of Delivery Club Levon Oganessyan and his partners, former partners of Quadriga Capital Russia Kristof, and a number of other private investors. Prior to the deal iGooods was valued at RUB376mn, with the investors acquiring 24.6% of the company after an additional issue. The founder of the company Dmitry Kunis remained the main shareholder with about 72%. SOL Ventures was the largest investor with about 4% and previously already invested in Menu Group food delivery service in Armenia, Georgia, and Belarus. Delivery Club founded by SOL's Oganessyan was previously acquired by Russian internet major Mail.ru . Vedomosti r eminds of other notable investments in the delivery models, such as Instamart and SaveTime. iGooods will use the funds raised to expand in St Petersburg and launch in Moscow. In 2017 it had a
RUSSIA Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com