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Marusya searches for information on the Internet, reports weather forecasts and showtimes, plays music in Vkontakte. In June 2019 Marusya was launched in testing mode. It will be integrated into other Mail.ru Group’s products and external services. The system is self-learning using neuronets. 
The access to the app is free for external developers, who can get access to the platform and offer enhancements.

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VK plans to sell the My.Games gaming division, including the studios and gaming products, for 642 million dollars. The buyer is Alexandr Chachava, the managing partner of LETA Capital.

 
 After the acquisition, the founder of My.Games Vladimir Nikolskiy will continue managing the company. VK will develop gaming services under the VK Play brand headed by Vasiliy Maguryan, who has led the VK gaming division for over 8 years.

 
 According to the <a href="https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5582657" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">source</a> of Kommersant, it was the removal of VK apps from AppStore that forced the parties to close the deal. The gaming division generated one third of VK’s revenue. At the end of Q3 of 2021, 77% of sales of My.Games were made outside Russia and the CIS countries, primarily in the USA, Germany and France.

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 The plans of VK to sell My.Games were <a href="https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5283356" target="_blank">announced</a> at the end of March, but the company did not comment on the situation at that time.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/vk-prodast-podrazdelenie-my-games-za-642-mln/" target="_blank">Original in Russian</a>

Interfax

VK to Sell My.Games Division for 642 Million Dollars

During the On Software Import Substitution in Industries strategic session Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted that there exist domestic analogues of 80% of foreign software. There are one or two analogues for one third of these 80%. “And, most importantly, more than half of the solutions available on the Russian market are of medium or higher maturity level. There is no need to create them from scratch, we just need to enhance and use them,” Mishustin stated.

 
 The government has discovered almost 400 types of corporate software, the imports of which were extremely important for business. Annual spending of companies on licenses, implementation and support of such software is estimated at 200 billion rubles (2.9 billion dollars).

 
 Furthermore, Mikhail Mishustin said, the list of critical infrastructure objects will be expanded. This is necessary for accelerating the switch to Russian software. “We plan to include all key types of systems and applications into the range of critical infrastructure objects. The government will set the deadline for switching to Russian software for each item,” prime minister added.

 
 The session included the discussion of work results of 15 industrial competence centers in mechanical engineering, construction, utilities, pharmaceuticals industry and other areas. The representatives of ministries, state corporations, universities and associations, as well as of Kaspersky Lab, Bellsoft, ER-Telecom, VK, Amethyst Capital and other companies took part in the event.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/mishustin-dlia-80-inostrannogo-softa-est-rossiiskie-analogi/" target="_blank">Original in Russian</a>

Mikhail Mishustin: Russian Analogs Exist for 80% of Foreign Software

Yandex announces the completion of asset swap with VK. Yandex has acquired the Delivery Club food and grocery delivery service, while VK has acquired Yandex.Zen and Yandex.News in exchange.

 
 Yandex will continue developing the Delivery Club brand, its app and website will still operate. At the same time, the service will complement Yandex.Eats on the single technology platform.

 
 The deal was approved by the Federal Antimonopoly Service.

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 Earlier Yandex was <a href="https://t.me/IFX_Digital/957" target="_blank">reported</a> to have acquired 99.95% of Delivery Club, the remaining shares belonging to GIS Tekhnologii (Yandex subsidiary). The deal was closed on September 8.

 
 The details of the asset swap between Sber, Yandex and VK were <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/iandeks-pokupaet-u-vk-servis-dostavki-delivery-club/" target="_blank">revealed</a> on August 23. VK announced that it would exit the O2O Holding (joint venture with Sber) and would acquire 100% of Delivery Club, which would later be transferred to Yandex. In exchange, VK will get the news aggregator and Zen.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/iandeks-zakryl-sdelku-po-prodazhe-dzena-i-novostei-i-pokupke-delivery-club/" target="_blank">Original in Russian</a>

Yandex

Yandex Sales Zen and News and Acquires Delivery Club

The companies of Yandex, VK, Ozon, MTS, Beeline and AmberData (controlled by the National Media Group) plan to become advertising data operators, which are required to send information about all campaigns in Runet to Roskomnadzor starting from the fall of 2022. Previously, it was expected that advertising market players would be able to independently transfer this information (the cost of contracts, the timing of campaigns, etc.) directly or through advertising data operators. However, a new set of amendments was adopted in July, allowing the data to be transmitted through advertising data operators only.

 
 According to the RBC sources, Yandex and VK have confirmed plans to become advertising data operators. MTS expects that the company’s subsidiary will be included in the list of applicants for this status. Ozon also confirmed the plans to create its own operator. AmberData is “working on theoperator creation”.

 
 According to Stanislav Danilov, a partner at the Pen & Paper law firm, working through an advertising data operator allows the advertiser to avoid the risks of incomplete or inaccurate data provision. Roskomnadzor said that it “does not have the authority to set prices for the services of advertising data operators”. At the same time, there are no instructions or recommendations concerning the costs of advertising data operator services in the law and in the already adopted bylaws.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/shest-rossiiskikh-kompanii-planiruiut-stat-operatorami-reklamnykh-dannykh/" target="_blank">Original in Russian</a>

Six Russian Companies Plan to Become Advertising Data Operators

According to VK and ANO Digital Platforms, Russian app stores RuStore and NashStore have been downloaded 1.5 million times in total. In particular, 500,000 users installed RuStore developed by VK with the support of the Ministry of Digital Development. In total, more than 1,000 apps were placed at the store (as of July 12). The number of installations is more than 1 million.

 
 The most frequently <a href="https://vk.company/ru/press/releases/11215/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">downloaded</a> RuStore apps are financial ones (more than 50% of all downloads). Other popular categories are Tools (services for life and work; 10% of downloads), Entertainment (9% of downloads) and Shopping (6% of downloads).

 
 NashStore, developed by ANO Digital Platforms, has been downloaded by more than 1 million people. Users have installed 3.5 million different applications from this app store.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/rossiiskie-magaziny-prilozhenii-rustore-i-nashstore-skachali-1-5-mln-raz/" target="_blank">Original in Russian</a>

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