Yandex agrees to buy 100% of <a target="_blank" href="https://k50.ru/">K50</a> company from the current owners - venture capital fund AddVenture Capital and management. It is a platform for managing contextual advertising. The cost of the deal was not disclosed. K50 provides services for improving the effectiveness of contextual advertising.

The deal will enable K50 to scale its business using Yandex technologies and infrastructure. As a result of the deal, the IT company will help advertisers use digital channels more efficiently.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a></a><a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 Advertising is Yandex's main source of income. In the second quarter of 2020, the company's advertising revenue&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/vyruchka-iandeksa-za-vtoroi-kvartal-sostavila-41-4-mlrd-rub/">decreased</a> by 15% compared to the same period in 2019, to 24.8 billion rubles.<a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 All K50 employees will join Yandex, and the company's CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/mary.opritova">Maria Opritova</a> will continue to lead the team.<a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/iandeks-pokupaet-100-reklamnoi-platformy-k50/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a><a></a><a></a>

Kommersant

Yandex is purchasing 100% of the online advertisement automation company K50

In 2019 the value of investments in Russian software
companies amounted to at least 50 billion rubles (approximately $773 million). Nevertheless,
external financing accounts for only about a fifth (18%) of the total &nbsp;amount of investments. According to RUSSOFT, the
main sources of investment in the software industry are the funds of companies
and their owners.<a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 At the same time, software developers estimate that
the need for effective investments is 60% higher.<a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 According to the forecasts of developers, this year
the amount of investments from various sources will decrease slightly, and in
2021 it will grow sharply. The proportion of external financing will reach 74%
in 2021, and it will cover 84% of investment needs.<a></a><a></a><a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/issledovanie-obem-investitsii-v-rossiiskie-softvernye-kompanii-v-2019-godu-sostavil-50-mlrd-rub/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a><a></a>

 
 <a></a><a></a>

Research: the value of investments in Russian software companies in 2019 amounted to $773 million

The
Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced its participation in the offering
of global depositary receipts (GDRs) and convertible bonds of Mail.ru Group.
The investment amount has not been disclosed.<a></a>

 
 RDIF and Mail.ru Group cooperate in several areas, including
AliExpress Russia joint venture. Mail.ru Group will use a portion of the
proceeds from the offering to develop this JV.<a></a>

 
 The proceeds will also be used for the development and
organic growth across the existing verticals of the holding and pursuing
M&amp;A opportunities.<a></a>

 
 China’s Tencent, Prosus (a division of the South
African Naspers Group), and other investors also participated in the offering.<a></a>

 
 At the end of September, the company <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/mail-ru-group-plans-to-raise-600-million-for-development-and-future-deals/">announced</a> its plans
to list GDRs and convertible bonds totaling $600 million due in 2025 on the London
Stock Exchange.<a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/rfpi-investiroval-v-mail-ru-group/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a>

 
 <a></a>

Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF)

Russian Direct Investment Fund invests in Mail.ru Group

Moscow service ReRooms that offers online interior design and renovation services in the one-stop-shop format has attracted 18 million rubles from the Moscow Seed Fund. The company plans to use the funds to develop its own marketplace, multiply the number of suppliers and goods, and improve customer experience through the development of technological solutions.

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 Contacts: 
 <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yuri.goldberg" target="_blank">Yuriy Goldberg</a>, Managing Partner of ReRooms
 
 </div>
 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/cervis-dlia-onlain-zakaza-dizain-proekta-kvartiry-rerooms-privlek-18-mln-rublei-na-razvitie-marketpleisa/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

RB.ru

Service for online ordering of a design project for apartments ReRooms raised $230 thousand for the development of a marketplace

Experum, a platform for finding experts and mentors in solving business problems, raised almost $245 thousand. Co-founder and former CEO of Qiwi <a href="https://www.facebook.com/sergey.solonin" target="_blank">Sergey Solonin</a>, investment banker Mikhail Broitman and one of the project’s co-founders <a href="https://www.facebook.com/evgeniy.larionov.5" target="_blank">Evgeniy Larionov</a> are among the investors. The company expects to use the funds to scale up the technology for recruiting experts and mentors. Experum also plans to increase company valuation to $10-15 million in 2021.

 
 Solonin and Broitman took stakes in the project at the end of July. Broitman owns 2% of Experum, and Solonin owns 1%.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/experum/" target="_blank">Experum</a> card on ICT.Moscow

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/platforma-experum-privlekla-pochti-19-mln-rublei-na-masshtabirovanie-tekhnologii/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

Experum raised almost $245 thousand for technology scaling 

Mango Telecom acquired 100% of Calltouch, an end-to-end analytics, call tracking and ad management service. The amount of the transaction has not been disclosed, but, according to expert estimates, its value could have exceeded $13 million.

 
 Mango Telecom hopes that the deal will allow the company to strengthen its position in the cloud communications and marketing analytics market. Calltouch will keep the team and brand, the changes will affect only the board of directors, and the service will also get access to the call processing capabilities and the numbering capacity of Mango Telecom. Mango Telecom does not plan to transfer its own marketing technology services to Calltouch technologies and will develop them separately, the company explained to the publication. 

 
 Mango Telecom needs a deal with Calltouch to strengthen its' ecosystem, says Denis Kuskov, TelecomDaily CEO.&nbsp;&nbsp;

 
 Mango Telecom expects that the total revenue of the companies in 2021 will amount to&nbsp;$64 million.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/mango-telekom-kupila-servis-calltouch/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Mango Telecom bought Calltouch service

Sberbank announced it has completed its acquisition of 100% of shares in Zvuk and is creating a new audio streaming service SberZvuk based on it.<a></a><a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/milyichev">Mikhail Ilyichev</a>, who headed Zvuk between 2014 and 2017, will be re-appointed as the service’s new CEO, with the current CEO, Igor Mukhin, to remain a team member.<a></a><a></a>

 
 As a result of the deal, Zvuk will be integrated into the Sberbank ecosystem as much as possible. Sberbank and Zvuk have already integrated the audio streaming service into Sberbank ID, with SberPay payment service following suit shortly. <a></a><a></a>

 
 The audio streaming service shall unite 40 million songs from the world’s top copyright holders (Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Warner Music Group), local and independent recording studios, and a collection of popular audiobooks and podcasts.<a></a><a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/sberbank-kupil-muzykalnyi-servis-zvuk/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a><a></a>

Sberbank

Sberbank bought Zvuk audio streaming service

NtechLab,
developer of computer vision systems based on artificial intelligence (AI) and
neural networks has attracted investments of $13 million from The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and leading sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East.&nbsp; 
The investment by RDIF and partners will enable NtechLab to expand its technology and product range, supporting the company's active expansion in the key markets of the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America. 

 
 Among the areas that NtechLab plans to develop automatic detection of aggressive behavior as well as vehicle recognition, including for tracking the transportation of household waste and compliance with recycling procedures. 

 
 The company also plans to provide solutions for the entertainment industry as well as banks, trade centers and hospitality industry companies.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/ntechlab-privlek-bolee-1-mlrd-rublei-na-razvitie-produktovoi-lineiki/">Original (in Russian)</a>

NtechLab raised over $13 million for the development of its product line

Yandex is negotiating the purchase of TCS Group, the parent structure of Tinkoff Bank. The deal may amount to about $5.48 billion, follows from a message <a target="_blank" href="https://www.londonstockexchange.com/news-article/TCS/tcs-group-holding-plc-statement-regarding-media-speculation/14694897">published</a> on the London Stock Exchange.

 
 The exact parameters of the deal may be changed - Tinkoff notes that as a result of the negotiations Yandex may not put forward a final offer.

 
 &nbsp;According to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2020/09/22/840828-yandeks-kupit-tinkoffbank-za-55-mlrd">Vedomosti</a>, Yandex is planning to pay using a combination of cash and shares. By the end of the second quarter of 2020, Yandex's free cash and cash equivalents were $3.45 billion.
A similar message about a possible deal was <a target="_blank" href="https://yandex.com/company/press_center/press_releases/2020/2020-09-22">posted</a>&nbsp;on the Yandex website. Against the background of messages about the deal, Yandex shares rose by 4%, the company's capitalization - $22.3 billion.&nbsp;&nbsp;

 
 Back in 2019, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Oleg Tinkov <a target="_blank" href="https://t.me/ICT_Moscow/2200">proposed</a>&nbsp;to the founder of Yandex, Arkady Volozh, to combine the businesses. Then the creator of Tinkoff Bank noted that there should be a bank inside any ecosystem.

 
 At the end of June, Yandex and Sberbank officially <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/yandex-announced-the-division-of-assets-with-sberbank/">announced</a> the division of joint assets - Yandex.Market and Yandex.Money. The deal was closed a month later.

 
 In August, it became known that in the spring of 2020 Yandex <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/yandex-applied-to-register-trademarks-in-banking-investment-and-insurance/">submitted</a> applications for registration of 17 trademarks - in the banking, investment and insurance sectors.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/iandeks-predvaritelno-dogovorilsia-o-pokupke-tinkoff/">Original (in Russian)</a>

VC.ru

Yandex tentatively agrees to buy Tinkoff

Muzlab, a streaming audio
service for business (the company also has an office in Moscow), will buy
Market Music, which specializes in audio marketing and Digital Signage systems
(displaying information from electronic media in public places). The value of
the deal can be amounted to $4 million.

 
 When the deal is
completed, the Market Music team will join Muzlab. Muzlab will also get
technology and the entire line of Market Music products. In particular, Market
Player - Digital Signage software; background music services Market Music (for
corporate clients) and Hurdy Gurdy (for SME customers), as well as Mark
Traffic, a computer vision-based service used to count and profile store
visitors.

 
 Market Music was founded
in 2012 in Minsk, and in 2013 the company’s headquarters were established in
Moscow.

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 Contacts:&nbsp;
 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/vkhristenko">Victor Khristenko</a> and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/danilov011">Andrei Danilov</a>&nbsp;- Founders of Muzlab
 </div>
 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/strimingovyi-servis-dlia-biznesa-muzlab-kupit-razrabotchika-sistem-audiomarketinga-market-music/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Business streaming service Muzlab will buy Market Music, a developer of audio marketing systems

NaPopravku, an online service for setting up an appointment with a doctor, raised $2.25 million. NaPopravku plans to use the received money for regional expansion and development of a mobile application.

 
 The Swedish investment company VNV Global invested in the project. It previously invested in Avito, Tinkoff, BlaBlaCar, Gett and Babylon. Another investor of the round is the founder of the Malaysian recruiting service JobStreet.com Mark Chang. The investment holding “Avenir”, which was the key external investor of “NaPopravku”, also participated in the round.

 
 In the application, the user can select a doctor based on reviews, compare prices and make an appointment in a private or public clinic without making a call. The startup plans to add the ability to store medical records. NaPopravku is integrated into the Tinkoff bank application, Yandex and 2GIS services.

<div class="incut-block incut-block-text-small-size">
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/napopravku/" target="_blank">NaPopravku</a> card on ICT.Moscow
 </div>
 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/servis-zapisi-patsientov-v-kliniki-napopravku-privlek-2-25-mln/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

The service for making appointments in clinics NaPopravku raised $2.25 million

Azbuka Vkusa, Russian chain of high-end grocery stores, invested $443 thousand in Biolink.Tech, UK-registered developer of the Otri app, which provides nutritional advice based on the user's medical analyzes. Azbuka Vkusa became a minority shareholder of Biolink.Tech with a 4.49% share and has integrated grocery delivery from its stores into the Otri app.

 
 Biolink.Tech will use the funds raised from the retailer for marketing, product development and expansion of the technical team. The company also plans to further develop its app through an artificial intelligence-based product recognition tool. 

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/azbuka-vkusa-investirovala-okolo-33-2-mln-rub-v-startap-biolink-tech/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Azbuka Vkusa, Russian chain of high-end grocery stores, invested $443 thousand in Biolink.Tech

O2O, the joint venture of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank, acquired 84.7% of the express delivery service for ready meals Local Kitchen. The founders of the service will retain the remaining shares.

 
 The deal will be closed by the end of the fourth quarter of 2020. The deal value is not disclosed.

 
 The service will be integrated into the ecosystems of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank: users will be able to log in via VK Connect or Sberbank ID. The mini-application of Local Kitchen is already available for VKontakte users.

 
 Local Kitchen uses a proprietary IT system to manage company processes, accurately forecast demand, and plan product delivery. After the integration of Local Kitchen into the ecosystems of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank, the companies will be able to exchange technologies to improve all O2O products.

<hr />
 
 In May it was&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/kukhnia-na-raione-privlekla-investitsii-ot-sp-sberbanka-i-mail-ru-group/">reported</a> that a part of the shares of the co-founders of the service Oleg Kozyrev and Alexey Kolesnikov in the authorized capital of the company was pledged to the joint venture O2O. The terms for the return of the pledge are “complete performance of any obligations” of the legal entity of the service, Loсalkitchen LLC, to O2O under a loan agreement for an amount of up to 290 million rubles, as stated in the extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities dated May 12, 2020. At that time, 15% of the shares of each Kozyrev and Kolesnikov were in pledge.

 
 As of May 2020, Kozyrev and Kolesnikov each had 23.6% in Local Kitchen. The largest owner of the service with a 25.8% share was PIK-Investproekt.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/sp-mail-ru-group-i-sberbanka-poluchilo-kontrol-v-kukhne-na-raione/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Vedomosti

Joint venture of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank took control of Local Kitchen

Deep
Longevity was created in August after splitting off from Insilico MedTech company. The team focused on LaaS (“longevity
as a service”) and was working in the following areas

<ul>
 <li>development of AI systems to monitor
the aging of the body at different levels (molecular, cellular, systemic,
etc.);</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>development of medical decision support systems aimed at slowing down and
reversing the aging processes;</li>
</ul>

<ul>
 <li>development of markers that would allow to track the biological age of a person.</li>
</ul>

 
 Several weeks after the launch, Deep Longevity was acquired by
investment company Regent Pacific for $3.79 million. The Hong Kong corporation
plans to build its own ecosystem on the basis of Deep Longevity. Investors' interest in AI startups in the fight against aging can be described as a trend: a month ago, Gero<a href="https://ict.moscow/en/news/russian-biotech-startup-gero-has-raised-investment/" target="_blank"> attracted</a> $ 2.2 million in investments.  

 
 Insilico and Gero in May <a href="https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=0LWyKq8YoEqQEMtp0Me5L28Ll1u1xJRJrDst9QcAzx1UOTNUUUxDM1BNQzRVNVpUOTdaTk5ENEIxSi4u&amp;fbclid=IwAR0H6W2bBcQ5-Nzil3RD64-CRsEPXl-VMuq7tH61gFmnt19i2uwxnF4-W3g" target="_blank">entered</a> the international list of 100 AI startups compiled by AI Venture Labs, whose developments can be applied in the fight against COVID-19.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/medtech-startap-v-sfere-ii-deep-longevity-priobreten-gonkongskoi-investitsionnoi-kompaniei-regent-pacific/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

Bloomberg

Deep Longevity MedTech AI startup was acquired by Hong Kong investment company Regent Pacific

Muzlab, a streaming audio service for business (also has an office in Moscow), attracted investments for product and IT development. The founder of the SysoevFM project, Alexander Sysoev, became the investor; the terms of the deal and the amount of funds invested are not disclosed by the parties.


 
 In the spring, Muzlab raised $ 1 million from investors and former CEO of Yandex.Chef Mikhail Peregudov, while Sysoev himself previously invested in a Moscow service for demand forecasting for restaurants Foodcast.ai and in a vertical farm startup iFarm.


 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/muzykalnyi-servis-muzlab-privlek-investitsii-na-razvitie-produkta/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Inc.

Streaming audio service Muzlab attracted investments for product and IT development

iFarm, a startup developing automated vertical farms
for growing greens, has raised $4 million in the seed round. The lead investor
is Gagarin Capital that invested $1 million in the project last year.
The company will use the attracted funds to develop iFarm Growtune IT platform
intended for managing vertical farms. Also a crowdinvesting platform will be
launched on the basis of the SaaS platform. With its help, the company will
attract funding from banks, leasing companies and individuals.

 
 Earlier the
company announced the commissioning of the first stage of a large vertical farm
in Moscow.

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/ifarm-privlek-4-na-razvitie-it-platformy/">Original (in Russian)</a>

iFarm raises $4 million for development

Mail.ru Group and Sberbank invested 12 billion rubles (approximately $164 million) in their joint venture focused on transportation and food.

 
 The funds will be used to expand areas and scale the businesses that were not included into the perimeter at the moment of the deal closure in December 2019. Among them there are 2GIS mapping service and Samokat express food delivery (75.6% stake consolidated in May), as well as other assets. 

 
 Moreover, the parties explain that the management of the joint venture is confident about the prospects of not only food delivery from restaurants, but also e-grocery, dark kitchens and dark stores.

 
 Following the additional funding, Sberbank and Mail.ru Group will continue to have equal stakes in the joint venture (45.005% each).

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/o2o-predpriiatie-mail-ru-group-i-sberbanka-poluchilo-12-mlrd-rublei/">Original (in Russian)</a>

Mail.ru Group

O2O enterprise of Mail.ru Group and Sberbank receives $164 million

Inspector Cloud, developer of the system for goods recognition on store shelves, has raised $500 thousand. The investor is OKS Group Foundation, founded by Oleg Poliakov and Kirill Matveev. The funds will be used to enter the markets of Latin America and Europe.

 
 In 2017, the company raised $150 thousand, and a year after another $200 was raised to refine the product. According to the startup’s information, in 2019 Inspector Cloud’s revenue amounted to 33.87 million rubles. By the end of the first half of 2020, the revenue exceeded 37 million rubles.

 
 <a href="https://ict.moscow/news/razrabotchik-sistemy-raspoznavaniia-tovarov-na-polkakh-magazinov-privlek-500-tysiach/" target="_blank">Original (in Russian)</a>

Inspector Cloud, developer of the system for goods recognition in stores, raises $500 thousand to drive international expansion

Biotech startup Gero has
raised $2.2 million. The lead investor is Yury Melnichek’s Bulba Ventures
venture fund. Melnichek joined Gero’s Board of Directors. The other investors
are serial entrepreneurs in pharmaceuticals industry, IT and artificial
intelligence.<a></a>

 
 The total amount of investment
raised since Gero’s founding is $7.5 million. The company will use the
investment to develop its AI-based platform for analyzing clinical and genetic
data and to find treatments for chronic aging-related diseases, mental
illnesses and other diseases.<a></a>

 
 Gero.ai uses big data, machine learning and methods of physics to
develop new drugs and create algorithms for age risk assessment. Startup’s
platform is currently trying to identify potential therapies for COVID-19. <a></a>

 
 In May, AI Venture Labs&nbsp;<a target="_blank" href="https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=0LWyKq8YoEqQEMtp0Me5L28Ll1u1xJRJrDst9QcAzx1UOTNUUUxDM1BNQzRVNVpUOTdaTk5ENEIxSi4u&amp;fbclid=IwAR3qtu1bUoCHoMzLe-ABlitcizOzbZSi-lOF5Xfb9ycmhe7CzM1uKuhbiao">included</a> Gero in top 100 AI startups, the developments of which can be used to
fight COVID-19.<a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/en/card/gero/">Gero</a> card on ICT.Moscow<a></a>

 
 <a target="_blank" href="https://ict.moscow/news/biotekh-startap-gero-privlek-2-2-mln/">Original (in Russian)</a><a></a>

Market in Brief