Tech
Data indicate Korea exporters dodge sanctions by shipping to Russia via Central Asia, South Caucasus
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Georgia among countries that appear to be conduits for sanctioned goods from East Asia nation.
Iranian ride-hailing giant Snapp accused of anti-competitive foul play
Rival Tapsi says it has used a SIM card wheeze to monitor internal information and capture drivers.
North Macedonia’s government launches AI digital assistant
AI-based ADA platform to provide companies with information about the conditions for investing in the country and state aid available to them.
Romanian entrepreneur poised to launch first fan-funding platform for footballers
Platform to give football fans the opportunity to support young players from developing countries to play for European clubs.
Allegro posts PLN1.92bn net loss in 2022 due to Czech write-downs
Poland’s e-commerce giant writes off almost half the value of its acquisition of Mall.cz in 2021.
Russian Post makes its first loss in nine years of $350mn due to sanctions
Pochta Rossii (Russian Post) reported its first loss in nine years of RUB27.2bn ($353mn) at the end of 2022, RBC reported on March 30.
Estonia launches groundbreaking digital vehicle registration system
Estonia is reportedly the first country to have a fully digital vehicle registration system.
Serbia to take business registrations online despite cyberattack
Belgrade announces company registrations to be taken online the day after DDoS attack hit business registry website.
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Turkey clones Iran’s ‘kamikaze’ drones
Analysts say the Azab is a “replica” of the Shahed-136 that Russia uses to attack Ukraine.
Big Uzbek fintech Uzum to launch grocery delivery service, conduct IPO
Company says it is negotiating with some of the Middle East’s largest international investment funds, with plans to raise $300mn by the end of the year.
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Central Asia ‘washing machine’ sales that help Russia repair tanks may spark EU crackdown
Bloc concerned Russian arms industry is stripping down imported household appliances and used cars for microchips and other spare parts.
Sistemma launches Russian analogue to ChatGPT
Russian data analysis, modelling and data processing company Sistemma has launched an AI called SistemmaGPT, which is a functional analogue of Elon Musk’s ChatGPT, the company said in a statement on March 26.
Russia’s leading social media platform VK has been expanding fast, but at a cost
Russia’s leading social media platform VK has taken advantage of the crisis to snap up assets and expand its business in 2022, but at a cost.
Kazakhstan poised to intensify vetting of re-exports to Russia
Kazakh traders have been helping fill Russian demand for high-tech consumer goods and other items hard to obtain under Western sanctions.
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INTERVIEW: Sviatoslav Kavetskyi, chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Lviv IT Cluster.
Ukraine’s IT sector has seen a mass migration of its employees. With former IT hubs like Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odesa close to the front line, many specialists have moved to Western Ukraine, where life is somewhat more normal.
ToyotaGo project scrapped in Slovenia’s Kocevje
Mayor says on-demand transport project was very popular but too expensive to run in a rural area.
Serbian PM says revenue from IT exports exceeded €2.7bn in 2022
PM Ana Brnabic says Serbia must become a leader in AI to achieve fast and dynamic economic growth in future.
INTERVIEW: Volodymyr Semenyshyn, president EMEA of Ukraine IT company SoftServe
Ukraine’s IT industry has remained remarkably stable in the face of Russia’s full-scale invasion. While many leading sectors in Ukraine have suffered significant losses, IT saw a growth in exports helped by an impressive response from businesses.
NASDAQ to delist Russian tech majors Yandex, CIAN, Ozon, Qiwi and HeadHunter
Trading in all the names has been suspended since February 2022 following Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.
Mobile major MTS joins "Russian YouTube" race
Video hosting platform YouTube remains available in Russia, but Wagner mercenary group founder Evgeny Prigozhin has called for it to be banned.