News & Events

• 08.10.2012
  Smartfin Lands US$1.6 million In Series A Funding
  MOSCOW – October 8, 2012: Smartfin, the mobile payments company, today announced it has completed a US$1.6 million Series A round of funding led by InVenture Partners. Smartfin, operating under the “2can” brand, produces solution that turns smartphones operating iOS or Android operating systems into a banking card terminal using a mini card reader and app. The Company launched commercial services on September 21st, 2012 jointly with PromSvyazBank and strong support from Visa. The Series A funding will be used to continue technical and commercial development of the solution. “Russia historically had one of the highest levels of cash use in the world with around three quarters of customers using banking cards for cash withdrawal transactions. We believe one of the main reasons to that was low penetration of legacy point of sale (POS) terminals that prevented millions of small merchants from accepting banking cards in their locations. That’s a huge opportunity that Smartfin can address right now,” said Anton Inshutin, Managing Partner of InVenture Partners. Smartfin’s solution takes just minutes to set up and has no monthly fee. Instead, for each transaction users are charged a flat 2.75% for payments made using MasterCard or Visa cards. “Smartfin is the first company in Russia to develop an affordable solution for mobile commerce that meets all of the rigorous international security requirements,” said Nikolay Zhmurenko, the Company’s co-founder and CEO. "We are delighted Smartfin was supported by Visa to officially announce the reader-based mobile payments service launch in Russia”. Smartfin puts security at the heart of its business and provides its customers with an encrypted type of reader that allows for a maximum level of security. The project was started in November 2011 by Nikolay Zhmurenko, former CFO of Svyaznoy and Synterra and Yury Vladimirov, former CFO of Inoventica group.
• 21.05.2013
  Sen. Rand Paul Is Mostly Right In Defending Apple's Obligation To Minimize Taxes
  "It's absurd for Congress to vilify businesses like Apple for wanting to minimize their tax code just like every other American rightly does," tweeted uber-Libertarian Senator Rand Paul, lashing out at his Senate colleagues for 'dragging' Apple CEO Tim Cook in to defend his company's tax policies. On the eve of Cook's much-hyped testimony, a Senate investigation released a scathing report, accusing Apple of cooking the books and engaging in shady tax-dodging practices, to avoid repatriating $102 billion in offshore cash to avoid a 35 percent U.S. tax rate.
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• 21.05.2013
  How The Great Firewall of China Shapes Chinese Surfing Habits
  Can cultural factors be more important than censorship in shaping Chinese surfing habits? Two researchers argue that a new study of the way global websites cluster together supports this idea
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• 08.10.2012
  OnlineTours Raises $2.0M in Series A Funding
  Moscow – October 8, 2012: OnlineTours, an online tourist agency selling packaged tourist tours via its website, has announced today a US$2 million Series A round of funding led by InVenture Partners. The proceeds will be used to execute a growth plan including integration of technical platform with the largest tour operators, scaling up of the call center and opening of offline selling points in large Russian cities for visa and payments support. Russian and CIS packaged tours market was estimated at $20 Bn in 2011. “While packaged tours account for almost 70% of offline tourism market in Russia, online penetration in the tours segment is still below 1%” – said Konstantin Pobedkin, co-founder of OnlineTours. “We believe that despite currently high barriers to entry due to lack of developed B2B service providers and competition from offline agencies this market has high growth potential and may reach 15-20% of offline market in 2015. The goal of OnlineTours is to become the leading company on online travel market in Russia.” The Company started selling packaged tours in January 2012 and is already connected to 90% of tour operators in Russia. OnlineTours website has over 100 thousand unique visitors monthly. "We are pleased to contribute to the growth of OnlineTours" - said Anton Inshutin, Managing Partner of InVenture Partners. ”The results that the Company achieved up to date are impressive and we believe that the Company has huge potential to become a successful player on the fast developing and large market of packaged holidays."
• 21.05.2013
  The New Xbox One Live Features Add Advanced Social Gaming Features That Could Lead To True MMORPG Experiences
  While we don't have all of the details on the new Xbox Live features announced at today's Xbox One launch, it's clear that Microsoft is going all-in when it comes to social and multiplayer gaming. First, they are upping the number of dedicated servers for online play from 15,000 to 300,000 and nearly all of your content and game data will be store in the cloud.
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• 21.05.2013
  Home Tweet Home: A House with Its Own Voice on Twitter
  A techie’s San Francisco home has its own Twitter feed. Will yours be next?At first glance, you’d never guess there’s anything unusual about Tom Coates’s San Francisco home. Nestled at the end of a narrow passageway on a side street, it’s a peaceful, sunny house decorated with modern furniture and bright posters that say things like “Machines help us work” and “Make your own path.”
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• 21.05.2013
  After Months Of Speculation, Microsoft Officially Reveals Skype For The Xbox One
  Microsoft’s Don Mattrick pulled back the curtain on the Xbox One at a live event at the company’s Redmond campus, and it wasn’t long at all before the talk turned to software. One application in particular has been the subject of speculation for months, and SVP Yusuf Mehdi confirmed that Skype (which, if you recall, Microsoft acquired for $8.5 billion nearly two years ago) is part of the Xbox One experience. As you might imagine, the Xbox One Skype application allows users to participate in group video chats with their fellow users using the Kinect camera — so there are opportunities for a natural type of ongoing conversation, one that won’t require you to chat for 30 minutes and then disconnect. This could be an “always on” situation. You can answer a call by saying “Xbox, answer call” and then the video screen slides in from the right. Since the Xbox One aims to be your all-in-one “Home Entertainment System,” Skype is going to play a huge role in the overall experience. The demonstration showed a group Skype conversation happening while watching a video, with video quieting down a bit once the call is connected. Microsoft has always talked about being the hub of the living room, and it seems like the newly announced Xbox One is the device that brings its vision to reality. The game-changer with this Skype integration is that you can watch a television show or play a game while carrying on a conversation. This has been attempted, mostly as a “second screen experience,” but to make this a seamless reality is a huge step forward for Microsoft. Until now, you were constrained to the functionality of a particular game supporting voice chat, but this gives you a more personal experience no matter what you’re doing on your Xbox.
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• 21.05.2013
  Call of Duty: Ghosts. Видео
  Компания Activision в ходе сегодняшней презентации новой консоли от Microsoft, получившей название Xbox One, представила публике видеоролик шутера Call of Duty: Ghosts. Напомним, что игра создается на совершенно новом движке для РС, а также консолей текущего и следующего поколений. Русскую версию выпустит "Новый Диск" в ноябре этого года.Видео можно скачать с...
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• 21.05.2013
  Microsoft Confirms That The Xbox One Will Come With An Incredibly Sensitive New Kinect
  The Xbox One was just unveiled at Microsoft's Redmond campus and, true to multiple reports that circulated before the official reveal, the new console will indeed come with a Kinect. And what a Kinect it is! The rumors of a vastly improved Kinect sensor array were right on the money -- this next-generation model is capable of tracking motions as minute as wrist rotations, and Microsoft's Marc Whitten said the new Kinect would even be able to read users' heartbeats when they're exercising or when players shift their weight.
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• 21.05.2013
  Xbox One Will Currently Not Play Xbox 360 Games
  The newly announced Xbox One will not be able to play previous generation Xbox 360 games, Microsoft confirmed Tuesday. The Xbox One is designed on an x86 architecture, on a new eight-core chip. The Xbox 360 uses a Xenon processor, with PowerPC architecture, making the systems incompatible "The Xbox One hardware is not compatible with Xbox 360 games. We designed Xbox One to play an entirely new generation of games — games that are architected to take full advantage of state-of-the-art processors and the infinite power of the cloud. We care very much about the investment people have made in Xbox 360 and will continue to support it with a pipeline of new games and new apps well into the future," a Microsoft spokesperson said. Read more...More about Microsoft, Gaming, Xbox 360, Entertainment, and Xbox One
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• 21.05.2013
  Microsoft представила революционную игровую приставку Xbox нового поколения
  Управление новой Xbox, включая игры, просмотр фильмов и ТВ, осуществляется полностью с помощью голосовых команд и жестов - пульт больше не нужен. А новый контроллер Kinect, по словам представителей Microsoft, настолько точен, что способен улавливать сердцебиение игрока.
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• 21.05.2013
  Xbox One Instant Switching Turns The Console Into A Voice-Powered Set Top Box With Live TV Integration
  Now leading the pack in gaming consoles, Microsoft's future growth lies outside the gaming sphere. We'll surely see tons of games at E3 in a few weeks, but at the big reveal of the Xbox One, the company chose to focus on non-gaming features, such as media streaming and Skype conversations. But what makes streaming and entertainment a true upgrade on the Xbox One, which already has access to almost all streaming platforms? Instant Switching. It allows you to switch between inputs, games, menus, internet explorer, and almost anything else almost instantly. And what's more, it lets you layer the the power of Microsoft partnerships and information across live TV.
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• 21.05.2013
  Microsoft's Xbox One: Your Knee-Jerk Twitter Reactions
  Microsoft made slew of Xbox announcements at its much-hyped "A New Generation Revealed" event, which was live streamed online and broadcasted on TV on Tuesday. Viewers were treated to the new Xbox One console and its features, such as voice-recognition control for all things entertainment, a TV guide, Skype integration and a new Kinect sensor, among other things. Microsoft also revealed a Halo TV series (produced by Steven Spielberg), EA Sports Ignite, NFL partnership, Forza Motorsport 5, Quantum Break and Call of Duty: Ghosts. Naturally, you all had a lot to say, and we gathered your knee-jerk reactions to each feature that Microsoft highlightedBe sure to sound off in our poll, below. Read more...More about Entertainment, Gaming, Xbox, Gaming Consoles, and Film
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• 21.05.2013
  Here's Your New Xbox One: Microsoft's All-In-One Home Entertainment System
  Microsoft has revealed its new Xbox, the successor to the Xbox 360. It's a next-generation console, with plenty of power under the hood, but it's also clearly about consolidating your digital entertainment and operate as much more of a lifestyle device.
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