They want to deprive Baltika of the rights to some global brands, “crystalline” IPO: the main thing on October 2

Business

• Kaluga Distillery Kristall plans to hold an initial public offering before the end of 2023. The owners want to raise up to 1.5 billion rubles.
• Carlsberg Breweries A/S may initiate legal proceedings to deprive Baltika of rights to some global brands, Kommersant writes.

• British fintech startup Apron, originating from Revolut Bogdan Uzbekov, has attracted £12 million Series A investment. The company offers a b2b app with a suite of tools that allow you to conveniently manage business finances and accounting. Previously, the startup primarily worked with small and medium-sized businesses; Thanks to the investment, Apron will offer its products to the largest players.

• Secure infrastructure software maker Astra Group is planning an IPO in October 2023. The company will list 5% of its shares on the Moscow Stock Exchange. This will be the first IPO among Russian infrastructure software developers.

• The ShinSale project for the sale of used tires raised 16 million rubles from the Moscow Seed Fund. The company has developed the ShinSale AI platform, through which it is possible to solve key problems in the secondary market: from calculating wear levels to forecasting demand in various regions of the country. The funds raised will be used to scale the project and increase the number of cities where it operates.

Technologies and services

• X (Twitter) has paid out almost $20 million to its users since July 2023. The company then began sharing advertising revenue with popular creators.
• The State Duma purchased 1,800 licenses of analogues of Windows (Astra Linux) and Microsoft Office (MyOffice package) for deputies and staff. The cost is 52.5 million rubles, all licenses are unlimited with a three-year period for receiving updates.

• Ozon, together with VK, will launch its own operating system for smart TVs, Hartens. The shell will include RuStore, the voice assistant “Marusya” and the application for Smart TV – Ozon TV. The latter will become a “market on the couch” for users.

• Smart Engines has developed a passport authentication service. The service identifies forgeries and fake documents in three seconds, analyzing the authenticity of the form, the presence of security fibers, the conformity of the source, signs of forgery of the seal and other criteria. The system was included in the Russian software registry.

Transport

• In the third quarter of 2023, the average cost of a used car in Russia increased by 39% in annual terms and reached 640 thousand rubles. Sales of this type of car have increased by 14.2% since mid-summer compared to the same period last year.
• Airlines want to introduce annual indexation of regional transport subsidies, which have not been recalculated for ten years, Kommersant has learned.