The Association of Tourism Aggregators, DST Global Yuri Milner invested in Lapse: the main thing February 28

Russia

• The FATF downgraded Russia due to insufficient control over cryptocurrencies and virtual assets. Methods for regulating this area are included in a separate paragraph of the organization. In this category, the country level has changed from “met” to “partially compliant.”

Investments

• Photo-sharing platform Lapse closed a $30 million Series A round, whose investors included Yuri Milner’s DST Global, Greylock, Google Ventures, Octopus Ventures and several business angels.

Finance

• Raiffeisenbank announced a change in the conditions for managing euro accounts for individuals: starting March 13, the commission on balances greater than 5,000 euros will be 1% per month, but not less than 50 euros. Also in March, special conditions will apply for cross-border transfers in euros.

• VTB cancels the commission for developers, which it introduced as part of the preferential mortgage program after the authorities reduced subsidies. At the same time, the bank indicates that these issues are not yet profitable and “new solutions that take into account market conditions” are not ruled out.

• Telegram will start paying channel authors for displaying ads. Owners of “public” will receive money in the Toncoin cryptocurrency – 50% of the revenue that Telegram earns from displaying ads.

Business

• The online insurance service Pampadu bought the stake of a foreign investor and consolidated 100% of the business in Russian jurisdiction. Previously, 42% of the company belonged to a German investment fund. The initial investment of the foreign partner was estimated at 400 thousand dollars.

• The Sukhumi plant of Wines and Waters of Abkhazia LLC suspended its work due to the introduction of a special tax by the government of the republic. The decision is temporary, the company’s management is negotiating with the authorities to eliminate the tax.
• At the end of 2023, Sberbank made a net profit of 1,508 trillion rubles. The current result surpassed the pre-crisis 2021 record. Compared to 2021, earnings per share also increased: from 56.98 rubles to 69.1 rubles.
• Tutu, Ostrovok.ru, Yandex Travel and MTC Travel are creating the Association of Travel Aggregators. The union will give importance to its position when discussing relevant legislation and related issues, such as the operation of guest houses, Kommersant writes.

• Russian advertising agencies are preparing to change their contracts with bloggers due to changes in the law on foreign agents. Due to the risks of the new measures, advertisers intend to include in the agreements a clause for unilateral termination of the contract in the event of transfer of the status of foreign agent. Compensation mechanisms are also analyzed.\

• Former senator Vadim Moshkovich’s Level group will be engaged in the construction of warehouses. The company acquired a 50 thousand square meter plot of land in New Moscow. M. Construction of the facility is scheduled to be completed in 2.5 years. According to sources, the purchase cost between 250 and 300 million rubles.

• Yandex.Travel has opened free access to its accommodation platform, the Extranet, for all hotels and inns. Both legal entities and individual entrepreneurs and self-employed workers can connect to the service.

• Tinkoff reported on the appearance of fake banking applications in the App Store. There are three such applications, they contain the symbols of the organization; The bank urges you not to download them and, if they are already downloaded, to delete them.

Technology and media

• The VK Records label will open a music studio in April 2024. Musicians will now have access to a full cycle of sound recording and music production services: professional sound recording, sound design, vocal work, mixing and mastering.

• Companies increased purchases of Russian computers in 2023 by 70%. The growth is due to difficulties with supply from previous suppliers and the natural renewal of the fleet, Vedomosti learned.

• VKontakte has launched a beta version of a new community moderation system. The main innovation is the introduction of the option of so-called strikes, which can be received for violating the rules of the social network.

Transport

• Apple informed its employees on February 27 of its plans to close the Special Projects Group (SPG). Part of the special group will move to the AI ​​development department, while others will be able to apply to work on other teams in the company.
• AvtoVAZ received a patent for the design of the new Lada pickup truck. It will probably be used for the Lada Iskra model, a family of economical cars on the platform of the Renault-Nissan alliance.