Quick news №34

The penultimate quick news this year, where we tell you about the latest news stories and interesting events in the world of technology and venture. We had a great year, but after that — only more. Let's go!

We have already said that according to all ratings and calculations, 2021 is the year of records for venture capital. Highest marks, record number of decacorns and investment volume — it was interesting to watch their growth. If you are more comfortable with perceiving information in visuals, then we share infographics of the largest international startups this year. It is interesting to study how many projects from which area were included in the rating. For example, the FinTech industry is among the leaders in unicorns by a wide margin, and by origin they are mainly from the American or Chinese markets.

Seven organizations blocked by Meta had a wider geography of distribution. According to the corporation's report, these companies carried out surveillance of people in more than 100 countries. The organizations themselves positioned their activities as directed against criminals and terrorists, but in fact they also collected information about oppositionists, journalists, activists and dissidents. All of them were blocked from infrastructure and denied access to Meta products, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

The owner of another social platform —  Reddit — has applied for an IPO by the company. Now the US Securities and Exchange Commission is checking its documents, so Reddit is not allowed to disclose these applications. So, the date of placement is still unknown, as well as the price and number of securities. Recall that in August this year, the F round for the company ended in raising $700M, with an estimate of $10B.

Small crypto block! The Russian Central Bank has set out to ban Russians from investing in cryptocurrencies, according to sources. Already purchased assets will not be banned, but it will be impossible to acquire new ones — the market is too volatile. The Central Bank itself does not comment on the information. By the way, just a month ago, the Central Bank itself, having counted the volume of transactions involving crypto, called the growth of crypto investments a "threat" to Russian financial risk.

In the meantime, the whole world continues to buy NFT, thanks to which Adidas earned $22M in 26 minutes. All thanks to its Into the Metaverse collection, where for each purchased token there was also a bonus in the form of a themed hoodie. The collection was exclusive —  only Adidas Originals token holders and collection partners — GMoney, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club and Pixel Vault — were able to access it.

And what makes us happy in the outgoing month of the venture capital market?

For example, two Ukrainian startups have raised large funding. Thus, the Awesomic project, which connects companies with proven designers via a subscription system, closed the round for $2M. Investors include the Y Combinator business accelerator, Flyer One Ventures and SID Venture Partners funds, investment companies 10x Value Partners and Pretiosum, as well list of business angels.

Another IT company from Ukraine —  Vymex — attracted the attention of 20 private investors, who financed it in total for more than $1M. The funds raised will be used to develop a product — a mobile application that simplifies business management.

Two more, already EdTech-projects, founders from Russia raised funds this week. StudyFree startup helps students to enroll in foreign universities by making it easier to fill out applications for grants, for which it raised $3M in investments from I2BF Global Ventures, TMT Investments and TechStars, as well as Mikita Mikado (PandaDoc) and Andrey Doronichev (ex-Google).

But the distance learning platform in foreign schools, the Educate Online startup, raised $4M from Xploration Capital, TMT Investments, Flyer One Ventures, Softline and Angelsdeck. The service allows you to receive a diploma from an educational institution of their partner network cheaper than it would cost offline and on your own.

And for the final —  good news from Belarus. Belarusian startup NewGen became the best innovative project according to the international conference of IT entrepreneurs and venture capitalists "Startup of the Year". And no wonder: the company's developments allow it to analyze the DNA of human intestinal bacteria, and then identify the risks of 43 diseases. Congratulations to the team!

Have a productive week!