Quick News №9

We start from a point whose importance and impact has yet to be assessed. On Thursday, Nvidia and NERSC launched Perlmutter, the fastest supercomputer in the world right now. The device’s first task will be the largest 3D map of the visible universe. Perlmutter will generally be able to solve tasks in astrophysics in a few days that previously took at least a year to complete.

Meanwhile, on the Earth, non-space, but cloud technology has also received the attention it deserves. Mail.ru Group Corporation bought Playkey, a developer of a cloud gaming platform from Perm. The amount of the deal is not disclosed, but it will be closed by the end of this year. Playkey’s solution, which allows players even with low-powered computers to run a variety of games, will help Mail.ru Group to develop its own gaming business, My.Games cloud.

Another startup, Congru, is being acquired by Wikium Group. The project helps people in a state of stress, anxiety, tension or psychological discomfort. The service uses machine learning to help users through a chatbot. After the merger, the project will be renamed Maxmentality and will become Wikium’s second portfolio company.

The other Russian company, online movie theater ivi, raised $250M from a group of investors led by VTB. In total, the company now has about 15 fund shareholders. Experts say this is the largest private equity deal for the technology sector in recent years. At the same time, it will pay off if there is an IPO, which the company’s plans for last autumn were disrupted. However, the participation of a player such as VTB in the current round may indicate that this is a temporary setback.

Two high valuation news for established market players. Klarna, Europe’s most expensive FinTech startup, is preparing to close the round, the size of which is unknown, but sources say it could be around $500M at a valuation of $40–50B. And electric carmaker Rivian Automotive Inc, which plans to go public this September, could be targeting a valuation of $70B, according to Bloomberg News.

When you hear news like this, it makes you really want to run even faster, jump higher and be stronger. By the way, according to a survey by You.Do and the ONF business platform, almost half of the self-employed who took part in the survey are working beyond their working hours.

At the end of every quick news, we wish you a productive week. So this time we want to wish you a productive week without abusing the resource!